The Old Brewery facts for kids
The Old Brewery was the name given to Coulthard's Brewery (built in 1792, in lower central Manhattan, on land that was then on the outskirts of New York City) after which it was consolidated within the city limits as the neighborhood of the Five Points becoming a tenement rookery following the economic depression of the Panic of 1837.
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Coulthard Brewery
The brewery was built by Isaac Coulthard in 1792 southeast of a body of freshwater known as the Collect Pond. The brewery was subsequently involved in a legal case which went to the U.S. Supreme Court in Dewhurst v. Coulthard; the court refused to hear the case, stating that it had not advanced to that level under the normal process of law, establishing firmly the precedent that the court would hear only such cases (3 U.S. 409).
Five Points Collect Pond filled
After a century of being gradually polluted by industries located on its shores, the Collect Pond was filled in, the project being completed around 1811–1812.
New streets and road construction
Afterwards, existing streets were extended and new streets laid out on the reclaimed land. Immediately in front of the brewery passed Cross Street in a northeast to southwest direction. Orange Street intersected Cross just north of the brewery. From this intersection, Anthony Street originated and ran northwest, creating a plot of land which ended in a point. This became the infamous Five Points intersection. To the west of this point ran a short street named Little Water Street, which created a triangular plot known as Paradise Park (also known as Paradise Square); the Brewery was across the street from Paradise Park on the south side of Cross Street.
Brewery closes
Isaac Coulthard died in 1812 and his son William (also a brewer) died in 1822. Afterward, others ran the brewery, including Joseph Barnes in 1827.
Demolition and building of Christian mission house
The Old Brewery was purchased in 1852 by the Methodist Ladies of the Mission; it was demolished in December 1852 and a new building called the New Mission House at the Five Points was erected. Over forty years later, this mission house would itself be replaced by a newer, even bigger one.
In popular culture
The Old Brewery is depicted in the Martin Scorsese 2002 film Gangs of New York as the Five Points Christian Mission, tenement building, and pauper playhouse. The 2012 video game Assassin's Creed III has the "Boston Brawlers Tournament" in Boston, Massachusetts, within an old brewery modeled after the former Five Points building.
See also
In Spanish: The Old Brewery para niños
