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The name Five Points evokes images of poverty, rampant crime, decadence and despair. That's true; it was the first ghetto in America. The Five Points was a lurid geographical cancer filled with dilapidated and unlivable tenement houses, gang extortion, corrupt politicians, houses of ill-repute, drunkenness and gambling. Did I leave anything out? This was a place where all manner of crimes flourished, the residents terrorized and squalor prevailed. This is the setting over the many decades of the nineteenth century, basically 1830's through the late 1880's when the slums were finally torn down. (So you think we had it bad today?)
The district known as the Sixth Ward bounded south by Reade street, west by West Street, north by Canal Street, east by Broadway. The Five Points, so named in the 1830's from the convergence of the intersection of five streets: Mulberry, Anthony (now Worth Street), Cross, (now Park St.), Orange (now Baxter), and Little Water Street (which no longer exists). This neighborhood was built over the Collect Pond a marshy land north of the old Court House. The scene is set.
When the landfill started to decay in the 1820's the wood frame houses began to tilt over and sink. Certain areas of Manhattan Island even in this day and age are not suitable to build tall structures because there is no bedrock to support them. This is the case in the Canal Street area. (If you take time to look at the skyline from either east or west, you'll notice how the taller buildings are clustered together in a limited area, then the height dropping substantially in other areas. It dips up and down, tall to small.)
The Collect Pond area became infested with mosquitoes and disease; the decent residents moved out and those who remained became impoverished and victims of the slumlords, gangs and ruthless politicians. Personal safety was compromised and everyone was under constant threat of being conned, robbed or worse! Beginning with the Old Brewery - a building that was converted to an apartment house, the floors were partitioned into small flats, rented to the poor and other seedy characters. Each room had entire families, cooking, eating and sleeping in this one room. It was definitely a ghastly sight with such squalid living conditions. The same situation prevailed throughout the district - the lower floors usually reserved for drinking, dancing, gambling and riotous behavior. Many people were robbed, beaten or shanghaied. In the cellers (the people were called "Celler dwellers,") were the "oyster saloons," which were kept open all night luring fresh, unsuspecting victims. This neighborhood was a very dangerous palce to live and visit.
The many dancehalls brought together the Irish and African-Americans both having a large population in this district. A combination of the Irish Jig or Reel and the African-American Shuffle, created a new dance form - Tap Dancing! This became an extrememly popular trend and forever was ingrained in American culture. As to stuffing the ballot boxes and stealing elections, the politicians in this neighborhood were expert and notorious. After the Civil War (1865) in particular, the Five Points (Sixth Ward) had a reputation for casting more ballots than eligible voters. Some names used had been from people that had been dead for decades!
Over the course of time the neighborhood changed. It was eceedingly bad in the 1830's and '40's until Protestant relgious sects made inroads to clean up the area in the 1950's. By 1860, Five Points was a little less violent, but still a revolting slum. Abraham Lincoln visited the area in 1860 and reluctantly gave a speech to some school children. he, as well as Charles Dickens, who also visited the area in 1842, were appaled at the abject poverty and terrible living conditions. But these conditions improved only to crumble again in the 1880's with the influx of Italian and Chinese immigrants. By 1897 the area houses had all been demolished and the district took on a whole new look. For the better of course.
Martin Scorsese's current movie "The Gangs of New York," captures the very essence of the period between 1846 and the New York draft riots of 1863. But this is more than 'make-believe' history. His story is based on hard facts and most of the story line holds to the real history of the period. The characters were composites of historical figures, for instance , Bill "The Butcher" Cutter (played by Daniel Day-Lewis), the Protestant leader of the Nativists was actually Bill "The Butcher" Poole who was actually assassinated in 1855, many years before the riots. there was a gang called the Dead Rabbits, but the character of Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio)was a stretch. William "Boss" Tweed (James Broadbent)was true to character. Tweed put even the modern day Mafia to shame as the Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall and had the reputation as one of the most corrupt politicians in New York City history.
All in all, the movie portrayed the times accurately creating the proper atmosphere and showing the desparate plight of the free African-Americans already living there, and the newly arrived immigrants hoping to find paradise, only to be thrown into a world of racism, religious bigotry and rejection. The movie presented a great sense of what life was like in that part of town and how it differed from the uptown rich and middle class. To many uptown New Yorkers no one was considered "respectable," who came from the Five Points. But multi-ethnic American was born out of that slum.
By the turn of the twentieth century this neighborhood faded into memory. (The very last scene in "The Gangs of New York," demonstrates how the city changed over the decades following these events and how memories are lost to time.) There is a strong lesson to be learned here.
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