A downtown street once called “Newspaper Row”

In the late 19th century—before media companies concentrated in Midtown and the Chelsea/Flatiron area—the short stretch of Park Row next to City Hall was New York’s media neighborhood, dubbed Newspaper Row.

Newspaper Row was home to major dailies such as the domed New York World, the New York Tribune, and the Sun (the little building between the World and the Tribune). The New York Times‘ headquarters stood on the other side of the Tribune.

Why Park Row? To be near the action at City Hall and close to NYPD Headquarters and the courts.

As the city marched northward, so did the newspaper headquarters: to new enclaves named for them, like Herald Square and Times Square.

Tags: City Hall newspaper row, first skyscrapers New York City, New York Sun, New York Tribune Building, New York World building, Newspaper Row, Park Row buildings, Printing House Square

This entry was posted on February 27, 2014 at 5:37 am and is filed under Cool building names, Lower Manhattan, Poets and writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “A downtown street once called “Newspaper Row””

Bob_in_MA Says:
February 27, 2014 at 6:36 pm | Reply
Those were also the tallest buildings in the city at the turn of the century.
ephemeralnewyork Says:
February 27, 2014 at 7:22 pm | Reply
Good point. They were the first skyscrapers; the Tribune building came first, in 1875: an incredible 260 feet tall!
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON021.htm
fivepointsguy Says:
March 14, 2014 at 7:47 pm | Reply
Your information about the location of Newspaper Row is right on. The newspapers wanted to be near City Hall to the west, the docks (and the shipping news) to the East, the police and The Five Points up north, and the financial news coming from Wall Street to the south.
trilby1895 Says:
April 15, 2017 at 12:14 am | Reply
I love learning all this great information. Thanks, all!
CATHERINE STREET SHELTER - Forgotten New York Says:
December 25, 2019 at 4:54 pm | Reply
[…] The design of this school is similar to that of Grammar School No. 55, which opened five years later on the site of Chelsea Green Park. At the turn of the 20th century the school was no longer able to handle the crowds. Superintendent Snyder commissioned a new school here, bound on three sides by Oliver, Oak, and James streets. This new P. S. 114 was addressed as 43 Oak Street. Philosopher Morton White called his alma mater “one of the toughest,” so bad that his parents paid an older schoolmate to protect him- at age 7. Actor Jimmy Durante was bullied for his big nose here. After school, Durante worked as a newsboy at the nearby Newspaper Row. […]

Ephemeral New York