About Washington Street Historical Society
WSHS in Brief
- WSHS was founded in 2013 to commemorate the first Arabic-speaking community in the United States located on the Lower West Side of Manhattan
- About 1500 immigrants from present-day Lebanon and present-day Syria settled on Washington Street in a community soon dubbed the Syrian Quarter.
- The New York Syrian community was sometimes referred to as the “Mother Colony,” because it was the cultural, economic, and intellectual heart of the North American Arabic-speaking diaspora.
Washington Street Historical Society
Founded in 2013, the Washington Street Historical Society (WSHS) fosters education and awareness about the first Arabic-speaking community in the United States, which was located on the Lower West Side of Manhattan in New York City between 1880 and 1940. Washington Street, the heart of the community, came to be called “The Syrian Quarter.”
To restore the community to its rightful place in New York and American history, WSHS conducts virtual and physical tours, sponsors lectures and conferences, advocates for saving the three remaining buildings on the street and will install a permanent public artwork in a nearby park to commemorate the literary legacy of the community.