In 2009, Forgotten New York walked Division Street, one of Manhattan’s most unremarked-on thoroughfares. It hasn’t gotten much respect over the centuries and decades, either — it’s reduced to less than half of its original length, from the Bowery all the way to Grand Street. For several decades, it has extended only to Canal Street. I was on Division Street again on New Year’s Eve 2024 in a Lower East Side Walk; photos from that event will be popping up eventually. Division Street is so-called because it was the colonial-era line between the farms of James deLancey and Henry Rutgers, who between them owned most of the Lower East Side in the late 18th Century.
Seen here at Forsyth, the Manhattan Bridge spans Division Street between Market and Forsyth Streets. From 1880 to 1940, an even 60 years but an eyeblink in the larger scheme of things, The 2nd Avenue El ran above Division between Chatham Square and Allen Street, where it turned north. The bridge was completed in 1909 and the 2nd Avenue El in 1880 — yet that underpass seems sort of short to fit an elevated train beneath. Looking at this photo I’ve no idea how the El fit under the Manhattan Bridge! Perhaps the el pillars were quite short in this location. Any engineers out there who know about this, let me know.
If you look at photos of Division Street in 1940s NYC, you’ll see that the el did run quite low above Division Street. Surprisingly Division Street in that era was a fashion mecca, especially fur dealers. Today, it’s a backwater if it’s remarked on at all.
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