Hanover Square is a square with a public park in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is triangular in shape, formed by the intersections of Pearl Street and Hanover Street; Pearl Street and a street named "Hanover Square" itself (whose opposite side of Pearl continues as Hanover St.; and William Street (northern continuation of "Hanover Square" street) and Stone Street. The side between Hanover/Pearl intersection and William/Stone intersection is a pedestrian pathway along the building front facing the square and Pearl Street. Most surrounding buildings are primarily commercial. The square's pocket park is the Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden, maintained by the New York City Department of Parks, and has an area of or .

History

The square was named for the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...

in 1714 when King George I ascended to the throne. For many years, Hanover Square was the center of New York's

commodity market A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products. The primary sector includes agricultural products, energy products, and metals. Soft commodities may be perishable and harvested, w ...

, with the

New York Cotton Exchange The New York Cotton Exchange (NYCE) is a commodities exchange founded in 1870 by a group of one hundred cotton brokers and merchants in New York City. In 1998, the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) became the parent company of the New York Cotton ...

1 Hanover Square One Hanover (formerly known as India House, Hanover Bank Building, and New York Cotton Exchange Building) is a commercial building at 1 Hanover Square, on the southwestern edge of the square, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in Ne ...

, on the square's southwest corner; the New York Cocoa Exchange, now the

New York Board of Trade ICE Futures U.S.—known as the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) until September, 2007— is a physical commodity futures exchange located in New York City. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). History It origi ...

; and others nearby. The square was also known as "Printing House Square". The

Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyi ...

broke out here on December 16, 1835, decimating much of Lower Manhattan. 3 Hanover Square, a former home to the New York Cotton Exchange, and 10 Hanover Square, a former office building, were converted to residential use. The elevated

IRT Third Avenue Line The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent rai ...

had a station above the square from 1878 until 1950. Upon the removal of the elevated, a park at Hanover Square was dedicated in November 1951. The Queen Elizabeth II Garden (originally the British Garden at Hanover Square) opened in June 2008. Following

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

's visit of Hanover Square in July 2010, the garden was rededicated as a memorial park for

Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has the same constitutional monarch and head of state as the other realms. The current monarch is King Charles III. Except for the United Kingdom, in each of the re ...

citizens who died at the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in May 2012.

Transportation

The nearest

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

stations are: *

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

() * Broad Street () * South Ferry/Whitehall Street () *

() * Pier 11/Wall Street The fourth phase of the

Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue o ...

is proposed to extend subway service to Hanover Square.MTA map
of future 2nd Avenue Line

References

External links

NYC Parks history of Hanover Square
{{Protected areas of New York City Parks in Manhattan Squares in Manhattan Pocket parks Financial District, Manhattan