The Hidden Creek Under NYU
We dive into one of the biggest secrets of Greenwich Village.
Did you know there is a buried creek under Greenwich Village? Well there is. The Minetta Creek, once a vital part of 18th century New York, has now been buried under concrete since the mid-19th century. But if you know where to look, you can see the flowing green waters of the creek through holes in certain manhole covers (with the help of a flashlight) especially on Minetta Street which is built directly on top of part of the creek.
The creek ran from a tributary at what is now Fifth Avenue and 20th Street and another at Sixth Avenue and 15th Street, which then merged at 11th Street between the two avenues, ran through the southwest section of Washington Square Park (which was basically a swamp back then) before cutting a diagonal through what is now the West Village but was then Aaron Burr’s estate, before emptying into the Hudson River.
Today, the Minetta Creek is usually only seen during times of construction, when workers get surprised by freshly dug pits filled with water. Over here at NYU, the School of Law Library had to put in an electric pump to divert water that bubbles up into the sub basement into a sewer. The creek can also be found under Hayden Hall (again, I am never referring to it by the other name). Now Hayden Hall itself was built in 1960 and keeps the stream buried beneath it, but the building that existed in the location before had a fountain that showed off the water from Minetta Creek.
So next time you’re walking through the Village, keep a look out for strange manhole covers or buildings with strange boundaries like this one, where one building was built on the bank of the creek and another was built on top of it.
And just remember water literally flows under your feet and that Manhattan could’ve been a national park if it had never been developed and feel sad about the state of the environment for a bit. It’s fun, I promise.
