Filed Under New York (N.Y.)--History, Lower…

196 Elizabeth Street

Who lived at 196 Elizabeth Street in the 1930s?

By Abigail Lewis
196 Elizabeth Street
196 Elizabeth Street Black and white photograph of 196 Elizabeth Street in Manhattan, documenting the building's exterior, street front, and neighboring structures as part of the 1940s Tax Department photographs Source: New York City Municipal Archives  Creator: New York (N.Y.). Department of Finance Date: 1939-1941

The census records for the years 1930 and 1940 for 196 Elizabeth Street residents demonstrated that many of them were Italian-born immigrants, which is a glimpse into how prominent of a contribution of Italian settlements had in the population trends of New York City. According to the 1940 Census, the population of New York City totaled 7,454,995 residents, with 2,080,020 of them recorded as foreign-born white (U.S. Census Bureau, 1943, p.156-157). Italian-born immigrants were among the largest groups in this category, with numbers reaching 440,250 in 1930 and declining to 409,489 by 1940, but representing 19.7% of the city’s foreign-born white population that year (U.S. Census Bureau, 1943, p. 159). Italian immigrants settled in an area of Lower Manhattan in the 1850s, dubbed “Little Italy,” and by the 1920s, it had become a prominent Italian community in New York City (Hodges, 2010, p. 758). Ethnic communities like Little Italy allowed Italian immigrants to find housing, work, and even led to the establishment of businesses, Roman Catholic places of worship, and heritage-based social communities (Hodges, 2010, p. 758). So, considering this, it is not surprising that the majority demographic for the residents of 196 Elizabeth Street were Italian immigrants or the children of Italian immigrants. By 1940, all 59 residents of the building were recorded as white, 25 were born in Italy, and 32 were New York-born, most with Italian-born parents. This shows a mix of first- and second-generation Italian immigrants, who were among the largest groups of foreign-born immigrants. Rather than this being an isolated trend, the building is only just one example of the broader population patterns in New York City.

Images

196 Elizabeth Street
196 Elizabeth Street Black and white photograph of 196 Elizabeth Street in Manhattan, documenting the building's exterior, street front, and neighboring structures as part of the 1940s Tax Department photographs Source: New York City Municipal Archives  Creator: New York (N.Y.). Department of Finance Date: 1939-1941
Birthplace of Residents, 1930
Birthplace of Residents, 1930 A bar graph comparing recorded Italian-born residents with New York-born residents residing at 196 Elizabeth Street in 1930. Data gathered from the 1930 U.S. Census. Source: U.S. Census, 1930 Creator: Abigail Lewis
Birthplace 1940
Birthplace 1940 A bar graph comparing the recorded 1940 residents of 196 Elizabeth Street, Manhattan, by place of birth. Data gathered from the 1940 U.S. Census. Source: U.S. Census 1940 Creator: Abigail Lewis

Location

196 Elizabeth Street, New York, N.Y. 10012

Metadata

Related Resources

  1. Federal Writers’ Project (N.Y.). New York City Guide; a Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond. With Prelinger Library. New York, Random House, 1939. http://archive.org/details/newyorkcityguide00federich.
  2. Hodges, Graham. “Little Italy.” In The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Mary Elizabeth Brown. Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vm1cb.17.
  3. Hodges, Graham. “Lower East Side.” In The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, and Nancy Flood. Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vm1cb.17.
  4. Bureau, US Census. “1940 Census of Population: Volume 2. Characteristics of the Population. Sex, Age, Race, Nativity, Citizenship, Country of Birth of Foreign-Born White, School Attendance, Years of School Completed, Employment Status, Class of Worker, Major Occupation Group, and Industry Group.” Census.Gov. Accessed June 25, 2026. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1943/dec/population-vol-2.html.

Citation Info

Abigail Lewis, “196 Elizabeth Street: Who lived at 196 Elizabeth Street in the 1930s?,” New York City Guide 1939, accessed September 17, 2026, https://ajlewis.org/items/show/2.

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