JAY STREETby Marta Troicka

A famed anecdote is the story of how over four hundred years ago, the Dutch purchased Manhattan from Native Ameri-cans settled on the land for only $24.

Whether this tale is true or not, New York City is undoubtedly one of the finest cities in the world, incomparable to any other. And a look at one little street nestled on the edge of Tribeca can show us exactly why.

Proud New Yorkers like to believe that New York City was always bound for greatness. From its humble beginnings as a forested is-land to the immensity it has grown into in a few hundred years, it is undoubtedly a feat of humanity. Fast-paced and ever-changing, New York City consistently adapts to the needs of it’s inhabitants. An exploration of a certain Jay Street in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan can demonstrate precisely this: from its beginnings as an indus-trial, mercantile hub to the expensive residen-tial lofts of today, its history is as unique yet

demonstrative as any other street in New York City. Named after John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States as well as gover-nor of New York, the current 13 buildings on the block were all constructed by 1931. The street holds a diverse background, represent-ing businesses such as a tobacco processing factory, then a fruit market, a nut-roasting fac-tory, and most recently, even a butter factory. Associations of the street over the years have included the egg industry, the cheese industry, the nut industry, and services such as hospital,

shipping, and banking were also present. Never all industries at once, but of course, Jay Street adjusted to the needs and developments of the area. Today, Jay Street is cut off from the Hudson River by P.S. 150. But originally, Jay led right onto a pier. Most blocks led onto their own piers, but as boats became a less popular mode of transportation, the piers were no longer necessary.

This exploration depends on historical archives, starting with one of the earliest artifacts from 1888 and moving forward.

fig. 1 Plate 17 from the Atlases of New York / Maps of the City of New York, date unknown

1888

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

AROMA OF ROASTING COFFEE.New York Times (1857-1922); Dec 8, 1888; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2007) with Index (1851-1993)pg. 8

In the late 1800’s, Jay Street was home to a certain coffee roasting plant owned by Fred-erick Akers. In 1888, the New York Times wrote of the tribulations of Mr. Akers, who “is accused by the Board of Health of mainta-ing a nuisance. . . The indictement . . . alleges that the smell of burning coffee is offensive and disagreeable. . . Ex-Judge Busteed ar-gued that the smell of roasting coffee was a very good sort of smell indeed, and he read from scientific books to show that it was a health smell. . . Assistant District Attorney

Davis conceded that the smell of coffee when roasting was healthful, but asserted that under circumstanc-es it might become obnoxious.” But the story of Mr. Akers extends much farther, as this was not the first time he was mentioned in the New York Times. His story was further described in two articles chronicling the mystery of his will after his death (“Mr. Akers Lost Will,” and “An Alleged Akers Will,” both published in May of 1901). From these two reports, we can piece together the life of Mr. Akers, who was born in 1836 in England. Immigrating to New York City as a butcher’s apprentice, he establishes a soap factory in Brooklyn before establishing a coffee roast-ing business, Atlas Coffee, at 16 Jay Street in 1870. The controversy of Mr. Akers’ actu-ally lies in the fact that in 1892, he allegedly wrote a will. In April of 1901, Mr. Akers stated that he has a will in “the vaults of a safe deposit company.” An hour later, he dies. One month later, Mr. Akers’ will is still causing trouble: “the lawyer who drew the document” is dead, one of the executors of the will is also dead, and the other execu-tor “knows nothing about the will.” “No will

was found at” 16 Jay Street. But then they searched a box at a safe deposit company and indeed found a will. The will was then moved to a safe at 16 Jay Street. Except this will did not settle anything: someone mentioned that “Mr. Akers told a number of people that he had made a new will, and some of his friends believe that this will will be found.” If the issue was resolved, then the New York Times did not report any up. Suffice to say, times have changed, and the drama we read about in the New York Times is now of a slightly different caliber. dates.

fig. 2 Frederick Akers (with “Group of Old-Time New York Coffee Roasters, 1892”) sitting second from the right.

1897

fig. 3 Plate 4 from the Atlases of New York / Maps of the City of New York, 1897

Today, Jay Street is cut off from the Hud-son River by P.S. 150, making it a very short block. But originally, Jay led right onto a pier, making it more than two times longer than the cobbled street existent now. Most blocks led onto their own piers, but as boats became a less popular mode of transportation, the piers were no longer necessary. Jay Street is resting in the top left of the 1897 map at right, as the piers are stacked one on top of another. The two diagrams below display the piers in more detail. Jay Street extended onto Pier 33, non-existent today.

fig. 4, fig. 5 Maps bounded by piers, from the Atlases of New York, dates unknown

1928In this photo, Hudson Street cuts in front from left to right, but the cross-street going into the back of the photo is actually Jay Street. Be-yond the buildings is the Hudson River, and we see that below the photographer was an area of construction/an empty lot. Today, the construction site sits on the address 56 Hud-son St., and is now home to a building that cuts off Jay Street. This building was finished in 1938 (ten years after this photo was taken).

fig. 6 Manhattan: Hudson Street - Jay Street

1930Here we see the intersection between Wash-ington Street and Jay Street. If you were to try to visit it today, you’d find yourself in the middle of P.S. 150. A year later, in 1931, all the current buildings on Jay Street were completed.

fig. 7 Manhattan: West Street - Jay Street

1937The Great Depression is evident here at right through the WPA sign. This is Greenwich Street as it crosses Jay. But above lies what seems to be an intricate grid, perhaps indicat-ing an above-ground subway line, a rarity in New York City, and nonexistant in Manhattan today. Unlike today, the New York City sub-way system was run by three different com-panies, whereas today, all transit is run by the MTA. Indeed, an elevated subway line did run up and down Greenwich and 9th Avenue back then. The map below, from 1930, proves this.

fig. 8 Manhattan: Greenwich Street - Jay Street

fig. 9 (left), fig. 10 (above) Rapit Transit Map of Greater New York, by George J. Nostrand

In 1940, the subways began to become integrated, eventually becoming the Metro-politan Transit Authority (MTA). The BMT and IRT systems (labeled in the legend above) were taken over by the City of New York in that year, and this line, the IRT 9th Avenue El,

closed on June 12th, 1940 at 12:01AM. These systems, though, explain why today our subway system is labeled by both numbers and letters: what was left of the IRT lines became numbered, and what was left of the BMT lines became lettered.

Such subtle hints from archives reveal a New York City that might even be unrecognizable to us today. Perhaps, as New Yorkers very familiar with our favorite caffeinated drink, we’d only recognize the aroma of coffee that once filtered through Jay Street, but the piers, the elevated subway lines, even the mercan-tile nature of Tribeca one century ago are all foreign to us now. Industry has moved out of Manhattan for the most part, subways have gone underground. And how quickly does this city change, from generation to generation, as the city be-comes even more and more of a bustling en-tity. Jay Street is now home to a few art gal-leries, Sarabeth’s Restaurant, a small poetry and short story publishing company, and con-verted luxury lofts that now sell for millions of dollars in the old, original buildings.

fig. 11 Jay Street, 2011

Notes and sources:Fig. 1:Title: [Plate 17: Map bounded by West Street, Laight Street, Varick Street, West Broadway, Thomas Street, Duane Street; Including Caroline Street, Washington Street, Greenwich Street, Staple Street, Collister Street, Hudson Street, Jay Street, Harrison Street, Worth Street, Franklin Street, Leon-ard Street, North Moore Street, Beach Street, Hubert Street ]Source: Atlases of New York city. / Maps of the city of New-York.NYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 1648080

Fig. 2:Title: Group of Old-Time New York Coffee Roasters, 1892Source: All About Coffee by William H. UkersChapter 30. Development of the Green and Roasted Coffee Business in the United States

Fig. 3:Title: [Plate 4: Bounded by Spring Street, Hudson Street, Broome Street, Centre Street, PearlStreet, Thomas Street, Hudson Street, Jay Street, and (Hudson River, Piers [23]-[41]) West Street.]Source: Atlases of New York city. / Maps of the city of New-York.NYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 1516760

Fig. 4:Title: [Map bounded by Pier - Line 25-39, Vestry Street, Greenwich Street, Barcley Street; Including West Street, Washington Street, Robinson Street, Murray Street, Warren Street, Chambers Street, Reade Street, Duane Street, Jay Street, Harrison Street, Franklin Street, North Moore Street, Beach Street, Hubert Street, Laight Street]Source: Atlases of New York city. / Maps of the wharves and piers on the Hudson and East rivers from the Battery to 13th St., New York.NYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 1648011

Fig. 5:Title: [Map bounded by Pier - Line 30-38, Laight St, Wash-ington Street, Chambers St; Including West Street, Caroline St, Reade St, Duane St, Jay St, Harrison St, Franklin St, North Moore St, Beach St, Hubert St]Source: Atlases of New York city. / Maps of the wharves & piers from the Battery to 61st street on the Hudson river and from the Battery to 41st street on the East river, New York. Surveyed by I.C. Buckhout, city surveyor.NYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 1648019

Fig. 6:Title: Manhattan: Hudson Street - Jay StreetSource: Photographic views of New York City, 1870’s-1970’s / ManhattanNYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 720468F

Fig. 7Title: Manhattan: West Street - Jay StreetSource: Photographic views of New York City, 1870’s-1970’s / ManhattanNYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 724621F

Fig. 8Title: Manhattan: Greenwich Street - Jay StreetSource: Photographic views of New York City, 1870’s-1970’s / ManhattanNYPL Digital Gallery, Image ID: 720215F

Fig. 9 and 10Title: Rapid Transit Map of Greater New York, Showing House Numbers at StationsGeorge J. NostrandNew York Subway Map, 1930

Fig. 11Title: Jay Street from Hudson in 2011Marta Troicka

“An Alleged Akers Will.” New York Times (1857-1922): 6. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2007) with Index (1851-1993). May 17 1901. Web. 4 Oct. 2011 <https://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/96117025?accountid=12768>.

“Aroma of Roasting Coffee.” New York Times (1857-1922): 8. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2007) with Index (1851-1993). Dec 08 1888. Web. 4 Oct. 2011 <https://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/94638963?accountid=12768>.

“Mr. Akers’s Lost Will.” New York Times (1857-1922): 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2007) with Index (1851-1993). May 15 1901. Web. 4 Oct. 2011 <https://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/96121237?accountid=12768>.

Christiano, G. J. “9th Avenue El.” NYCSubway.org. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. <http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html>.

Zukin, Sharon. The Culture of Cities. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995. Print.

Sharon Zukin, in her book “The Cultures of Cit-ies,” writes of the social cur-rency of a city, which de-pends on public spaces such as “art museums, boutiques, restaurants, and other spe-cialized sites of consumption create a social space for the exchange of ideas on which businesses thrive” (13). Jay Street and Tribeca itself had seen its share of hard work, sweat, and grime when it was an industrial and mer-cantile hub. Today, the clean, cobbled street has a high social currency, a somewhat exclusive block for wealthy residents, expensive lunch

dates, gallery visits, or the babysitters and nannies dropping off and picking up elemen-tary schoolchildren at P.S. 150.