The Bowery

The Bowery, street, and by extension, the surrounding district, southern Manhattan, New York City. It was known to early Dutch settlers as the road to the bouwerie (“farm”), an allusion to the fact that it led north to Governor Peter Stuyvesant's estate. From about 1860 to 1875 the city's theatrical district was concentrated along the Bowery. It later became a haven for derelicts, with cheap rooming houses and saloons. Since the 1960s portions of the district have been rehabilitated.