South Street Seaport

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      New York is a great world trading hub because of its harbor. South Street Seaport is a perfect example of a natural harbor. It is large, deep, sheltered, and has countless links to rivers and estuaries. Situated just at the tip of lower Manhattan, the neighborhood traces its history to the 17th century, when it was a key outpost for the Dutch West India Company (Shacknai). The harbor became a vibrant hub for maritime trading across America and the globe, creating a great city of commerce, finance, manufacturing, communication, and culture. The city’s many possibilities attracted talented and skilled people from around the world and made New York City into a city of economic and cultural energy, and one of the most ethnically diverse cities on the planet. 

      South Street Seaport was New York’s first port, and by it is the East River. It flows through the four boroughs of New York City and is home to dozens of piers, shipyards, factories, and railroad terminals. In those days, the East River was the focal point of the city’s maritime activity, and before its preservation and restoration, the area was lined with old piers, many unused and condemned, some with hulking sheds of corrugated metal gone to rust (Phillips). The Dutch and English sheltered their ships here and for decades it was the city’s principal seaport. Ships in both international and domestic trade tied up across from warehouses, markets, hotels, and shops. An extremely important innovation attracted commerce to New York. In 1818, New York merchants created the idea of running ships on set schedules over fixed routes. Before that, ships only left ports when they were full, which delayed goods and travelers. Sailing on time revolutionized coastal and international trade, and set the new standard for travel. This made transatlantic travel more reliable and appealing to a wider range of people, and made the South Street Seaport so popular. 

      For 200 years, it was home to seagulls, small merchants, and those who make their living by the sea. The seaport remains one of the last vestiges of that period during which New York flourished as a great world shipping port (Rothmyer). New York City’s lead in the trade industry continued into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The city fostered a large expansion of manufacturing and industry in the region. New York led the country in garment making, sugar refining, and publishing. These activities took raw materials that arrived by ship and transformed them into finished products for sale throughout the United States and the world. 

      This area became home to the first steam ferry linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, at the end of what is now Fulton Street. As a result of all the trade occurring in this area, the Fulton Market opened across the ferry terminal in 1822. The market became one of the city’s largest and busiest markets, selling all different kinds of produce. The Fulton Fish Market especially brought jobs to hard-working locals and seafood to the city until 2005, when it relocated to a new building in the Bronx. 

      Over time, the South Street Seaport lost its vibrancy and excitement. It became long devious of commercial shipping activities. Scattered remnants of those busy times made it seem like this historic area was set to be abandoned forever. However, over the last century, successful efforts have been made to restore the area. In 1967, a group of people interested in the historic nature of the neighborhood and its 19th-century architecture formed the South Street Seaport Museum (Defilippis). They were led by Peter and Norma Stanford. If not for their efforts, real estate developers would have destroyed the old structures and built large offices to blend in with the rest of downtown Manhattan. The museum preserves the history of New York as a great port city. It has an extensive collection of works of art and artifacts, galleries, and a fleet of historic vessels. The group then further decided to pursue a retail development project. In 1982, redevelopment began to turn the museum into a greater tourist attraction through the development of modern shopping areas. The project was undertaken by the prominent developer James Rouse and modeled on the concept of a "festival marketplace." The Fulton Market building soon became a shopping mall, and Pier 17's old structure was demolished and replaced in 1983 with a new glass pavilion.

      In 2012, Hurricane Sandy forced the Seaport to go through potentially another redevelopment due to flooding and damaged buildings. In 2015, The National Trust for Historic Preservation put the district on its annual list of “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” (Bagli). Nevertheless, the destruction was used as an opportunity to add more high-scale retailers into the area, such as Guess or Abercrombie & Fitch, and in 2018 ESPN opened a broadcasting studio on the site. South Street Seaport and Pier 17 now attracts thousands of visitors, who are able to enjoy beautiful days in downtown Manhattan shopping, eating, or just going out for a leisurely walk. Despite a sometimes rocky-existence, the South Street Seaport area is quickly becoming one of the most vibrant in New York, with the biggest names in food and retail racing to set up shop (Shacknai). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has played its role as well. At present stripped-down levels of funding, the South Street Seaport Museum will not survive 2021. The museum continues to look outside of traditional funding models to help it survive the future. 

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