Hester Street

Hester Street is a street in the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It stretches from Essex Street to Centre Street, with a discontinuity between Chrystie Street and Forsyth Street for Sara Delano Roosevelt Park. There is also a discontinuity at Allen Street, which was created in 2009 with the rebuilding of the Allen Street Mall. At Centre Street, Hester Street shifts about to the north and is called Howard Street to its far western terminus at Mercer Street. Historically a center for Ashkenazi Jewish immigrant culture, more recently it has been absorbed by Chinatown, although some kosher and Jewish-owned stores remain. History Hester Street was named after Hester Leisler, the daughter of Elsje Tymens and the insurrectionist Jacob Leisler, who was burned at the stake. Through her mother she was related to prominent Dutch families of the Hudson Valley, including the Bayards and the Van Cortlandts. She married Barent Rynders, Jr, a New York merchant, in 1696. She was the great-great-grandmother of Gouverneur Morris, a Founding Father of the United States.