Five Points — Uncover the Gang Conspiracy

Your investigation begins at Columbus Park, a National Register of Historic Places, opened in 1897 to replace the infamous Five Points slum. Designed by landscape architect Samuel Parsons, this 1.7-hectare park was Manhattan's first public space for Chinese immigrants. In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the surrounding area, describing it as a "cesspool of misery" in his American Notes. Today, it remains a community gathering place, still hosting mah-jong games and traditional Chinese dances, perpetuating a tradition from the 1900s and connecting New York City's past to its present.

A short walk away, Chatham Square, once the bustling heart of Five Points in the 19th century, awaits you. This intersection of Bowery, Doyers, and Mott Streets was the stomping ground for fearsome gangs like the Dead Rabbits. The area also housed the Chatham Theatre (1821-1854), New York's first popular theater attracting working classes. In 1842, Charles Dickens described this area as infested with gangs and prostitution, a testament to its status as a Historical District Five Points. The 3.7 m tall statue of Lin Zexu, erected in 1962, commemorates the Chinese officer involved in the Opium War, a reminder of this New York crossroads' international history.

The path then leads you to the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, consecrated in 1815 and New York's first Catholic cathedral. Built of brownstone in a Georgian style, this 61 m long cathedral could seat 2,500 worshippers and served as a refuge for Irish immigrants fleeing the famine of 1845-1852. In 1844, it was attacked by nativist rioters during anti-Catholic riots directly linked to the tensions in Five Points. Abraham Lincoln himself visited in 1861 before his inauguration, adding to the rich heritage of this New York City Landmark.

Your journey continues on Mulberry Street, the central artery of Five Points in the mid-19th century, lined with overcrowded tenements where gangs like the Bowery Boys thrived. This was the site of the 1863 Draft Riots, the worst race riots in US history, causing 120 deaths. Herbert Asbury, in his book Gangs of New York (1927), described it as a street of prostitution and organized crime, a dark testimony to New York's history. Now part of Little Italy, Mulberry Street retains the echo of this slum demolished in the 1890s, a direct remnant of the tumultuous past of New York City's heritage.

Your mission concludes by examining the remnants of this past, such as the New York County Courthouse, known as the Tweed Courthouse. Built between 1861 and 1881, its exorbitant cost of $12 million is linked to the corruption of William M. Tweed, the boss of Tammany Hall (1823-1878), who controlled Five Points through gangs for electoral fraud. Nearby, Foley Square, developed in the 1920s on the former Five Points site, includes the old Collect Pond pauper's cemetery. This site was the scene of gang riots in the 1850s, such as the Dead Rabbits Riot of 1857. The visit to the African Burial Ground National Monument, an active cemetery from 1712-1795 for 15,000-20,000 African Americans, immediately adjacent to Five Points, and finally St. Paul's Chapel, built in 1766, offers a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of this historic New York City neighborhood, a National Historic Landmark. You take with you a deep understanding of the social and political dynamics that shaped 19th-century New York, an essential discovery for anyone interested in New York's history.