When building the narrow irregular streets of their little town on lower Manhattan, the inhabitants of New Amsterdam little dreamed that they would one day be the scene of the enormous traffic of modern New York. Those old, narrow, winding streets to-day swarm with hurrying throngs from morning till night and are among the busiest and noisiest in the world. The newer part of the city from Fourteenth Street north to the Harlem River has been laid out in wide parallel avenues running north and south. These are crossed by numbered streets running east and west from river to river. Fifth Avenue runs lengthwise through the middle of the borough, dividing it into the East and West sides. On the East Side you will find the crowded homes of the poorer classes, where many of the working people of Manhattan live. On the West Side are many manufacturing plants, lumber yards, and warehouses. On the upper stretch of Fifth Avenue, and on the streets leading off, are the homes of many of New York's wealthiest residents. Opposite Central Park are some of the most costly and beautiful mansions in the city. [Illustration: FIFTH AVENUE FROM THIRTY-FOURTH STREET] In this regular arrangement of streets, Broadway alone is the exception to the rule. Beginning at the southern end of the island, it runs straight north for more than two miles, then turns west and winds its way throughout the whole length of the city. About its lower end, and on some of the neighboring streets, center the banking and financial interests. Here are many of the city's richest banks and trust companies. [Illustration: BROADWAY CROSSING SIXTH AVENUE] Wall Street, running east from Broadway about one third of a mile from the southern end of Manhattan, was named from the wall which the Dutch, in 1683, built across the island at this point, because they heard that the English were planning to attack them from the north. Though only half a mile in length, Wall Street probably surpasses all others in the extent of its business. [Illustration: WALL STREET] North of the banking center is the great wholesale region, where merchants from all parts of the country buy their stock in large quantities, to sell again to the retail merchants. Beyond the wholesale region are the large retail stores--New York's great shopping district. In these retail stores the merchants who have bought from the wholesalers sell direct to the people who are to use the goods. In this middle section of the island are also most of the better-class hotels, restaurants, clubs, and theaters, which have been gradually making their way further and further uptown, crowding the best resident section still further north.