Jones Street (Manhattan)

Jones Street is a street located in Greenwich Village in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Jones Street runs between Bleecker Street and West 4th Street.

Jones Street is often confused with Great Jones Street in NoHo, located a little more than a half-mile to the east.

What is now Jones Street predates 1789, and was named for Doctor Gardner Jones. Today's Great Jones Street was named for Samuel Jones, a lawyer who revised New York State's statutes in 1789 together with Richard Varick, and became known as "The Father of The New York Bar", who was also the brother-in-law of Gardner Jones.Boland Jr. , Ed. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407EFDC1E39F934A25750C0A9649C8B63 "F.Y.I."] , "The New York Times", March 17, 2002. Accessed September 8, 2008. "In 1789 a street was opened there, but New York already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village. So the new street was named Great Jones Street because it was wider than the norm."] Jones deeded the site of the street to the city under the condition that any street that ran through the property had to be named for him. However, when the street was first created in 1789, the city already had a "Jones Street," Neither brother-in-law would defer to the other to end the resulting confusion, but Samuel Jones finally ended the argument by suggesting "Then make mine 'Great Jones Street'". [ [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30616FC355C0C738DDDA10894DD484D81 "A THOROUGHLY UNFAIR QUIZ ABOUT NEW YORK"] , "The New York Times", August 10, 1985. Accessed September 8, 2008. "When neither man would yield the honor of having a street named for him, Samuel settled the issue--and one-upped his brother-in-law--by saying, "Then make mine Great Jones Street."] An alternative theory has the street name prefixed with "Great" as being the wider of the two Jones Streets.

Jones Street also features on the front cover of the 1963 Bob Dylan album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan". [Williams, Richard. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/16/biography.bobdylan "Tomorrow is a long time"] , "The Guardian", August 16, 2008. Accessed September 8, 2008. "Wrapped around each other, they walked through the slush towards the camera. Hunstein says they were on Cornelia Street. Rotolo is convinced it was Jones Street, one block closer to the apartment."] [ [http://gothamist.com/2006/04/18/nyc_album_art_t.php "NYC Album Art: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan"] , The Gothamist, April 16, 2008. Accessed September 8, 2008.]

References

ources

*"The Street Book"; an encyclopedia of Manhattan's street names and their origins. By Henry Moscow.