Allen Street (Manhattan)

*Allen Street is a street which runs north-south through the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Chinatown, and the Lower East Side, and is continued north of Houston Street as First Avenue. The street's namesake was Captain William Henry Allen, the youngest person to command a Navy ship in the War of 1812. He died in action at the age of 29. His exploits included the capture of the British ship HMS Macedonian [Moscow, Henry:"The Street Book"; Fordham University Press 1978. P. 22.] .

History

*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 [A New-Yorker, 1853 "Historical Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Metropolitan City of America" [http://books.google.com/books?id=Oxd8CVOBpFkC&pg=PA249&lpg=PA249&dq=%22new+york+orphan+asylum%22+history&source=web&ots=ZLriDcSrJV&sig=Vx0sfKtEHe_FT-0kBnVVTMhCU6M#PPA3,M1] ] "Chester Street" was renamed "Asylum Street". In 1833, "Asylum Street" was quietly renamed Third Street, and finally to "Allen Street" [I. N. Phelps Stokes, 1918 "The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1498-1909, vol. III", p. 993]

References

External links

* [http://www.nychinatown.org/storefronts/allen.html Allen Street Storefronts] (A Journey through Chinatown)