Who put the canal in Canal Street?
Even the most cursory survey of Manhattan today provides no hint of its somewhat soupy past. Crisscrossing streams, marshlands, swamps, and ponds were all drained to make way for “progress,†and the island’s largest body of water was the Collect Pond (a name derived from the Dutch “Kalchook,†or Lime Shell Point). Situated essentially within the bounds of present-day streets Franklin, Worth, Lafayette, and Baxter, the Collect was fished out by the mid 1700s and became the site of a public works program designed to appease the restless, poverty-stricken masses in the early 19th century.
To drain the pond, a canal was built to both the east and west. This canal was later filled in and paved to become, of course, Canal Street. Say goodbye to windblown vessels and wave hello to the internal combustion engine.
(Mickey Z. can be found here)
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