Italian enclaves in New York City (1880-1923)

In 1965 the Immigration and Nationality Act abolished the Immigration Act of 1924, and since 1968 170,000 immigrants from the eastern hemisphere were allowed to immigrate annually. Post-1967 a new wave of Chinese immigrants began to settle in Chinatown. The influx of Mandarin and Fujianese speakers helped Chinatown expand its boundaries from the historic seven-block area around Mott and Mulberry Streets to an estimated 55-block area from the East River to City Hall and from St. James Place to well-north of Canal Street, eradicating the traditional “dividing line” between Little Italy and Chinatown...........

...........New York City was home to at least six ethnically Italian enclaves established during the massive Italian immigration from 1880 to 1923. The first significant Italian immigrants began arriving in the Five Points neighborhood in the 6th Ward during the late 1840’s --these immigrants were from northern Italy. During the 1870s southern Italians arrived in New York City in great numbers, but it was in the 1880s that the great mass of Italian immigration began (1880-1923). They settled in great numbers on Pell Street, Baxter and Worth: and along Bayard and Mulberry from Worth to Houston. Italian laborers, musicians, barbers and tradesmen were enumerated in the census. By the 1890s, the area was known for several food businesses—one Pina Alleva, recently arrived from Benevento, established her cheese shop at the corner of Grand and Mulberry (1892). This is now considered New York’s oldest cheese shop still in operation, and Mrs. Alleva’s descendants are still making ricotta and mozzarella to her specifications at 188 Grand Street. The thriving markets of Mott and Elizabeth Streets provided Little Italy residents with fresh fish and seafood, meats, cheeses, and the fresh fruits and vegetables abundant in Italian cities.

The immigrants from Italy arrived after 1900 at about 200,000 a year to the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 had limited severely the number of Italian immigrants allowed –southern and eastern Europeans were restricted while northern Europeans were favored. By the early 1930s, Italians made up an estimated 98% 0f households in Little Italy. By 1940s, Little Italy was a tourist attraction, and each street in Little Italy was populated by particular regional groups-Napoletani, Calabresi, Siciliani, and Lucani, although today the neighborhood is identified with broader “Italian” culture—an Italian-American culture, rather than the regional cultures that predominated during the period of the great migration”.

Picture:Little Italy, Mulberry Street, New York City ca. 1900

 (Detroit Publishing,  Library of Congress)" 

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(Source: National Parks Service - Chinatown and Little Italy Historic district )

(http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/asia/2010/chinatown_little_italy_hd.htm)