CATHERINE MARKET On this site in 1786, Henry Rutgers (1745–1830) built the Catherine Market which was named after his mother Catherine Rutgers (1711–1799). The market, whose vendors sold meats and fish, was near the Catherine ferry and was popular among patrons for oysters and clams. President George Washington lived briefly at 1 Cherry Street, the location of the first presidential residence, and he was likely among those neighbors who bought food from the market. The mollusks, part of Lower Manhattan’s natural habitat, bolstered Catherine Market’s success. Eels were another popular commodity sold at the public market where freed African-Americans and slaves (selling their owner’s merchandise) traveled from as far as New Jersey and Long Island. In the early 1800s and especially during Pinkster (a Dutch festival celebrated by slaves), Catherine Market butchers hired slaves and free African-Americans to perform in dance contests and customers from various social classes stayed for the entertainment. Catherine Market became celebrated for its dockside performers who were rewarded in shillings or eels. This became known as Dancing for Eels. Thomas F. De Voe wrote in his 1862 Market Book, “they would be hired by some joking butcher or individual
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to engage in a jig or break-down… and those that could and would dance soon raised a collection….” Spectators at the market witnessed different styles of dance such as the sailors’ hornpipe and the break-down, which was performed on a “5 to 6 feet long shingle or board” similar to tap dancers. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the origins of tap dancing, The New York Sun published an article in 1932 linking the market and stating, “Thus we find Catherine Street virtually paved with stories, among them being this quaint one of how tap dancing began in New York.” Catherine Market was active for over a century until 1903 when it was demolished to make way for a public park. Workers from the Works Progress Administration, a Depression-era program aimed at reinvigorating the economy, planted London plane trees, installed benches, paved the lots, and reconstructed the park as a central mall space in 1939. From 2013 to 2016, eighth grade students from PS126/Manhattan Academy of Technology at 80 Catherine Street were actively involved in a local history curriculum called the LES Young Historians. These students learned about the Catherine Market and composed this historical narrative to inform local residents and passersby and to help preserve the legacy of those who lived and worked here.
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