Editing Five Points, Manhattan (section)

==Collect Pond==
{{Main|Collect Pond}}
[[File:1846 Broadside of the Collect Pond, New York and Steam Boat ( Five Points ) - Geographicus - CollectPond-hutchings-1846 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[c:File:1846 Broadside of the Collect Pond, New York and Steam Boat ( Five Points ) - Geographicus - CollectPond-hutchings-1846.jpg|Map published in 1846]] depicts the streets in 1793, with the Collect Pond, which was filled in by 1811. Dotted-line streets were built between 1793 and 1846.]]
[[File:Collect Pond-Bayard Mount-NYC (cropped).jpg|thumb|A 1798 [[watercolor]] of Collect Pond. Bayard's Mount, a {{convert|110|ft|adj=on}} [[hillock]], is in the left foreground. Prior to being levelled around 1811 it was located near the current intersection of Mott and Grand Streets.]]
[[File:The Old Brewery Five Points.jpg|thumb|right|Coulthard's Brewery (built c. 1792), converted to a tenement later known as "[[The Old Brewery]]" after the financial [[Panic of 1837]] and resulting economic depression<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddBGAQAAIAAJ |last=Pelletreau |first=William Smith |title=Early New York Houses With Historical & Genealogical Notes |page=214 |publisher=Francis P. Harper |year=1900 |place=New York}}</ref>]]

[[File:The Five Points MET DP265419 altered.jpg|thumb|left|Five Points streets intersection painted by [[George Catlin]] in 1827. Anthony Street veers off to the left, Orange Street is to the right, and Cross Street runs left to right in the foreground. The dilapidated [[tenement]] buildings to the left of Anthony Street were torn down in 1832 as far back as Little Water Street, and the vacant, triangular lot that was left became known as "Paradise Square".]]

For the first two centuries of European settlement in [[Manhattan]], the main source of [[drinking water]] for the growing city was '''Collect Pond''', or '''Fresh Water Pond''', which also supplied abundant fish.<ref name="Citycyclopedia">{{cite enc-nyc}}, p. 250.</ref><ref>Solis, Julia. ''New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City''. p. 76.</ref>

The pond occupied approximately {{convert|48|acre|m2}} and was as deep as {{convert|60|ft|m}}.<ref name="Citycyclopedia"/> Fed by an underground spring, it was located in a valley, with Bayard's Mount (at {{convert|110|ft|disp=or}}, the tallest hill in lower Manhattan) to the northeast. A stream flowed north out of the pond and then west through a [[salt marsh]] (which, after being drained, became a [[meadow]] by the name of "Lispenard Meadows") to the [[Hudson River]], while another stream issued from the southeastern part of the pond in an easterly direction to the [[East River]].  In the 18th century, the pond was used as a picnic area during summer and a [[ice rink|skating rink]] during the winter.<ref name="TL2007">"The Hudson: A History"  Tom Lewis (2007).</ref>

Beginning in the early 18th century, various commercial enterprises were built along the shores of the pond in order to use the water. These businesses included [[The Old Brewery|Coulthards Brewery]], [[Nicholas Bayard]]'s [[slaughterhouse]] on Mulberry Street (which was nicknamed "Slaughterhouse Street"),<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1866/04/01/83452961.pdf "Abattoirs.; History of New-York Slaughter-Houses-Interesting and Curious Data. (1866)"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> numerous [[Tanning (leather)|tanneries]] on the southeastern shore, and the pottery works of [[German American|German immigrants]] [[Johan Willem Crolius]] and Johan Remmey on Pot Bakers Hill on the south-southwestern shore.<ref>[http://www.corzilius.org/Narratives/AmericanCraftsmenInClay.htm "Craftsmen In Clay" @ www.corzilius.org]</ref> The contaminated [[wastewater]] of the businesses surrounding the pond flowed back into the pond, creating a severe [[Water pollution|pollution]] problem and environmental health hazard.

[[Pierre Charles L'Enfant]] proposed cleaning the pond and making it a centerpiece of a recreational park, around which the residential areas of the city could grow.  His proposal was rejected, and it was decided to fill in the pond. The landfill was completed in 1811, and [[middle class]] homes were soon built on the [[reclaimed land]].<ref>Kieran, John. ''A Natural History of New York''. p. 31. {{ISBN|978-0-8232-1086-2}}.</ref><ref name="Citycyclopedia"/>

The landfill was poorly engineered. The buried vegetation began to release [[methane]] gas (a byproduct of [[decomposition]]) and the area, in a natural depression, lacked adequate [[storm sewer]]s. As a result, the ground gradually subsided. Houses shifted on their foundations, the unpaved streets were often buried in a foot of [[mud]] mixed with human and animal excrement, and [[mosquito]]es bred in the [[Water stagnation|stagnant pools]] created by the poor drainage.

Most middle and upper class inhabitants fled the area, leaving the neighborhood open to poor immigrants who began arriving in the early 1820s. This influx reached a height in the 1840s, with large numbers of Irish Catholics fleeing the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]].<ref>Delaney, Tim. ''American Street Gangs''. pp. 39, 290.</ref>