Simmer together borscht, matzo, strudel, tortillas, pasta, corned beef, eggrolls, and you get a unique American stew. Melting Pot describes the densely packed four square miles of New York City's Manhattan Island called the Lower East Side.

Inhabited by Indians, the Dutch purchased Manhattan in the seventeenth century. After the Revolutionary War, more European settlers located to the island, development encroached farmland and a city emerged.

Immigrants poured into New York City in the nineteenth century. Post Civil War population soared to one million residents.

The newly arrived flocked to the Lower East Side where they found cheap rent and fellow ex-patriots. Tenements sprung up to accomodate the masses who packed into small windowless, often unsanitary dwellings.

Accents of Irish, German, Polish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and more echoed throughout the densely populated borough. Around the turn of the century, Jews from multiple nations arrived, and they too made their home along the edge of the East River.

The Hart-Cellar Act of the 1960s removed immigration quotas adding Spanish accents to the mix in the Lower East Side.

The 80s and 90s drew the downtrodden and off beat. Hippies, punk rockers, addicts and artists migrated to the neighborhood.

Location and local color make the community a desirable place to live in the twenty-first century. Multi-ethnic churches and synagogues, art and music venues, restaurants and boutiques line the streets.

The Lower East Side is reborn and revitalized, an interesting stew infused with the energy of the numerous masses that chose to make America their home.

Researched and written by Cynthia Catellier

University of West Florida

Public History