Tribeca is an area of Manhattan that is bounded by Canal St., Church St., Park Place, and the Hudson River. It is part of the oldest section of New York and is rich in historical associations, but its name, which stands for TRIangle BElow Canal St., is new. It isn't even mentioned in the 1967 edition of the AIA Guide to New York!

Tribeca was part of the Dutch colony, New Amsterdam, which was bought from the Manhatto Indians for $24 in 1626. It functioned as a trading post for furs under the administration of the Dutch West India Company. In 1664 a British war fleet demanded the surrender of New Amsterdam to the Duke of York and the English flag run up and remaind up, except for one year, until the Revolution.

The development and growth of Tribeca has a direct relationship to New York City's becoming the business center of America. Tribeca was the center of the fresh fruit and produce market, the shipping capital of the United States, and the site of the first "skyscraper" in America, the Woolworth Building. It was in the Tribeca area that the textile industry grew into one of the largest emplyer and producer in New York.

The majority of the industries of Tribeca have since relocated, although there are still a number of food processors, job lot wholesalers and retailers. Some of the old buildings were cleared to erect the World Trade Center, but more recently the conversions have been to warehouses and to living lofts. The accessibility of large, convertible, and reasonably priced spaces brought many artists and art organizations into the neighborhood. There is a resurgence of interest in Tribeca as a place to live and work which is effecting a revitalization and transformation of this area.

(Cortesy of the Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.)