Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants.[3] This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Because Broadway preceded the grid that the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 imposed on the island, Broadway crosses midtown Manhattan diagonally, intersecting with both the east-west streets and northsouth avenues. Broadway's intersections with avenues, marked by "squares" (some merely triangular slivers of open space), have induced some interesting architecture, such as the Flatiron Building.
N-S avenue E-W street