It runs just over a mile from Chinatown to Greenwich Village.

The Bowery is New York City’s oldest thoroughfare, and has seen numerous changes just like the city itself. An exhibition at the New Museum in Manhattan looks back on more than 400 years of the Bowery’s history.

It’s a street that has lived many lives, including being home to several dozen museums in the 19th century where a variety of oddities were on display. 

“Nobody knows this history, I didn’t even know it until I started researching, they were called dime museums, they were the experience museums of their day, and they were immensely popular,” said Lisa Phillips, the director emeritus of the New Museum, who curated the show with curatorial assistant Thalia Stefaniuk.

The exhibition is called “The Bowery: Devil’s Mile.” It’s appropriate since the Bowery was once referred to as “Devil’s Mile,” and the museum itself is on the Bowery. 

“People think they know it. But it has had a history of people living on it for well over 400 years. And many, many ups and downs, lots of contradictions, lots of colorful chapters, and it’s been everything at one time or another,” said Phillips, who retired as Director in April after 27 years at the helm of the museum. 

The history shows the Bowery as a Lenape footpath, home to farms and cattle drives, hotels and showplaces. It was once an infamous skid row, and the street featured a long list of characters from Peter Stuyvesant to P.T. Barnum and Keith Haring.

It has been a home to artists since the mid-20th century. In the 1970s, new music like punk and new wave rocked at the legendary CBGBs club. Phillips noted that the museum followed the artists to the Bowery when the museum moved in 2007, and started discovering all kinds and surprises and mysteries about the street it wanted to share with the public.

“This will I think challenge people’s preconceptions and stereotypes about what the street is and see this long trajectory of history over 400 years,” said Phillips. 

“The Bowery: Devil’s Mile” runs through January of next year.

Other shows opening Sept. 24 include “Arthur Jafa: I Am Tony,” a comprehensive survey of the influential artist’s work, capturing the rhythm and realities of Black life in America.

There is also “Diego Marcon: Arrivederci, Piggies!” which includes films and animations from the Italian artist.

Click here to plan your visit.