‘Bowery’ comes from an old Dutch word for ‘farm’.
It is an anglicisation of the Dutch bouwerie. In the 17th century the road branched off Broadway north of Fort Amsterdam and led to the homestead of Peter Stuyvesant, director-general of New Netherland, linking the farms on the outskirts to the town. Stuyvesant retired to his Bowery farm in 1667. Until 1807 the street was known as Bowery Lane.