Worth Street is a two-way street running roughly northwest-southeast in Manhattan, New York City. It runs from Hudson Street, TriBeCa, in the west to

Chatham Square Chatham Square is a major intersection in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City. The square lies at the confluence of eight streets: the Bowery, Doyers Street, East Broadway, St. James Place, Mott Street, Oliver Street, Worth Street and Park R ...

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austr ...

in the east. Past Chatham Square, the roadway continues as Oliver Street, a north-south street running one-way northbound. Between West Broadway and Church Street, Worth Street is also known as Justice John M. Harlan Way in honor of the Supreme Court justice and alumnus of the nearby

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include ...

. Between

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and

Baxter Street Baxter Street () is a narrow thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the borough of Manhattan in New York City in the United States in North America. It lies between Mulberry Street and Centre Street. It r ...

s, Worth Street is also known as the "Avenue of the Strongest", "New York's Strongest" being a nickname for the city's Department of Sanitation. The western end of Worth Street, between Hudson Street and West Broadway, abuts

60 Hudson Street 60 Hudson Street, formerly known as the Western Union Building, is a 24-story telecommunications building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1928–1930, it was one of several Art Deco-style buildings designed ...

, the former Western Union headquarters that later was converted into an internet hub. Worth Street passes through the cluster of government offices and courthouses centered on

Foley Square Foley Square, also called Federal Plaza, is a street intersection in the Civic Center neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, which contains a small triangular park named Thomas Paine Park. The space is bordered by Worth Street to t ...

. 125 Worth Street (at Centre Street) houses the headquarters of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Department of Sanitation. Additionally, the New York Supreme Court courthouses at 60 Centre Street and 80 Centre Street (the Louis J. Lefkowitz Building) and the

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...

Federal Courthouse (

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

) at 500 Pearl Street all have entrances facing Worth Street.

History

What is now Worth Street originally started at the Five Points intersection and headed west; it was known as Anthony Street. In 1797, it was named Catherine Street (separately from the other Catherine Street to the southeast, which remains today, as well as another one to the north). Starting at Hudson Street, it ended at the western bank of the

Collect Pond Collect Pond, or Fresh Water Pond,, p. 250. was a body of fresh water in what is now Chinatown in Lower Manhattan, New York City. For the first two centuries of European settlement in Manhattan, it was the main New York City water supply system ...

. Catherine Lane, which ran parallel and to the north, still exists as an alleyway between Broadway and Lafayette Street. An 1807 map shows that the pond was filled in, and that Anthony Street ran to an unlabeled short street where Centre Street is now. After 1811, Anthony Street was extended to Orange Street (later renamed Baxter Street), completing the "fifth point" of the intersection by bisecting its northeast corner. In 1854, it was renamed Worth Street in honor of Major-general

William J. Worth William Jenkins Worth (March 1, 1794 – May 7, 1849) was an American officer during the War of 1812, the Second Seminole War, and the Mexican–American War. Early military career Worth was commissioned as a first lieutenant in March 1813, s ...

, hero of the 1848 Mexican War. Worth is buried two miles north in Worth Square, which is at the north end of

Madison Square Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United S ...

near 26th Street. In 1868, the city opened the section from Five Points east to

. A station on the New York City Subway's IRT Lexington Avenue Line at Worth Street was open between 1904 and 1962. On February 5, 2016, a crane collapsed on Worth Street at

, killing one person and injuring two others.

References

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