Eldridge Street is a street in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

and

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

neighborhoods of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in New York City, United States. It runs from

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson ...

in the north to East Broadway in the south. Originally called Third Street according to the numbering system for the Delancey Farm Grid, it was named in 1817 for Lt. Joseph C. Eldridge, whose unit was ambushed by Indian allies of the British in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

Notable locations

The

Eldridge Street Synagogue The Eldridge Street Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue at 12–16 Eldridge Street in the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1887 for Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun, the synagogue ...

at 12 Eldridge Street opened in 1887 and served Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun. It is one of the first synagogues in the United States erected by

Eastern European Jews The expression ''Eastern European Jewry'' has two meanings. Its first meaning refers to the current political spheres of the Eastern European countries and its second meaning refers to the Jewish communities in Russia and Poland. The phrase 'Ea ...

(Ashkenazis). Since 2007, the synagogue houses the Museum at Eldridge Street.

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

lived at 19 Eldridge Street. 20 Eldridge Street was Hook and Ladder Company Eagle No. 4 in the mid-19th century. Today the building, once two stories high, now five, is a Buddhist temple. The New York County Jail, better known as the Eldridge Street Jail, was located at 22 Eldridge Street and operated from 1836 to 1862, when it was replaced by a new jail on

Ludlow Street Ludlow Street runs between Houston and Division streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Vehicular traffic runs south on this one-way street. Name Ludlow Street was named after Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, the nava ...

. The jail building started out as a three-story private home and before becoming a jail was a first a school and then city watchhouse. American lyricist

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

was born at 60 Eldridge Street. Musicians

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running ...

and

Kim Gordon Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, Califor ...

of the American rock band

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

lived at 84 Eldridge Street in the 1980s. 105-107 Eldridge Street was the Eldridge Street Police Station from 1869 to 1912. Danish-American photographer and social reformer

Jacob Riis Jacob August Riis ( ; May 3, 1849 – May 26, 1914) was a Danish-American social reformer, " muck-raking" journalist, and social documentary photographer. He contributed significantly to the cause of urban reform in the United States of Ame ...

took several photographs of the inmates there and documented their squalid living conditions in his 1890 book

How the Other Half Lives ''How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York'' (1890) is an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. The photographs served as a basis ...

Gallery

File:EldridgeStreetSynagogue.jpg, The

File:20 Eldridge Street.jpg, The buddhist temple in 2017 File:22 Eldridge Street.jpg, A store with Chinese signage on Eldridge Street File:172 Eldridge Street.jpg, The Assafa Islamic Center, a mosque on Eldridge Street

References

{{coord, 40, 43, 8.26, N, 73, 59, 33.23, W, region:US, display=title Streets in Manhattan Chinatown, Manhattan Lower East Side