Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan in 2014

Lower Manhattan (or downtown Manhattan) is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York. Lower Manhattan or "downtown" is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor (also known as Upper New York Bay).

When referring specifically to the lower Manhattan business district such as Wall Street and its immediate environs, the northern border is commonly designated by thoroughfares approximately a mile-and-a-half (3 km) south of 14th Street and a mile (2 km) north of the island's southern tip: Chambers Street from near the Hudson east to the Brooklyn Bridge entrances and overpass. Two other major arteries are also sometimes identified as lower Manhattan's northern border: Canal Street, half a mile north of Chambers Street, and 23rd Street, half a mile north of 14th Street.

Lower Manhattan Media

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  New Amsterdam, centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year England took control and renamed it New York

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  Portrait of Peter Stuyvesant (1612–1672). All of the prints of Stuyvesant from the 19th century are said to be based on this painting. His birthname was "Pieter Stuyvesant". Later he Latinized his birthname to "Petrus". In the 19th century American historians anglicized his given name to "Peter". The name variant "Peter" was never mentioned in historical records in the 17th century.

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  Sidney's Map Twelve Miles Around New York, 1849 lithograph by James Charles Sidney

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  Cooper Union at Astor Place, one of Lower Manhattan's most storied buildings, where Abraham Lincoln gave his famed Cooper Union speech on February 27, 1860

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  View from the Woolworth Building in 1913

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  Aerial view of the tip of Manhattan, New York, United States ca. 1931. Note that the Cities Service Building (now known as the American International Building), which would become lower Manhattan's tallest building in 1932, is only partially completed.

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  Lower Manhattan photographed in 1938 using Agfacolor

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  View from an airplane in 1981 prior to the September 11 attacks when the Lower Manhattan skyline was dominated by the Twin Towers of the former World Trade Center

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  United Airlines Flight 175 hits the South Tower of the original World Trade Center on September 11, 2001