Catharine Market N.Y. 1850

Close to the East River, Catharine Market began as an informal trading place until it was licensed and a building erected in 1800. The market sold fish, vegetables, and many others kinds of products. It was a place that brought together sailors from off the river as well as New Yorkers from all walks of life--white and blacks; free and enslaved; upper and lower classes. It was convenient shopping place for those black New Yorkers living in the Five Points and the surrounding neighborhoods. Catharine Market was said to be the place where slaves congregated and invented a new dance form popularly know as "dancing for eels."