Farms in the Union Place Area

Junction of the Bowery (now 4th Avenue) and Broadway (old Bloomingdale Road) in 1828 by Albertus Del Orient Browere (1814-1887). Painted from memory in 1885, Browere depicted the junction of the two streets at what is now Union Square as it appeared in 1828, facing south, surrounded by farms. Source: Museum of the City of New York.

This area was formerly known as "the Forks", a shapeless collection of lots, where garden sauce flourished, devoid of symmetry, and around which were reared a group of shanties. It was officially named "Union Place" under the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. Below, enlargement of the center of the painting, reproduced from a redrawn copy at the New York Public Library.