The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-12-14
ODD CfTY STREETS.
How Strangers and Residents Get Confused
In TryinR 10 Find Certain Streets

IN 10 FhUu soFt"tu SsVeotA
How came the streets Of New York city
so crooked and irreg ulsr In width 2" 10 q oues-
ton asked daily by foreigners and visitors.
The only answer lie the stereotpyed one. that our
Dutch ancestors we're 30 Indifferent to the fu-
ture and so indoent that thcy werc content to
follow the paths made by cows In selecting
stes to build their "e"s This explanation
Is the only one TO ad nj Tor the u,..
OF many Of the stree of old New York.
Starting from tho bt OF Whitehall street at
tho Battery. the flrs treet to tho left lie State
street once the ia ionable quarter OF the
arstocracy OF Ct fury ago. 1t begins at
whitehall street. lkes n complete bend
around portion o he Battery. and ends Mt
broadway From To street eastward Pearl
street forms q per ct horseshoe. and ends Mt
Broadway one mill istant in a straight line.
Pearl street Is thre miles in length. and begins
and ends on the sa street. for State street Is
really portion OF roadway.
The street runni from east to west at the
Battery and the Qeginning Of Broadway has
two names. One block is known as Bowling
Green and the other three blocks "a Battery
Face pace Wall stree! runs to the East RIVER from
Broad, Beaver Exchange a paS S~ and ,H" otSsr
small zigzag streets thai might. indeed. have
been ,, Gov, cfowraihs a hundred years ngo. -
way. On tho west side ~ Broadway tho same
street Is called Cortlandt street. Then comes
street on the west OF Bronhway, and Ann street
on the east. which is NGsey street on the west.
From Ann street. on the enst side of II" Post
once, Pnrk row runs parallel with the City
Hall Park TO Printing House square. Then
Nassau street. which ends AT THE SuS Office. is
called Chatham street from tho opposite cor.
nnr. New Chambers street crosses Chatham
and leads 70 the East River. L. the immed ate
Be u ana cy Hail pSc BmSnc HdsS
Centre. and William streets. all running in diff
ier.nt directions.
:, Worth street; which was cut through from
Broadway. ends NJ Chatham square. From
MS point several streets begin bowery; Mott,
Nsw Bowery, MuIberry. aud Jam mes streets Ue
Continuing on NJ the o!d Bowery, Bleeck"r
Bowery. and runs west for about mile, when
it makes n, sharp curve AMI ends a, Eighth
nyen ~ and Twelfth street A. TN, point a
md four blocks further north is Little
IIwe II street This part Of tho city is the
and s y nara dn tns
island. 4 policeman Of this ward stated that
his chief business was to aid people who were
unable 70 find the streets they we're looking for.
:. Il sometimes have customers, said he officer,
who don't know how TO pronounce the names
went Ssa an a sksd she bsr cane hramPnG back
threatened to report me for deceivng her.
After She Gained down little learned that it
MAS puN slTeet bue Wullt"l, NOT Jay. on, yes I.
we have many such cases. People get ali
mixed up. Sometimes we meet grown-up folks
who are, as he plcss children. They don't
know whether they want Madison street or
Madison avenue. Moore street or North Moore
street, Pei! street or Pearl street, Twelfth street
or Little. Twelfth street Charlton or Charles
street. West Nineteenth street or East Nine
teentli street. The snobbery Of calling ror-
tain block Of a street Whangioodle place or Fitz-
gilbert square. when in fact 1t is either Jones or
MhcdouEnl street, troubles strangers greatly.
people viii! stand some show OF finding out
WHARF they want to 60"
Why some streets are much wider than others
cannot be explained by the oldest inhnbitant
Tho cownath theory will do for tho lower part
o! New York, but this explanation canno go
beyond Canal street. The varying widths OF
up-town. streets is charged to the different
Ideas OF the different contractors who opened
those streets under dissimilar circumstances