By 1800,
Collect Pond, one of New York City's few natural sources of fresh water, had become completely polluted with sewage and run-off from the
tanneries,
breweries, and other workshops and factories around it. Run-off from the pond, including one "sluggish stream" which traveled part of the route of the future Canal Street, fed nearby swamps and marshes which prevented the city from continuing its northward growth. To deal with this, the city's Common Council ordered that the swamps be drained and, in 1803, that the pond itself be filled in. A drain was built continuing the path of the "sluggish stream" to the
Hudson River, which redirected the underground springs which watered the swamps. The pond was successfully drained by 1813 or 1815. building at 58
Bowery on the corner of Canal Street in Chinatown, currently an
HSBC bank branch and also a
New York City Landmark|left The area was developed, but the springs remained and caused the "dry" land to be boggy and uneven. The Common Council then authorized a
canal, in the form of a 40-foot wide, 8-foot deep ditch, which would continue carrying off the excess water. Because it was not efficient, and did not have sufficient flow, it, too, became an open sewer. The city covered it over in 1819, but as it had no air traps, the covered canal became a stinking covered sewer. Canal Street was completed in 1820, following the path of the covered canal and named for it. which remains a local landmark. The portion of Canal Street around Sixth Avenue was New York's principal market for electronics parts for a quarter-century after the closing of
Radio Row to make way for the building of the
World Trade Center.
Reputation as hawkers' haven Canal Street is a bustling commercial district, crowded with comparatively low-rent open storefronts, and
street vendors to the west; banks and jewelry shops to the east. For a generation after World War II, the former segment hosted many stores selling exotic high-tech components to would-be inventors and engineers. Canal Street is also the main Chinese jewelry business district of Chinatown. Tourists as well as locals pack its sidewalks every day to frequent the open-air stalls and bare-bones stores selling items such as perfume, purses, hardware, and industrial plastics at low prices. Many of these goods are
grey market imports and many notoriously
counterfeit, with fake
trademarked
brand names on electronics, clothing and personal accessories (including the
fake Rolex watches that have become a Manhattan cliché).
Bootleg CDs and DVDs were common, and were offered for sale on Canal Street—often before they were even officially released in stores or the theater—in makeshift stands and suitcases or simply laid out on bedsheets. Widespread sale of these counterfeit goods persists along Canal Street and in its hidden back rooms despite frequent
police raids. In addition, legislation was proposed in 2013 to try to make purchasing counterfeit items a crime; this would let the city's economy earn back at least $1 billion annually in taxes. == Transportation ==