DYER Avenue, seen here from West 38th Street, is an unlikely candidate for a Forgotten New York item, as it’s one of the most car-trafficked roads in New York City. Indeed it’s nearly impossible to walk along the road as its sidewalks are just one or two feet wide. It’s even impossible to drive straight along its entire length. Its existence is tied in with the Lincoln Tunnel, as it was built along with the opening of the tunnel in 1937, necessitating the condemnation of a number of properties between West 30th and 42nd Streets between 9th and 10th Avenues. Dyer Avenue is the only major named avenue west of Park Madison Avenue between 14th and 59th Streets, though Hudson Boulevards East and West, short streets in the Hudson Yards area, were added in 2015.
The origins of Dyer Avenue’s name have been disagreed about in print. First, the wrong origin. Henry Moscow’s 1978 The Street Book is an invaluable resource, but he’s occasionally wrong. Moscow says it was named for William Dyre, NYC mayor in 1680, customs collector and one time owner of Ellis Island. In fact, Dyre was unpopular because of the taxes and import duties he levied. I’m unsure why Moscow thought this Dyre was the guy.
Meanwhile, Sanna Feirstein seems to have the right idea in Naming New York, from 2000. She argues that Major General George Rathbone Dyer was the guy. As chairman of the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he approved the creation of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels and passed away while the latter was under construction. Feirstein does err, though; she called it “Dyer Street.”
Don’t be too disappointed about William Dyre, though. He has his own avenue. In fact I have a nearly irresistible urge to type “Dyre” in this piece because it’s familiar to #5 train riders as the station at the end of the line, way up in Baychester near the city line. The Bronx has a whole block of avenues named for colonial-era mayors, and Dyre is one of them.
More about Dyer Avenue in this FNY post from 2021.
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1/12/25