Trinity Place, former Lumber Street, Manhattan

Trinity Place, originally called Lumber Street, runs south to north in Manhattan, from Morris Street to Liberty Street, then continues as Church Street. It parallels Broadway to the east, with Greenwich Street to the west.

Lumber Street was laid out after the city wall was removed in the late 17th century (after 1695). The first Trinity Church temple was erected in 1698 and the street was probably laid out about the time the Church was erected or shortly thereafter, as the church faced the Hudson River and the street passed in front of the temple.

In 1730, the street extended from an old alley (not Rector St.) on the south side of Trinity Church to Crown Street, now Liberty Street, according to the James Lyne's Plan. After 1739, the church yard extended into the old alley and Robinson Street, now Rector St., was laid out a little further to the south, near the Lutheran Church.

In the 1755 Duyckinck Map, the street appears as Lumber Street and it extended further south, near the present Exchange Aly. The same layout of Lumber Street is shown in the King's Plan by Bernard Ratzer (1766 & 1767). On John Montrésor's 1775 map, the street connects with Church Street, which runs north to the gardens on Warren Street. This connection with Church St. is not shown in some of the maps released in the following years of the 18th century. This connection was in fact built in the 19th century. The name Lumber Street continues on Major Holland's 1776 map. Most of the buildings on Lumber Street were burned down in the Great Fire of 1776. The name "Lembart St." appears in the 1789 map by John McComb and Cornelius Tiebout, which changed to "Lambert" Street in the 1792 map by Cornelius Tiebout. These seems to be spelling mistakes, since the name Lumber Street appears again in the 1799 Goerck-Mangin map and the same name continued in the Longworth's 1808 and 1817 maps, in the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, in the David H. Burr 1833 map, and in the H.N. Burroughs 1846 map.

The name "Lombard Street" appears in the Trinity Minutes, in 1751, and in the Minutes of the Common Council of 1784, 1790 and 1792. This also appears to be a misspelling. To avoid confusion, the Common Council officially established the name Lumber Street, on May 11, 1792.

By 1800, the new Episcopal Charity School House was built on the west side of Lumber Street, behind Trinity Church. The Charity School was located on the south side of the present Rector Street, before the Great Fire of 1776, when it was destroyed.

On June 21, 1843, the Common Council changed the name of Lumber Street to Trinity Place.

In 1853, the old Trinity Building, at 111 Broadway, was erected next to the Trinity Churchyard and fronting three streets: Broadway, Thames and Trinity Place. It replace the Van Cortlandt's sugar house, which stood on the western end of the property.

Trinity Place and Church Street were separated by three city blocks until 1869, when an extension of Church Street to Liberty St. began to be laid out in March. At the same time, Trinity Place was extended south to Morris Street and the section from Vesey to Morris streets was widened to 80 feet. Several buildings were demolished, including parts of the buildings facing Trinity Place. The works were completed in 1872. After that, Trinity Pl. was called as "Church Street" or "New Church Street" by some institutions, although it continued to be officially Trinity Place.

In the late 1871, the Trinity Church School House, or simply Trinity School, was erected at 90 Trinity Place, on the southwest corner of Thames Street. Architect Richard Upjohn (1802-1878) designed the building with four stories and basement, and a bell tower in the Gothic style. The building was intended to house all the parish, industrial schools, offices for the clergy, practicing-room for the choir. In 1919, the New York University bought the building from Trinity Corporation in order to house the Wall Street Division of the School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, an offshoot of the New York University, at Washington Square. This historic building was demolished by the late 1960s

The Sixth Avenue Line, the second elevated railway in Manhattan, opened on June 5, 1878, with a station at Rector Street. It ran from the South Ferry to the West 59th Street. The line closed in 1938 and was demolished the following year.

In the late 1884, the American Bank Note Co. completed its building at 86 Trinity Place. The Bank moved in 1908 to its new headquarters at 70 Broad Street. The building at 86 Trinity Place was demolished in 1920 and, in June 1921, the New York Curb Exchange Building (later American Stock Exchange Building) was completed on the site and enlarged between 1929 and 1931.

In 1906, the United States Express Building, a 23-atory Beaux Arts style office building occupied the old site of the old Episcopal School. The building was sold in 1925 and three more floors were added. In 1907, the Gothic Towers at 111 and 115 Broadway (Trinity Building and the U. S. Realty Building) were completed on Broadway, corner of the Thames St., extending to Trinity Place.

Later, several other skyscrapers were built on Trinity Place.