Pearl Street (Manhattan)
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Pearl Street is a street in the Lower section of the New York City borough of Manhattan, running northeast from Battery Park to the Brooklyn Bridge, then turning west and terminating at Centre Street. Pearl Street generally marks the original eastern boundary of the lower part of Manhattan Island; extensive use of landfill over the course of several hundred years has extended the shoreline roughly 700-900 feet further into the East River.
The name Pearl Street is an English translation of the Dutch Parelstraat (written as Paerlstraet around 1660). This street along the eastern shore of New-Amsterdam was given this name because of the large amount of oysters found here.
Thomas Edison's first power plant, Pearl Street Station, was located here. The IRT Third Avenue elevated railway also ran above Pearl Street until 1950.