Fifth Avenue began as the Middle Road drawn by surveyor Casimir Goerck.
Hired by the city council to survey its common lands, Goerck laid out a Middle Road, which became Fifth Avenue; his East and West Roads became Fourth and Sixth Avenues. The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 drew heavily on his two surveys. Today Fifth Avenue is the dividing line between east and west: it separates, for example, East 59th Street from West 59th Street.