Tryon Row, Junction of Chatham and Centre Streets

Original title: The Junction of Chatham and Centre Sts. from Printing House Square. Publisher: E. & H.T. Anthony & Co., circa 1867, originally in stereoscopic form. Source: New York Public Library.

Chatham Street was the name of Park Row before 1886. The City Hall is to the left, out of view. The tower of Saint Andrews Church rises behind the Tryon Row Buildings, replaced later by the First Judicial District Civil Court. The Tryon Row Buildings housed The Sentinel and Freeman's Journal, an Irish newspaper. Continue below...

This area shown in the photograph above was officially named City Hall Square, on November 28, 1848, when the Common Council ordered that the open space fronting the Park, from Tryon Row to Ann street, to be designated with that name. In practice, the name was restricted to the area formed by the junction of Park Row, Nassau and Tryon Row. The part from Ann Street to the old Times Building was called Park Row, Chatham Row or Chatham Street until 1886, when the street was officially named Park Row.

The section of City Hall Square, from the old Times Building to Spruce Street was called Printing House Square, by common consent since before March 1859. The designation of City Hall Square, from Spruce St. to Tryon Row continue to be used in the City Atlas of 1905 by Sanborn Map Company.