Minetta Creek was one of the largest natural watercourses in Manhattan, New York City, United States. Minetta Creek was fed from two tributaries, one originating at Fifth Avenue and 21st Street, and the other originating at Sixth Avenue and 16th Street. They joined near Fifth Avenue and 11th Street then took a southwesterly course. Minetta Creek's name is thought to have originated from either the Native American term "Manette", meaning "Devil's Water", or the Dutch word "Minnetje", meaning "the little one".
Minetta Creek was originally known by the Dutch as Bestevaer's Killetje. During the 18th century, large amounts of wildlife could be seen around the creek. In the early 1820s, the New York City common council commissioned a project to divert Minetta Creek into a covered sewer. The creek was filled in by the mid-19th century, although it persisted as an underground stream through the 20th century.
Ever since the creek was covered in the 19th century, there have been debates over whether the creek still exists. Minetta Creek caused flooding in basements and construction sites from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. Pools of water were also found at several construction sites along the creek's course.
Course
Minetta Creek was one of Manhattan's largest natural waterways. Nearly long, Minetta Creek began from two tributaries, the main one having its source near Fifth Avenue and 21st Street, and a secondary one that had its source at Sixth Avenue and 16th Street. The streams flowed southward and joined within the block bound by 11th and 12th Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. From there it flowed southward across modern-day Washington Square Park. It then crossed southwest along the present route of Minetta Lane, one of the creek's namesake streets. The creek then roughly followed the current path of Minetta Street, a one-block road going south from Minetta Lane before curving southwest to meet Sixth Avenue. Minetta Creek then turned west along what is now Downing Street and eventually discharged into the Hudson River near Charlton Street.
Origins of name
Minetta Creek is alternatively called Minetta Brook, Minetta Stream, Minetta Water, or Minetta Waters. It was also referred to by its Dutch name, Bestevaer's Killetje, before the American Revolutionary War. A plaque affixed to the building at Two Fifth Avenue provides one derivation of the "Minetta" name and reads as follows:
Another theory is that the name is an Anglicization of the Dutch root "min" or "minuut" (English: little) and suffix "-tje" to produce "Minnetje" or "The little one" to distinguish it from the Groot Kill, a large creek that was a mile away. However, 'min' in Dutch does not translate to "little"; in modern Dutch, it translates to "minus" or "less".
Colonial days
In the Dutch era, the area surrounding the creek was known as the Land of the Blacks and settled by freed Africans. A path along the creek, called the "Negroes' Causeway", later formed the hub of the Little Africa neighborhood and now follows part of the route of Minetta Street.
The creek, whose course formed a well-defined channel, was known for its abundance of fish, in particular trout. Pickerel, bass, and pike were among the species fished in it. "All manner of wild fowl" including ducks and geese could be found in the creek. In fact, the filling-in had preceded real-estate speculators' infill operations, according to the British Headquarters Map of 1782–1783. At the time, the British carried out extensive defenses of the city, and according to ecologist Eric W. Sanderson, "they dammed Minetta Water to create a lake in what is now the West Village".
Bestevaer's Killetje formed a convenient landmark designation for surveyors. Murray Hoffman's Treatise Upon the Estate and Rights of the Corporation of the City of New York, as Proprietors reprints numerous historical documents from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a number of which mention Minetta Creek. Most of these pre-nineteenth century documents refer to the creek by its Dutch name, Bestavaer's Killtjie (or, in a more probable spelling, Bestevaer's Killetje). One of the most significant of pre-American Revolutionary War documents consolidating ownership of land in Manhattan was the Montgomerie Charter, named after governor John Montgomerie, dated January 15, 1730, and ratified by the Colonial Legislature in 1732. It stated in part: