The little frame house at the northwest corner or Rivington and Clinton Streets was the home of "Mother" Frederica Mandelbaum for many years, until she was driven from the city in 1884. This "Queen of the Crooks," receiver of stolen goods and friend of all the criminal class, compelled, in a sense, the admiration of the police, who for years battled in vain to outwit her cleverness. When the play, "The Two Orphans," was first produced, Mrs. Wilkins, as the "Frochard," copied the character of "Mother" Mandelbaum and gave a representation of the woman that all who knew the original recognized. Other plays were written, and also many stories, having her as a central figure. She died at Hamilton, Ontario, in 1894.
At the crossing of Rivington and Suffolk Streets was the source of Stuyvesant's Creek. From there, as the streets exist now, it crossed Stanton Street, near Clinton; Houston, at Sheriff; Second, near Houston; then wound around to the north of Manhattan Island, and emptied into the East River at Third Street.
In Rivington Street, between Ludlow and Orchard, is the Allen Street Memorial Church (M. E.), built in 1888. The original Church, which was built in 1810, is two blocks away, in Allen Street, between Delancey and Rivington Streets. It was rebuilt in 1836, and when the new Rivington Street structure was erected the old house was sold to a Jewish congregation, who still occupy it as a synagogue.
In Grand Street, between Essex and Ludlow Streets, the Essex Market was built in 1818. The court next to it, in Essex Street, was built in 1856.
On the Bowery, opposite Rivington Street, is a milestone (one of three that yet remain) which formerly marked the distance from the City Hall, in Wall Street, on the Post Road. The land to the east of the Bowery belonged to James De Lancey, who was Chief Justice of the Colony in 1733, and in 1753 became Lieutenant-Governor. A lane led from the Bowery, close by the milestone, to his country house, which was at the present northwest corner of Delancey and Chrystie Streets. It was in this house that he died suddenly in 1760. James De Lancey was the eldest son of Etienne (Stephen) De Lancey, who built the house which afterwards was known as Fraunces' Tavern, and which still stands at Broad and Pearl Streets. He later built the homestead at Broadway and Cedar Street. Originally the name was "de Lanci." It became "de Lancy" in the seventeenth century, and was Anglicized in the eighteenth century to "De Lancey."