Editing Tribeca (section)

=== Commercial and industrial development ===
During the 1840s and then continuing after the [[American Civil War]], shipping in New York City – which then consisted only of [[Manhattan]] – shifted in large part from the [[East River]] and the area around South Street to the [[Hudson River]], where the longer piers could more easily handle the larger ships which were then coming into use. In addition, the dredging of the sand bars which lay across the entrance to [[New York Harbor]] from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] made it easier for ships to navigate to the piers on the Hudson, rather than use the "back door" via the East River to the piers there.<ref>{{cite concrete |page=96}}</ref><ref name=aia59 />  Later, the Hudson River piers also received freight via railroad cars ferried across the river from New Jersey.<ref name=fednyc>{{cite fednyc |pages=73–80}}</ref>

[[File:Radio Row-Berenice Abbott.jpg|thumb|"Radio Row", seen here in 1934, was displaced by the building of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]]. (Photo by [[Berenice Abbott]])]]{{anchor|Washington Market|Bear Market}}
The increased shipping encouraged the expansion of the '''Washington Market''' – a wholesale produce market that opened in 1813 as "'''Bear Market'''" – from the original market buildings to buildings throughout its neighborhood, taking over houses and warehouses to use for the storage of produce, including butter, cheese, and eggs.<ref name=aia59 /><ref name=enc-nyc /> In the mid-19th century, the neighborhood was the center of the dry goods and textile industries in the city, and St. John's Park was turned into a freight depot.<ref name=enc-nyc /> Later, the area also featured fireworks outlets, pets stores, radios – which were clustered in a district that was displaced by the building of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] – sporting goods, shoes, and church supplies.<ref name=fednyc /> By the mid-19th century, the area transformed into a commercial center, with large numbers of store and loft buildings constructed along Broadway in the 1850s and 1860s.

Development in the area was further spurred by [[New York City Subway]] construction, namely the extension of the [[IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line]] (today's {{NYCS trains|Broadway-Seventh}}), which opened for service in 1918, and the accompanying extension of [[Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)|Seventh Avenue]] and the widening of [[Varick Street]] during subway construction in 1914, both of resulted in better access to the area for vehicles and for subway riders. The area was also served by the [[IRT Ninth Avenue Line]], an elevated train line on [[Greenwich Street (Manhattan)|Greenwich Street]] demolished in 1940.

After the construction of the [[Holland Tunnel]] from 1920 to 1927 and the transition of freight shipping from ships and railroads to trucks,<ref>Bradley, Betsey (December 8, 1982) [http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1714.pdf "Tribeca North Historic District Designation Report"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226205416/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1714.pdf |date=December 26, 2016 }} [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]</ref> the truck traffic generated by the market and other businesses caused considerable congestion in the area. This provoked the building between 1929 and 1951 of the [[Miller Highway]], an elevated roadway that came to be called the [[West Side Highway]], the purpose of which was to handle through automobile traffic, which thus did not have to deal with the truck congestion at street level. Because of a policy of "deferred maintenance", the elevated structure began to fall apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the highway was shut down in 1973. The roadway project planned to replace it, called [[Westway (New York)|Westway]], was fought by neighborhood activists, and was eventually killed by environmental concerns. Instead, West Street was rebuilt to handle through traffic.<ref name=aia59>{{cite aia5|page=59}}</ref><ref name=enc-nyc />