Roosevelt Street

Coordinates: 40°42′29″N 73°59′56″W / 40.708°N 73.999°W / 40.708; -73.999

The Roosevelt Family owned real estate on Roosevelt Street (map c.1833)

CLYDE'S STEAMSHIP PIER, AT FOOT OF ROOSEVELT STREET, 1893

Roosevelt Street was a street located in the Two Bridges district of Lower Manhattan, which existed from the British colonial period up until the early 1950s, running from Pearl Street at Park Row southeast to South Street.^[1] It ran parallel to James Street.^[2] The western end of Roosevelt Street later became the walkway from Park Row to the front entrance of the Chatham Green Apartments at 165 Park Row.

History

The street is historically significant as the place where the New York City draft riots, a violent protest against conscription for the American Civil War, began.^[3]

It was named after a Roosevelt who owned property in the area from the time of Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. It was not named after either president of the United States with of same name, Teddy Roosevelt or Franklin Roosevelt.^[1]

The Roosevelt Street Ferry was displaced by the construction of the New York (north) tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. Later on, the rest of the street, along with many of its surrounding streets and lanes, were eliminated by the construction of the Alfred E. Smith Houses, a public housing project, in the 1950s.

References