Canal Street follows a covered canal dug to drain the polluted Collect Pond.
By 1800 Collect Pond, one of the city’s few natural sources of fresh water, was completely polluted, and the city chose to drain and fill it. A ditch 40 feet wide and 8 feet deep, dated 1805 by NYC Parks, carried the water off; it too became an open sewer and was covered over in 1819. Canal Street, completed in 1820 along its path, was named for it.