John Street

John Street is a street running north to south through the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is one of the oldest streets in the city. Long associated with maritime activity, the street ran along Burling Slip. The slip was filled in around 1840, and the street widened. Besides a wharf, warehouse, and chandlery, the city's first permanent theatre, and the first Methodist congregation in North America were located on John Street. It was also the site of a well-known pre-Revolutionary clash between the Sons of Liberty and British soldiers, pre-dating the Boston Massacre by six weeks. History John Street is named for John Haberdinck, a wealthy Dutch shoemaker who owned the land. Haberdinck bequeathed thirty-five acres of "Shoemakers Field" to the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. The street was historically known as St. John Street; the section between William Street and Pearl Street was also known as Golden Hill, after a nearby wheat field. This was the site of the Battle of Golden Hill, a clash between British soldiers and the Sons of Liberty. On January 19, 1770, almost two months before the Boston Massacre, Isaac Sears and others arrested two soldiers posting handbills at the Fly Market at the foot of Maiden Lane. The handbills derided both the Sons of Liberty and their "Liberty poles. Fellow soldiers tried to rescue them while others ran to the barracks on Whitehall Street to sound the alarm. Being outnumbered, the soldiers retreated through the fields, followed by the crowd, until they reached "Golden Hill". Reinforcements from the barracks arrived, as well as additional Sons of Liberty from the ball court at the corner of Broadway and John Street. The mob then rushed the soldiers and a brawl ensued. More soldiers arrived with a group of officers to disperse the crowd before the situation got totally out of hand, and the soldiers were ordered back to barracks. Four individuals received cuts from bayonets, and a sailor was badly hurt. A widening of John Street at Pearl Street was authorized in 1793, followed by a widening between Pearl Street and Broadway in 1836.