NYC’s longest street, stretching a whopping 150 miles, is long enough to get you from Manhattan straight to Albany. But on the totally opposite end of the spectrum we have NYC’s shortest street, and it couldn’t get you anywhere near that far.
Before we get into it, we do have to say there is some controversy surrounding NYC’s shortest street–particularly regarding which one it actually is. It appears that two different streets seem to be competing for that title, one of them being NYC’s Edgar Street.
NYC’s Edgar Street
Stretching just 63 feet long is Edgar Street, located in NYC’s Financial District. Situated just off of Greenwich Street, this thoroughfare is named after 19th century shipping magnate William Edgar, whose mansion ran along Greenwich Street back when lower Greenwich was the Millionaire’s Row of the era.
Edgar Street sits right the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel entrance and spans from Trinity Place to Greenwich Street. Though, some would argue that Mill Lane, also located in the Financial District, actually takes the title of being NYC’s shortest street.
NYC’s Mill Lane
“In addition to Edgar Street…tiny Mill Lane in the Financial District appears to be the shortest of them all, coming in a few feet shorter than Edgar Street,” said Michele and James Nevius, authors of Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City, in a Q&A with the NY Times.
Mill Lane is one of the city’s dozens of streets named for mills that used to be in the area. After first being laid out in 1657, though, it was known as Ellet’s or Elliott’s Alley until 1664. And considering it’s so tiny that it can’t even claim so much as an address or lamppost–it spans from Stone Street in the east to South William Street–it’s definitely valid that people would argue it’s NYC’s shortest street.
NYC’s shortest street
When comparing the two streets, they both have characteristics that may allow the other to take the title of NYC’s shortest street from them: Mill Lane no longer allows traffic through it, while Edgar Street is technically two streets due to a meridian that divides it. So can we actually technically consider either of them NYC’s shortest street at all?
We may never know for sure which as actually the shortest, so do what you must with the above information and come up with your own stance!
