Editing SoHo, Manhattan (section)

===Early years===
During the colonial period, the land that is now SoHo was part of a [[Land of the Blacks (Manhattan)|grant of farmland given to freed slaves]] of the [[Dutch West Indies Company]], and the site of the first free Black settlement on Manhattan island.<ref name=desrep4>Designation Report, p. 4</ref> This land was acquired in the 1660s by Augustine Hermann, and then passed to his brother-in-law, Nicholas Bayard.<ref name=desrep4 /> The estate was confiscated by the state as a result of Bayard's part in [[Leisler's Rebellion]], but was returned to him after the sentence was annulled.<ref name=desrep5>Designation Report, p.5</ref>

In the 18th century natural barriers&nbsp;– streams and hills&nbsp;– impeded the growth of the city northward into the Bayard estate, and the area maintained its rural character.<ref name=desrep5 /> During the [[American Revolution]], the area was the location of numerous [[fortification]]s, [[redoubt]]s and [[breastwork (fortification)|breastwork]]s.<ref name=desrep5 /> After the war, Bayard, who had suffered financially because of it, was forced to mortgage some of the property, which was divided up into lots, but even then there was very little development in the area, aside from some manufacturing at Broadway and Canal Street.<ref name=desrep5 />

Serious development of the area did not begin until the Common Council, answering the complaints of landowners in the area, drained the [[Collect Pond]], which had once been an important source of fresh water for the island, but which had become polluted and rank and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. A canal was built to drain the pond into the Hudson, and the canal and pond were both later filled in using earth from nearby Bayard's Hill.<ref name=desrep5 /> Once Broadway was paved and sidewalks were built there and along Canal Street, more people began to make their homes there, joining earlier arrivals such as [[James Fenimore Cooper]].<ref name=desrep5 />