BEFORE 1928 6th Avenue went only as far south as Minetta and Carmine Streets in the center of Greenwich Village, and was mostly covered by an elevated train north of west 3rd Street. However, the IND Subway, now the A, C and E trains, was built along Church Street and required a right of way between Franklin and Carmine Streets. Enter 6th Avenue, which traffic engineers (before Robert Moses took power) extended south, giving both autos and subway trains a new route uptown.
The extension obliterated streets in 6th Avenue’s path such as Hancock Street, Clark Street, Cottage Place and other streets, and also shortened others, such as Macdougal Street, which formerly began at Spring Street and ran uptown to West 8th. Here, at 6th Avenue and Prince Street, you can get a glimpse of what was formerly Macdougal but is now part of 6th. The extension produced a triangle, now called Father Fagan Park, named for a young priest at nearby St. Anthony’s Church. Fr. Fagan died heroically while rescuing two other priests in a fire at the church on November 4, 1938.
Some day I would like to do a more in-depth look at those small streets eliminated by the subway extension. For now, be aware that that oddly slanted section of 6th Avenue that contains #188 through #200 6th, including #192 and 196 shown here, used to be part of Macdougal Street and carried different house numbers. Today, Macdougal Street house numbering begins at #34, not #1!
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3/21/22