Great Jones Street

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Great Jones Street is a street located in New York City's NoHo district in Manhattan.

The street was named for Samuel Jones, a lawyer who, with Richard Varick revised New York State's statutes in 1789, and became known as "The Father of The New York Bar." (Varick also had a street named after him in SoHo). Jones was a Tory in the Revolution, and was repeatedly elected to the New York State Assembly from 1796 to 1799. He also served as New York state's first Comptroller, a post which he created.[1]

Jones deeded the site of the street to the city under the condition that any street that ran through the property had to be named for him. However, when the street was first created in 1789, the city already had a "Jones Street," named for Doctor Gardner Jones, Samuel Jones' brother-in-law, and--for a time--there were two Jones Streets. Neither brother-in-law would defer to the other to end the resulting confusion, but Samuel Jones finally ended the argument by suggesting "Then make mine 'Great Jones Street'".[2] An alternative theory has the street name prefixed with "Great" as being the wider of the two Jones Streets.[1]

Great Jones Street is an extension of 3rd Street to the east of Broadway, but becomes East 3rd Street upon crossing Bowery.

Great Jones Street is also the title of a novel by the American author Don DeLillo.

[edit] See also

  • Great Jones Street (Durham)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Boland Jr. , Ed. "F.Y.I.", The New York Times, March 17, 2002. Accessed October 8, 2007. "In 1789 a street was opened there, but New York already had a Jones Street in Greenwich Village. So the new street was named Great Jones Street because it was wider than the norm."
  2. ^ "A THOROUGHLY UNFAIR QUIZ ABOUT NEW YORK", The New York Times, August 10, 1985. Accessed October 8, 2007. "When neither man would yield the honor of having a street named for him, Samuel settled the issue--and one-upped his brother-in-law--by saying, Then make mine Great Jones Street."

[edit] Sources

  • "The Street Book"; an encyclopedia of Manhattan's street names and their origins. By Henry Moscow.
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