Allen Street

{{Infobox street

| name =Allen Street

| native_name =

| marker_image =

| image =Allen-Delancey Mall jeh.JPG

| caption =Allen Street's median mall, since rebuilt

| image_map =

| other_name = Pike Street (south of Division Street)

| former_names = Chester Street

| postal_code = 10002

| addresses =

| length_m =

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| location = Manhattan, New York City

| client =

| maint =

| coordinates = 40.43639 N, 73.592674 W

| direction_a = North

| terminus_a = Houston Street

| direction_b = South

| terminus_b = South Street

| junction =

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| north = First Avenue

| south =

| east = Orchard Street

| west = Eldridge Street

}}

Allen Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan which runs north-south through the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Chinatown and the Lower East Side. It is continued north of Houston Street as First Avenue. South of Division Street, it is known as Pike Street to its southern terminus at South Street. The northbound and southbound roadways are separated by a meridian mall, which has two bike lanes located outside the meridian mall; each bike lane is unidirectional. The street's namesake was Master Commandant William Henry Allen, the youngest person to command a Navy ship in the War of 1812. He was killed in action at the age of 28. His exploits included the capture of the British ship HMS Macedonian.{{cite book |last=Moscow |first=Henry |title=The Street Book: An Encyclopedia of Manhattan's Street Names and Their Origins |year=1979 |publisher=Fordham University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-8232-1275-0 |page=22}}

History

File:0355New York City Allen Street.JPG

File:WLA hmaa George Luks Allen Street ca 1905.jpg, Allen Street, c.1905]]

File:105 Allen Street - 3-14-05.jpg in the foreground]]

Prior to 1799, this street in lower Manhattan was laid out and named "Chester Street". After the building of the New York Orphan Asylum on this street around May 1806{{cite book |title=New York: A Historical Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan City of America |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkahistori00currgoog |quote=new york orphan asylum history. |access-date=2010-05-29 |year=1853 |publisher=Carlton & Phillips |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkahistori00currgoog/page/n259 249]}} "Chester Street" was renamed "Asylum Street". In 1833, "Asylum Street" was quietly renamed Third Street, and finally "Allen Street."{{cite book |last=Stokes |first=I.N. Phelps |title=The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909 |volume=III |year=1998 |publisher=Lawbook Exchange |location=Union, NJ |isbn=1-886363-30-7 |page=993}}

During its heyday in the early part of the 20th century, it was populated by Romanian Jews, as well as Sephardic Jews from Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Greece. Many worked in brass and copper fabrication shops in the basements, while the wares were sold in street level stores.{{cite book|last=Mendelsohn|first=Joyce |title= The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited |year=2001|publisher=Lower East Side Press|location=New York}}

In September 1903, a gun battle was fought beneath the El tracks at Allen and Rivington Streets between followers of Paul Kelly, leader of the Five Points Gang, and the rival gang of Monk Eastman. At one point a hundred men joined the fray, with police driven off by gunfire. Three men were killed and numerous innocent civilians were injured.{{cite book|last1=Lardner|first1=James|last2=Reppetto|first2=Thomas|title=NYPD: A City and Its Police|url=https://archive.org/details/nypdcityitspolic00lard|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Henry Holt & Co.|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/nypdcityitspolic00lard/page/125 125]}}

Fire destroyed an overcrowded tenement on Allen Street in March 1905, claiming the lives of twenty people. The five-story building at 105 Allen Street housed 200 people.

The street was widened in the early 1930s by demolition of buildings on the east side of the street. This created a broad thoroughfare with a meridian mall in the center and the El running down the western roadway. The El was demolished in 1942.

Allen Street was the site of numerous shops specializing in brassware in the 1910s through the 1940s but only two such shops remained by the late 1970s. In 1979, Allen Street was described by New York magazine as an "unbusy area removed from the bustle of Grand Street and the Bowery."{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-ECAAAAMBAJ&q=%22allen+street%22+new+york&pg=PA82|title=New York Journal: Splendor in the Brass Shop|last=Edelman|first=Bernard|date=Dec 24, 1979|work=New York|page=82|access-date=11 July 2010}}

The street's center mall, along with that of Pike Street, was reconfigured in 2009. Parts of that mall were reconstructed completely in 2011.[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/allenpike.pdf Allen and Pike Streets][http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2010-06-allen-pike-after.pdf Allen and Pike Streets: Before and After] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105114345/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2010-06-allen-pike-after.pdf |date=2012-11-05 }}{{cite web |last=Kazis |first=Noah |date=July 25, 2011 |url=http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/25/eyes-on-the-street-public-space-upgrades-for-allen-and-pike-streets-in-progress/ |title=Eyes on the Street: Public Space Upgrades for Allen and Pike in Progress |website=Streetsblog |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103220236/https://www.streetsblog.org/2011/07/25/eyes-on-the-street-public-space-upgrades-for-allen-and-pike-streets-in-progress/ |archive-date=November 3, 2011}}

Transportation

A portion of the elevated IRT Second Avenue Line, commonly known as the Second Avenue El, was constructed over Allen Street's current southbound roadway (then the entire street) from Houston Street to Division Street in 1878, blocking out most of the light from the then-narrow street. The elevated railway was taken down in 1942. Currently, the nearest subway stations are Grand Street station, three blocks west at Chrystie Street ({{NYCS trains|Chrystie Manhattan}}) and Delancey Street – Essex Street station, three blocks east at Essex Street ({{NYCS trains|Delancey-Essex}}). Also, at the corner of East Houston Street and Allen Street, there are multiple entrances to the Second Avenue station ({{NYCS trains|Sixth Rutgers}}). There is also an intercity bus station at 84-86 Allen Street.

Allen Street in its entirety and Pike Street north of Madison Street is served by the M15/M15 SBS bus routes. Some local buses also serve Pike Street in its entirety, and some southbound SBS service short-turns at Houston Street. Additional service is provided by the westbound {{NYC bus link|M22}} running non-stop north from Madison Street to East Broadway, and the {{NYC bus link|B39}} at Delancey Street, using Rivington Street out of service to change direction.{{Cite NYC bus map|M}}

References

Notes

External links

[http://www.nychinatown.org/storefronts/allen.html Allen Street Storefronts] (A Journey through Chinatown)
[http://www.nysonglines.com/1av.htm#houston New York Songlines: First Avenue with Allen Street]
[http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/08/08/eyes-on-the-street-new-and-improved-allen-street-bikeway-and-plazas/ New and Improved Allen Street Bikeway and Plazas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161101060820/http://www.streetsblog.org/2012/08/08/eyes-on-the-street-new-and-improved-allen-street-bikeway-and-plazas/ |date=2016-11-01 }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110726145826/http://hesterstreet.org/documents/allenstudy.pdf Community Visioning Study for Allen Street Pedestrian Malls - 2008]

Category:Chinatown, Manhattan

Category:Streets in Manhattan

Category:Lower East Side