Astor Place is a short two-block street built before Manhattan was developed on a grid. It was named for John Jacob Astor--at one time America's wealthiest man--in the mid-19th c. Of particular interest are the Cooper Union buildings in the area and Tony Rosenthal's large, spinnable public sculpture "Cube."

The vertical line shows the path that would become known as Bowery Road, but was originally the same up island trail that was incorporated into Broadway. The path westward to the Hudson River became known as Sand Hill Road until it crossed Minetta Creek, and still exists past that point as Greenwich Avenue. Stokes thinks the 1644 cattle fence followed this path from Bowery to Minetta Creek. These paths connected Lenape villages, farms and hunting and fishing grounds. From Indian paths in the great metropolis by Reginald Pelham Bolton, published by the New York Museum of the American Indian and Heye Foundation.

Astor Place

Red Cloud, chief of the largest tribe of the Teton Sioux Nation, gave a speech at a reception in his honor at Cooper Union. “We want preserves in our reserves. We want honest men, and we want you to help to keep us in the lands that belong to us so that we may not be prey to those who are viciously disposed,” he said at the end of his speech.

Known as “Kintecoying” or “Crossroads of Three Nations,” Astor Place was a powwow point for the Lenape tribes of Manhattan. At a sacred oak tree, where the branches of the trails converged, the Lenapes were said to have traded with one another, exchanged news, and held spiritual ceremonies and tribal councils.

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan asks listeners to use their imaginations as he describes the site of Shearith Israel Synagogue that once stood near 22 William Street. The first synagogue in North America, it was built in 1730. As the surrounding neighborhood - which would become the Financial District - became more industrial, congregants left the site to build synagogues in Greenwich Village and Upper West Side.

 At Bowling Green, Kaplan talks about Evacuation Day, the departure of the British from New York City, and Charging Bull, a popular statue representing the spirit of Wall Street and American capitalism. 

 At the statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park, Kaplan discusses Hale's life and significance, and the history of City Hall. 

 Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the history of Foley Square and the African Burial Ground. 

Astor Place

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