Mott Street (Manhattan) - History

History

Mott Street existed in its current configuration by the mid-18th century. At that time, Mott Street passed just to the east of the Collect Pond. Like many streets that predated Manhattan's grid, Mott Street meandered around natural features of the landscape rather than running through or over them. It was the need to avoid the now long since paved over Collect Pond that gave Mott Street its characteristic "bend" to the northeast at Pell Street.

Having been previously known as Old Street, as well as Winne Street (also spelled Wynne) for the section between Pell and Bleecker, Mott Street was renamed in the late 18th century to honor the prominent local family of the same name, likely in particular businessman Joseph Mott, a butcher and tavern owner who provided support to the rebel forces in the American Revolution.

During the 19th century the lower portion of Mott Street south of Canal Street was part of the Five Points, a notorious slum neighborhood in New York City. In 1872 Wo Kee, a Chinese merchant opened a general store on Mott Street near Pell Street. In the years to follow, Chinese immigrants would carve out an enclave around the intersection of Mott, Doyer and Pell Streets. At the time, it was the Cantonese immigrants migrating and it first began as a very small Bachelor's Society since it was mostly Chinese males migrating over at the time. It was mostly Cantonese immigrants coming from Taishan, China so as a result it was first a Taishanese community. That all changed during the 1960s when an influx of other Cantonese immigrants from Hong Kong began to arrive over with some Taiwanese immigrants as well. As a result, Chinatown began expanding quickly and Standard Cantonese, which is spoken in Guangzhou, China and in Hong Kong became the dominant language of the Chinatown neighborhood. At the time, Chinatown was emerging and growing as a Little Hong Kong, but the growth slowed down later on. Manhattan's Chinatown has grown into the largest Chinatown in the United States, engulfing a large swath of the Lower East Side. But the historic heart of Chinatown, as well as the primary destination for tourists is still Mott Street between Canal Street and Chatham Square. This is center of what is known as the Old Chinatown of Manhattan.