In With the New

In the Lower Manhattan Financial District, New St. is an obscure alley, now banned to motor traffic, that runs from Beaver St. north to Wall St. just east of Broadway. According to Sanna Feirstein in Naming New York and the late Henry Moscow in The Street Book, it’s not really new: in fact, it’s at least 361-plus years old, as it was the first built street to be named after the British takeover of New Amsterdam in 1664.

This sign, which hung at New St. and Exchange Pl. way downtown, was being auctioned on eBay for $43,000.