Located in the Manhattan borough, the Meatpacking District is situated roughly from West 15th Street south to Gansevoort Street and from the Hudson River East to Hudson Street.

In 1884, the city of New York designated two acres of land in honor of General Peter Gansevoort, a revolutionary war hero and grandfather to Herman Melville. Thus, the district is also referred to as the Gasenvoort Market.

In the 1900's the area was home to 250 meat packing plants and slaughterhouses. Many of these warehouses were converted from tenement buildings from money provided by the Astor and Roosevelt families in realizing that meat production was just as lucrative as oil or railroads.

Once one of the nations top producing markets of dressed meat, the Meatpacking District as become one of New York's trendy neighborhoods. In the recent years the neighborhood has seen many new hip restaurants, bars and boutiques opening catering to the young professionals.

Much of the architecture in the neighborhood is of industrial design
but there are a few distinct buildings such as the Beux-Arts building designed by the same architects who designed the immigration station's main building on Ellis Island. Village preservationists are in the process of having the District designated as a historic landmark. Most of Manhattan's historic districts celebrate it's grand residential properties and the preservationists feel that the city need's to honor it's commercial past as well.

Despite the changes that have taken place in the Meatpacking district, some remenants of the original industry remain. Early mornings on Washington Street you can catch a glimpse of meat deliveries being made from the warehouses now located between the boutiques and cafes.