Pearl Street is a street in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, running northeast from Battery Park to the Brooklyn Bridge with an interruption at Fulton Street, where Pearl Street's alignment west of Fulton Street shifts one block south of its alignment east of Fulton Street, then turning west and terminating at Centre Street. History Pearl Street takes its name from of a prominent Lenape shell midden that was located on its southern section, and that may have also marked a Lenape canoe landing. The colonial history of Pearl Street dates back to the early 1600s. A cow path at first, it was laid out in 1633. It lay along a beachy area known as the Strand. Its name is an English translation of the Dutch Parelstraat (written as Paerlstraet around 1660). The street is visible on the Castello Plan along the eastern shore of New Amsterdam, together with Schreyers Hook Dock (cf. Amsterdam's Schreierstoren) built by Broad Canal as the city's first wharf in 1648. It was named for the many oysters found in the river. During the period of British rule, Pearl Street was known as Great Queen Street. The "Great" was used often to differentiate from Little Queen Street, which became Cedar Street in 1784. Pearl Street's irregular course is due to the fact that it generally followed the original eastern shoreline of the lower part of Manhattan Island, until the latter half of the 18th century when years of landfill extended the shoreline roughly 700–900 feet (200-300m) further into the East River, first to Water Street and later to Front Street. The colony's first church was built in 1633, during the tenure of director Wouter van Twiller at 39 Pearl, just outside the fort. In 1652 a wooden defensive wall was constructed along the town's northern perimeter to protect against possible attack by English colonists. There were two gates: the "land gate" on the Heerestraat and the "water gate" at Pearl Street. In the mid-1650s, a three-story tavern near what is now 73 Pearl Street became the city's first City Hall. Printer William Bradford lived at 81 Pearl. In 1693 he set up the first printing press in the colony. The Walton Mansion at 326 Pearl Street was a four story house built in 1752, and prior to the Revolution, known as the scene of extravagant parties. In 1784, Alexander Hamilton, and others founded the Bank