Times Square Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early history=== When [[Manhattan Island]] was first settled by the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch colonists]], three small streams united near what is now the intersection of [[10th Avenue (Manhattan)|10th Avenue]] and [[40th Street (Manhattan)|40th Street]]. These three streams formed the "Great Kill" (Dutch: ''Grote Kil''). From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl,<ref>[[Gerard T. Koeppel]], ''Water for Gotham: A History'', 2001:10.</ref> and emptied into a deep bay in the [[Hudson River]] at the present 42nd Street.<ref>Sanderson, Eric W. ''Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City'', 2009: Appendix A p 253; refs. G.E. Hill and G.E. Waring Jr, "Old wells and water-courses on the isle of Manhattan", in ''Historic New York'', M.W. Goodwin, A.C. Royce, and R. Putnam, 1897; and others.</ref> The name was retained in a tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre.<ref>Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'', 1999, p.721.</ref> Before and after the [[American Revolution]], the area belonged to [[John Morin Scott]], a general of the [[New York militia]], in which he served under [[George Washington]]. Scott's [[manor house]] was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In the first half of the 19th century, it became one of the prized possessions of [[John Jacob Astor]], who made a second fortune selling off lots to hotels and other real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread [[Upper Manhattan|uptown]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ulam |first=Alex |date=June 2, 2008 |title=John Jacob Astor: The making of a hardnosed speculator | The Real Deal | New York Real Estate News |url=http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/john-jacob-astor-the-making-of-a-hardnosed-speculator |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20100215005443/http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/john-jacob-astor-the-making-of-a-hardnosed-speculator |archive-date=February 15, 2010 |access-date=April 21, 2010 |publisher=The Real Deal}}</ref> By 1872, the area had become the center of New York's horse carriage industry. The locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after [[Long Acre]] in London, where the horse and carriage trade was centered in that city.<ref>Kelly, Frank Bergen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=v4cGmMe6_okC&dq=longacre+bloomingdale&pg=PA121 ''Historical Guide to the City of New York''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231030143/https://books.google.com/books?id=v4cGmMe6_okC&pg=PA121&dq=longacre+bloomingdale&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HYbeT-XVGuTX6gGy1vmFCw&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=longacre%20bloomingdale&f=false |date=December 31, 2022 }} New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1909</ref> [[William Henry Vanderbilt]] owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there. In 1910, it became the Winter Garden Theatre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stavrou |first=Gene |title=Where was the American Horse Exchange? β TreebaseNYC |url=http://www.treebase.com/loc.cfm?ItemID=D39EADCA-15C5-FC25-8CAB29E09D06B414#.VqZDtVmilhU |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203173744/http://www.treebase.com/loc.cfm?ItemID=D39EADCA-15C5-FC25-8CAB29E09D06B414 |archive-date=February 3, 2016 |access-date=January 25, 2016 |website=www.treebase.com}}</ref> As more profitable commerce and industrialization of [[Lower Manhattan]] pushed homes, theaters, and [[prostitution]] northward from the [[Tenderloin, Manhattan|Tenderloin District]], Longacre Square became nicknamed the ''Thieves Lair'' for its rollicking reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the [[Olympia Theatre (New York City)|Olympia]], was built by cigar manufacturer and [[impresario]] [[Oscar Hammerstein I]].<ref>Dunning, Jennifer. [https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/13/archives/a-walking-tour-of-the-past-and-present-on-broadway-a-walk-westward.html "A Walking Tour of the Past and Present on Broadway"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811173916/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/13/archives/a-walking-tour-of-the-past-and-present-on-broadway-a-walk-westward.html |date=August 11, 2018 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 13, 1979. Accessed November 1, 2016. "The old stock and repertory company system made way for the Broadway hit and greater profits for the theater manager and owner, which, in turn, led to the rise of such theatrical entrepreneurs as Oscar Hammerstein, who struck out into the wilds of 44th and 45th Streets in 1895 to build his huge Olympia Theater in the 'Thieves Lair' area of Broadway."</ref> According to ''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'', "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons."<ref>Burrows and Wallace 1999:1149.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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