View source for West Broadway

{{short description|Street in Manhattan, New York}}
{{distinguish|Broadway (Manhattan)|East Broadway (Manhattan)}}
{{attached KML|display=title}}
{{Infobox street
| name                    = West Broadway
| marker_image            =
| native_name             =
| native_name_lang        =
| alternate_name          =
| image                   = W Bwy becomes 2 Way crossing Grand St jeh.jpg
| image_size              = 300px
| image_alt               = Looking north towards Grand Street
| caption                 = Looking north towards [[Grand Street (Manhattan)|Grand Street]]
| image_map               = {{maplink-road}}
| map_type                =
| map_size                =
| map_caption             =
| map_alt                 =
| other_name              = LaGuardia Place
| former_names            =
| part_of                 =
| namesake                =
| type                    =
| owner                   = [[Government of New York City|City of New York]]
| maint                   = [[NYCDOT]]
| length_mi               = 1.4
| length_ref              = <ref name=google>{{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.7127767,-74.0116683/40.7299436,-73.997366/@40.7213773,-74.0132696,15z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e2 |title=West Broadway and LaGuardia Place |access-date=January 12, 2017}}</ref>
| length_notes            =
| width                   =
| area                    =
| addresses               =
| location                =
| arrondissement          =
| quarter                 =
| postal_code             = 10017, 10013, 10012
| metro                   = [[Chambers Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|Chambers Street]] {{NYCS Broadway-Seventh|time=bullets}}<br>[[Franklin Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|Franklin Street]] {{NYCS Broadway-Seventh local|time=bullets}}<br>[[Canal Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line)|Canal Street]] {{NYCS Eighth|time=bullets}}
| coordinates             =
| direction_a             = South
| terminus_a              = [[Vesey Street]] in [[Financial District, Manhattan|Financial District]]
| direction_b             = North
| terminus_b              = [[4th Street (Manhattan)|Washington Square South]] in [[Greenwich Village, Manhattan|Greenwich Village]]
| junction                =
| east                    = [[Church Street (Manhattan)|Church Street]] (south of [[Canal Street (Manhattan)|Canal]])<br>[[Wooster Street (Manhattan)|Wooster Street]] (north of Canal)
| west                   = [[Greenwich Street (Manhattan)|Greenwich Street]] (south of [[Chambers Street (Manhattan)|Chambers]])<br>[[Hudson Street (Manhattan)|Hudson Street]] (Chambers to [[Leonard Street (Manhattan)|Leonard]])<br>[[Varick Street (Manhattan)|Varick Street]] (Leonard to Canal)<br>[[Thompson Street (Manhattan)|Thompson Street]] (north of Canal)
| main_contractor         =
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| inauguration_date       = <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
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| website                 = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}

'''West Broadway''' is a north-south street in the [[New York City]] [[borough (New York City)|borough]] of [[Manhattan]], separated into two parts by Tribeca Park. The northern part begins at Tribeca Park, near the intersection of [[Sixth Avenue (Manhattan)|Avenue of the Americas]] (Sixth Avenue), Walker Street and Beach Street in [[Tribeca]].  It runs northbound as a one-way street past [[Canal Street (Manhattan)|Canal Street]] and becomes two-way at the intersection with [[Grand Street (Manhattan)|Grand Street]] one block farther north.  West Broadway then operates as a main north-south thoroughfare through [[SoHo]] until its northern end at [[Houston Street (Manhattan)|Houston Street]], on the border between SoHo and [[Greenwich Village]].  North of [[Houston Street (Manhattan)|Houston Street]], it is designated as '''LaGuardia Place''', which continues until [[4th Street (Manhattan)|Washington Square South]].

The southern part of West Broadway runs southbound from Tribeca Park<ref group=note>Although the neighborhood is "TriBeCa", the park is called by the city's Parks Department "Tribeca Park". See [https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/tribeca-park "Tribeca Park"] [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]</ref> through the [[TriBeCa]] neighborhood, ending at Park Place.  Prior to the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], West Broadway continued southward into the [[World Trade Center site]], ending at [[Vesey Street]].  It was once considered "Rotten Row".<ref name="Ephemeral New York">{{Cite web| title = West Broadway: once a slum called "Rotten Row" | date = 16 March 2011 | publisher = Ephemeral New York | url = http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/west-broadway-once-a-slum-called-rotten-row/}}</ref>

==History==
West Broadway was once two streets: Chapel Street below Canal Street, and Laurens Street above it.

In the early 1750s, [[Trinity Church (Manhattan)|Trinity Church]] laid down a street grid on its property, known as King's Farm, between the Hudson River and Broadway in lower Manhattan. About the same time, Trinity founded King's College, now [[Columbia University]], and donated a plot of land bordered by Barclay, Murray, and [[Church Street (Manhattan)|Church Streets]] for its campus,<ref>{{cite book | title=City on a Grid | last=Koeppel | first=Gerard | publisher=Da Capo Press | year=2015 | place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | isbn=9780306822841 | page=11 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjmwBAAAQBAJ | quote=…Trinity Church in the early 1750s laid out a portion of its wedge of land between Broadway and the Hudson River into a small neighborhood of rectangular blocks around its newly chartered King's College, at the town's then suburban fringe between Barclay and Murray Streets, west of Church Street. This marked the birth of both a great school (now Columbia University) and the idea of rectilinear planning on Manhattan.}}</ref> to which the school moved in 1760.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/mar04/columbia250_3.php | website=Columbia College Today | title=250 Years | date=March 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225234844/http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/mar04/columbia250_3.php | archive-date=December 25, 2016 | access-date=February 16, 2017 | url-status=live | quote=1755: Trinity Church presents King’s College with a parcel of land bordered by Church Street, Barclay Street, Murray Street and the Hudson River, and intersected by Park Place.… 1760: King’s College moves to a three-acre site at Park Place, overlooking the Hudson River. The campus comprises a three-story stone building, a private park and 24 rooms total for living quarters, a chapel, classrooms and dining.}}</ref> According to a 1755 map, "Chappel Street" was part of this grid, running from Barkly (Barclay) to just past Warrens (Warren) Street and ending at the palisade which protected the north end of the city.<ref>{{cite web | last=Maerschalck | first=Francis W. | title=A plan of the city of New York from an actual survey, anno Domini, M[D]CC,LV by F. Maerschalck, city survey[o]r | website=Library of Congress | url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3804n.ar110100/ | year=1755 | publisher=G. Duyckinck}}</ref> In the 1760s, Trinity Church ceded its streets between Fulton and Reade Streets to the city and Anthony Rutgers' heirs, owners of the land north of Reade Street, mapped their property into streets and lots. In the 1790s, Chapel Street was graded and paved from Murray to Reade Streets and extended to Leonard Street.<ref>{{cite report | title=Tribeca South Historic District Designation Report | url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1712.pdf | date=December 1992 | publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission | last1=Harris | last2=Urbanelli | last3=McHugh | first1=Gale | first2=Elisa | first3=Kevin | pages=5 (paragraph 2) and 44 (paragraph 1)}}</ref>

In 1831, the [[New York City Council|New York City Common Council]] renamed the two blocks of Chapel Street between Barclay and Murray Streets "College Place".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/minutescommonco03petegoog#page/n716/mode/2up | title=Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York 1784–1831 | volume=19 | publisher=City of New York | place=New York | year=1917 | page=706 (May 9, 1831) | quote=A Petition of the Trustees of Columbia College and owners of property in the vicinity of Murray Barclay & Chaple streets praying that, that part of Chaple street lying between Murray and Barclay street may be called "College Place" was read and the prayer of the Petition granted.}}</ref> A decade later Chapel Street was renamed "West Broadway" with the same purpose as that behind the renaming of [[East Broadway (Manhattan)|East Broadway]], to reduce the traffic congestion on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] itself,<ref>{{cite streetbook}}, p.110</ref> but both names were used for over twenty more years. An 1835 map calls Chapel Street "West Broadway"<ref>{{cite web | url-status=live | title=1835 David Burr Map of New York City | last=Burr | first=David H. | year=1834–36 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075232/http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NewYorkCity-burr-1836 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | access-date=March 2, 2017 | url=http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NewYorkCity-burr-1836 | website=Geographicus Rare Antique Maps | place=Brooklyn, New York}}</ref> but an 1850 map calls it "Chapel Street".<ref>{{cite web | url-status=live | title=1850 Mitchell Map of New York City | url=http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NewYorkCity-mitchell-1850| website=Geographicus Rare Antique Maps | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060731/http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/NewYorkCity-mitchell-1850 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | access-date=March 2, 2017 | place=Brooklyn, New York | first=Samuel Augustus | last=Mitchell}}</ref><ref group=note>Similarly, an 1837 advertisement refers to "West Broadway" ({{cite news | url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030311/1837-02-17/ed-1/seq-4/ | date=February 17, 1837 | 
page=4, col. 2, third advertisement, fourth line from bottom | postscript=none | title=Highly Concentrated Compound | newspaper=[[New York Herald]]}}) and an 1857 news story refers to "Chapel Street" ({{cite news | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/08/01/78503209.pdf | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 1, 1857 | at=paragraph 4 | title=The Rescue of Auguste Parot |postscript=none}}).</ref> Around 1850, the two blocks from Murray to Chambers Street were renamed to be part of College Place.<ref>{{cite web | title=New Map of the City of New-York | year=1850 | publisher=Serrell & Perkins | place=New York | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-ef97-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 | website=The New York Public Library Digital Collections}}</ref>

[[File:West Bayard Farm.jpg | thumb|left | Origin of Laurens Street]]
Laurens Street belonged to a different grid. In 1788, the Bayard family, dividing their farm into blocks and lots for sale, laid down eight streets parallel to Broadway, numbered from east to west, plus seven cross streets. A few years later, the numbered streets were named, and by the turn of the century they were renamed again for [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] officers, including [[Henry Laurens]] (see [[Media:West Bayard Farm.jpg|map]]).<ref>{{cite book | title=City on a Grid | last=Koeppel | first=Gerard | publisher=Da Capo Press | year=2015 | place=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | isbn=9780306822841 | pages=12–16 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjmwBAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url-status=live | website=Curbed New York | title=How West Broadway Became One of NYC's Most Important Streets | first=James | last=Nevius | date=January 14, 2016 | publisher=[[Vox Media, Inc.]] | url=http://ny.curbed.com/2016/1/14/10849484/how-west-broadway-became-one-of-nycs-most-important-streets | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806135343/http://ny.curbed.com/2016/1/14/10849484/how-west-broadway-became-one-of-nycs-most-important-streets | archive-date=August 6, 2016 | access-date=March 3, 2017 | quote=[It's the younger Laurens's] patriotic father, Henry, who is the namesake of Laurens Street…. The elder Laurens was president of the [[Continental Congress]] and was held as a prisoner in the [[Tower of London]] during the Revolution—the only American ever held there.}}</ref> By the 1830s, the neighborhood was a [[red-light district]] nicknamed "Rotten Row",<ref>{{cite book | last=Gilfoyle | first=Timothy J. | page=47 | title=City of Eros | place=New York | publisher=W. W. Norton & Company | year=1992 | isbn=0393311082 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccEP_1Lox-cC | quote=Along Church and Chapel Streets, continuing north of Canal Street into Laurens Street (Rotten Row, as it was nicknamed), were many expensive brothels.}}</ref> and by the 1860s it was beset by poverty, filth, and violent crime. An 1860 proposal to widen Laurens Street and extend it north one block to [[Washington Square Park]]<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=February 21, 1860 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/02/21/news/the-board-of-councilmen-proposed-street-improvements-fire-marshal-s-report.html | title=The Board of Councilmen | quote=The Street Committee was requested to report upon the utility of widening Laurens-street twenty-five feet on the westerly side, and also of extending it to Fourth street.}}</ref> was carried out in 1869 and 1870. In addition, a roadway was built to connect West Broadway to Fifth Avenue, introducing carriage traffic into Washington Square Park, and Laurens Street was officially renamed South Fifth Avenue in an attempt to improve its image.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[New York Herald]] | url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1870-10-16/ed-1/seq-10/ | date=October 16, 1870 | page=10 | title=South Fifth Avenue}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | date=September 29, 1871 | title=Our Ruined Squares | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1871/09/29/91454120.pdf | quote=The opening of a carriage communication between the north and south sides of this square was perhaps not to be avoided. But was it therefore necessary to destroy the square utterly?}}</ref>

The 1860 proposal to widen Laurens Street had accompanied a proposal to widen College Place and extend it southward to Greenwich Street.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 21, 1860 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/02/21/news/the-board-of-councilmen-proposed-street-improvements-fire-marshal-s-report.html | title=The Board of Councilmen | quote=[A resolution] to have College-place widened on the westerly side, from Chambers-street to Barclay, and extended to Fulton-street [was referred to the Committee on Streets].}}</ref><ref group="note">A similar proposal had been made ten years earlier. ({{cite news | url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030313/1850-11-09/ed-1/seq-7 | newspaper=New York Herald | date=November 9, 1850 | page=7, col. 2, "Board of Assistant Aldermen", "Reports of Committees", paragraph 3 | title=Common Council | quote=Committee on Streets…to non-concur in resolution to employ a surveyor to estimate the expense of extending and widening College Place from Barclay to Greenwich Streets. Adopted.}})</ref> It was finally carried out in 1895,<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 7, 1895 | title=Like A Cyclone District | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/02/07/102447652.pdf}}</ref> when Laurens Street and South Fifth Avenue were both made part of West Broadway.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The New York Times | date=April 10, 1895 | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/04/10/102453712.pdf | title=Aldermen Long in Session | at=Last paragraph}}</ref>

=== LaGuardia Place ===
In 1967 the section of the street north of Houston Street was renamed "LaGuardia Place", after former mayor [[Fiorello La Guardia]].<ref>
{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/nyregion/the-history-of-east-and-west-broadway.html|title=The History of East and West Broadway|last=Williams|first=Keith|date=14 December 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=25 January 2020}}</ref> It features LaGuardia Gardens, between West 3rd and [[Bleecker Street|Bleecker]] Streets, which includes a commissioned statue of the "Little Flower", as La Guardia was nicknamed. Sculpted by Neil Estern, with a pedestal designed by architect Ruth Shapiro, the bronze statue was dedicated in 1994, and was commissioned and donated to the city by the Friends of LaGuardia Place.<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/art-and-antiuities/permanent-art-and-monuments?/info?monId=1778 "Fiorello H. La Guardia"] [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]</ref>  The sculpture was commissioned as part of a project to beautify and revitalize that section of the street, whose buildings had been torn down many years before by [[Robert Moses]] to be part of the Fifth Avenue South connector to his never-built [[Lower Manhattan Expressway]].<ref>[https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/historical-signs/listings?id=12183 "Fiorello H. LaGuardia Statue"] [[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]</ref>

==Transportation==
===Current===
The southbound [[M20 (New York City bus)|M20]] bus of the [[New York City Bus]] system runs on West Broadway from the five-way intersection with [[Varick Street (Manhattan)|Varick Street]] and Leonard Street south to [[Chambers Street (Manhattan)|Chambers Street]].<ref>{{Cite NYC bus map|M}}</ref> The [[Franklin Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|Franklin Street]] and [[Chambers Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)|Chambers Street]] stations of the [[IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line]] ({{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh south}}) are located on West Broadway.<ref>{{NYCS const|map}}</ref>

===Former===
The [[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue Elevated]], formally the Metropolitan Elevated Railway, opened on June 5, 1878. It ran above College Place, West Broadway, and South Fifth Avenue from Murray Street, where it turned from Church Street, to Amity (West 3rd) Street, where it turned to Sixth Avenue.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1878/06/06/80685231.pdf|title=Establishing Rapid Transit|date=June 6, 1878|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> The Sixth Avenue El was abandoned on December 4, 1938 and razed in 1939, being replaced by the underground [[IND Eighth Avenue Line]].<ref>{{cite enc-nyc2|pages=405, 408}}</ref>

==References==
'''Informational notes'''
{{reflist|group=note}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat|West Broadway (Manhattan)}}
*[http://www.nysonglines.com/wbroadway.htm New York Songlines: West Broadway], a virtual walking tour
* {{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/fodors/top/features/travel/destinations/unitedstates/newyork/newyorkcity/fdrs_feat_111_6.html|title=Walking Tour: SoHo/TriBeCa|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2013-06-08}}
* {{cite web|url=http://forgotten-ny.com/2008/05/west-broadway-in-3-parts/|title=West Broadway|date=5 May 2008 |publisher=[[Forgotten NY]]|access-date=2013-06-08}}

{{Greenwich Village}}
{{SoHo, Manhattan|state=collapsed}}
{{Tribeca, Manhattan|state=collapsed}}
{{Streets of Manhattan|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Streets in Manhattan]]
[[Category:SoHo, Manhattan]]