Battle of "Little Syria": Activists fight city to save last two buildings in ‘Little Syria’

New York Post ^ | June 24, 2012 | KATE BRIQUELET

[TFine80]

Little Syria is facing a big problem. Activists are rallying to save the last vestiges of America’s first Arab-American neighborhood before it’s too late — but the city doesn’t think the buildings are worth it. “Most people don’t realize that the center of Arab life was in the shadow of the World Trade Center,” said Todd Fine, an organizer with Save Washington Street, a campaign to preserve the surviving two buildings of New York’s once bustling Syrian quarter. “The fact that it’s near Ground Zero makes it trickier to talk about,” he said. “Yet this should have been protected wherever it was.” Washington Street, from the Battery to Rector streets, was an enclave for Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in the early 1900s before it was bulldozed to build the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, and later the World Trade Center.

[2banana]

most likely near all were Christian escaping muslim domination back then...

[TFine80]

It was around 98% Christian. The key triggers for the immigration in the late 19th century were decline in silk prices from Chinese competition and Ottoman control, yes.

[TFine80]

It was around 98% Christian. The key triggers for the immigration in the late 19th century were decline in silk prices from Chinese competition and Ottoman control, yes.