Chatham Square Redesign Unveiled by DOT

Located at the junction of five streets and multiple cultural histories, Chatham Square has been many things to many people over the centuries—not that one would know this from reading a recent Department of Transportation (DOT) press release on the subject.

Issued on Oct. 21, the document’s headline declares “City Unveils Concepts for Reimagined Chatham Square With More Pedestrian Space, Simplified Intersection.” Most notably, Park Row would no longer be a northbound through street to Bowery.

Between the concept and the reimagination, however, some things may have been oversimplified.

If the basic idea of revamping this crossroads sounds familiar, it should, as it’s essentially an elaboration of a January 2024 plan involving a $55-million redesign of Kimlau Square, which, like Russian dolls nesting within one another, sits entirely in the larger Chatham Square.

That announcement, issued by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), was itself born from a 2021 plan to impove Kimlau Square and erect a symbolic “Gateway Arch” there. Work on this project only recently started, while the current redesign proposal would have to be approved by the next mayor’s Public Design Commission.

Sited at the intersections of Oliver Street, East Broadway, the Bowery, and Park Row, Kimlau Square was so named in 1961 to honor Benjamin Ralph Kimlau, a Chinese-American U.S. Army Air Force pilot who served in World War II. Kimlau, 25, died when his plane crashed upon takeoff in New Guinea in March 1944.

Today, members of the Canal Street-based American Legion Lt. B.R. Kimlau Chinese Memorial Post 1291 are a familiar sight at Memorial Day, July 4 and Veterans Day events in Manhattan.

Given this, it’s axiomatic that pretty much anything that brings greater attention to Kimlau’s heroic service is a good thing.

However, in a DOT press release more than 1,100 words long, with quotes from numerous city officials who together use the word “heritage” four times and “cultural legacy” once, nowhere is there a hint that Chatham Square was ever anything but Chinese.

When the Lower East Side Was Uptown

And yet, literally steps away from Kimlau Square at 55 St. James Pl., is a remnant of the city’s oldest Jewish burial ground, alternately known as Chatham Square Cemetery or Shearith Israel Cemetery #1. Founded in 1654 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews who emigrated from Brazil, Shearith Israel is New York’s oldest Jewish congregation, and land for its first cemetery, which was then on the city’s outskirts, was purchased in 1682.

Even as development surged north, the Chatham Square area was abundantly Jewish, only its people didn’t speak Spanish or Portuguese, rather Yiddish and a babble of Eastern European tongues.

Nearly every building around Chatham Square built before, say, 1950 has a significant prior Jewish history underlying it. One can see this at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church at 27 Forsyth St.—built in 1892 as Kol Israel Anshe Poland synagogue; in the Eldridge Street Museum, originally a synagogue built in 1897; and the Jewish Daily Forward building, opened in 1912.

Also worth recalling is that as the Chatham Square area grew into its identity as a renowned Jewish (or “Hebrew”) ghetto (with Italians and others mixed in), it was shrouded by the shadow and noise of elevated passenger trains, which opened in 1878.

As any major subway buff will tell you, Chatham Square was a two-level elevated subway station serving both the IRT Second and Third Avenue lines. The former ended service there in 1943, the latter 1953, and when the El was subsequently torn down, many locals rejoiced: Let there be light!

Noting this isn’t to deny or diminish the area’s demographic evolution but rather to highlight that the current vitality of Chatham Square has a foundation—a “legacy” and “heritage”— that those presently speaking for it have somehow overlooked.

Among the politicians and officials speaking on behalf of the 2025 redesign, which would expand Chatham Square while ostensibly improving traffic flow and safety, were outgoing Mayor Eric Adams; Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu; DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez; EDC President Andrew Kimball; State Senator Brian Kavanagh; and NYC Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa.

Said the boss “parkie,” whose decades of Parks Department service make her the most trustworthy of these messengers: “This redesign of Chatham Square isn’t just about safety—it’s about connection. It’s about creating a welcoming, inclusive space that honors the neighborhood’s rich cultural heritage while offering residents, families, and visitors a place to gather and reflect. Projects like this celebrate community, culture, and the shared public spaces that make our city so special.”

Tellingly absent from the press release, however, was any statement from Chatham Square’s Council member, Christopher Marte. Why the outspoken CD member, who has repeatedly proven himself a vigorous parks advocate, was omitted is a mystery, though Chinatown whispers suggest there’s no love lost between Marte and the DOT, and perhaps also the EDC.

Indeed, returning to the Economic Development people’s February 2024 Chatham Square / “Chinatown Connections” announcement, which used the word “community” 44 times, of the 19 people quoted (a very high number for such releases), from Congressman Dan Goldman down to Transportation Alternatives organizer Emily Jacobi, none of them are Christopher Marte.

Hey, see that guy over there on East Broadway in the jacket and tie with black curly hair? He works here: He’s the Council member for Chinatown!