Jones and Jones

[Grant Barrett]

On Saturday, Aug 17, 2002, at 16:38 US/Eastern, James A. Landau wrote:
> I'm aware that the numbered streets in Manhattan begin only above a
> certain
> latitude.  My question was why, in a part of south-of-14th-Street
> Manhattan
> where the grid is a reality, the numbers get abandoned.

I'm sure you'll get a lot of responses on this, but the short answer
is: those unumbered, non-gridded streets are generally from the
pre-grid days. There were many people who also wanted to go back and
grid the older areas such as the West Village, and then later, as
development moved north following the surveyed grid lines, grid over
areas such as Riverdale. These areas were, fortunately, saved so that
we may still have the pleasure, even today, of encoutering West 4th,
West 12th and West 10th Streets at a single intersection. The grid was
adopted in 1811 and was pushed for by and during the management of
DeWitt Clinton, who was mayor of the city and then governor of the
state.