Front Street

Front Street, once noted for its markets and first local homes of poor immigrants, no longer exists. Laid out in the 1820s as two long blocks, Front Street was lined by low brick buildings.

While the ground floors contained markets, small shops and saloons, the lofts housed successive waves of poor immigrants: Irish, Germans, Jews and, later, Italians. As they became established, they moved to other neighborhoods: Irish to "Dublin," Italians to "Mt. Allegro," Germans to the Brown Square area and Jews to Broad Street.

Over half the city's adult males in 1850 were foreign born. Later years brought new residents: southern blacks after World War II, Hispanics in the 1960's and Southeast Asians in the 1970's.