Eldridge Street in A Plan of the City of New York (1776)

Eldridge Street is a street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

and

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 Aust ...

, running from

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River i ...

south to East Broadway. Originally called Third Street according to the numbering system for the Delancey Farm Grid, it was named in 1817 for Lt. Joseph C. Eldridge, whose unit was ambushed by Indian allies of the British in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

Notable locations

The

Eldridge Street Synagogue The Eldridge Street Synagogue is a synagogue and National Historic Landmark in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1887, it is one of the first synagogues erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews. The Orthodox congre ...

at 12 Eldridge Street opened in 1887 and served Congregation

Kahal Adath Jeshurun The Eldridge Street Synagogue is a synagogue and National Historic Landmark in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1887, it is one of the first synagogues erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews. The Orthodox congregatio ...

. It is one of the first synagogues in the United States erected by

Eastern European Jews The expression 'Eastern European Jewry' has two meanings. Its first meaning refers to the current political spheres of the Eastern European countries and its second meaning refers to the Jewish communities in Russia and Poland. The phrase 'Easte ...

(Ashkenazis). Today the synagogue is the Museum at Eldridge Street.

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

lived at 19 Eldridge Street. 20 Eldridge Street was Hook and Ladder Company Eagle No. 4 in the mid-19th century. Today the building, once two stories high, now five, is a Buddhist temple. The New York County Jail, better known as the Eldridge Street Jail, was located at 22 Eldridge Street and operated from 1836 to 1862, when it was replaced by a new jail on

Ludlow Street Ludlow Street runs between Houston and Division Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Vehicular traffic runs south on this one-way street. Name Ludlow Street was named after Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, the naval off ...

. The jail building started out as a three-story private home and before becoming a jail was a first a school and then city watchhouse. American lyricist

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

was born at 60 Eldridge Street. Musicians

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Mo ...

and

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

of the American rock band

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of t ...

lived at 84 Eldridge Street in the 1980s. 105-107 Eldridge Street was the Eldridge Street Police Station from 1869 to 1912. Danish-American photographer and social reformer

Jacob Riis Jacob August Riis ( ; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, "muckraking" journalist and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in America at the turn of the twen ...

took several photographs of the inmates there and documented their squalid living conditions in his 1890 book

How the Other Half Lives ''How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York'' (1890) is an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. The photographs served as a basis ...

Gallery

File:EldridgeStreetSynagogue.jpg, The Eldridge Street Synagogue File:20 Eldridge Street.jpg, The old fire station today File:22 Eldridge Street.jpg, A Chinese store on Eldridge Street File:172 Eldridge Street.jpg, A mosque on Eldridge Street

References

{{coord, 40, 43, 8.26, N, 73, 59, 33.23, W, region:US, display=title Streets in Manhattan Chinatown, Manhattan Lower East Side