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Lower Manhattan Neighborhoods: South Street Seaport & the Financial District
Just about all of the major subway lines congregate here before they either end up in or head to Brooklyn. |
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At one time, this was New York - period. Originally established by the Dutch in 1625 (hence the city's original name, Nieuw Amsterdam), New York's first settlements sprung up here, on the southern tip of Manhattan island. Everything uptown was farm country and wilderness. While all that has changed, this is still the best place in the city to search for the past.
The South Street Seaport, a wonderful reminder of times when shipping was the lifeblood of the city, lies a few blocks north of the Battery Maritime Building. It is just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, which stands proudly as the ultimate engineering achievement of New York's 19th-century Industrial Age.
The rest of the area is considered the Financial District, but may be more famous now as Ground Zero. Until September 11, 2001, the Financial District was anchored by the World Trade Center, with the World Financial Center complex and residential Battery Park City to the west, and Wall Street running crosstown a little south and to the east. Construction has begun slowly on the new complex, but it will be years before its completion.
City Hall remains the northern border of the district, abutting Chambers Street. Most of the streets of this neighborhood are narrow concrete canyons, with Broadway serving as the main uptown-downtown artery.