It became one of the two main streets formed during the settlement of the Dutch West India Company. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642 ("the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily"). Known at the time as de Heere Straat, or “Gentlemen`s Street,” (The original Dutch name) Broadway originated at Fort Amsterdam and followed a natural ridge of land that led northwards through the fields and farms of New Amsterdam. De Heere Straat extended to the wall that protected the Dutch colonists from English encroachment along present-day Wall Street. There were only two entry gates, with one situated on de Heere Straat opposite Trinity Church.It was renamed "Broadway" after the British took over the city, because of its unusual width. Although currently the name of the street is simply "Broadway", in a 1776 map of New York City, it is labeled as "Broadway Street".
