High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Minetta Creek (sometimes called Minetta Brook, Minetta Stream, Minetta Water, Minetta Waters, or prior to the American Revolutionary War, by its Dutch name, Bestevaer`s Killetje), was a stream that was among the largest natural watercourses in Manhattan. Nearly two miles long, it began from two tributaries, the main one having its source near what is now Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street, and a secondary one that had its source at Sixth Avenue and Sixteenth Street. The streams flowed southward and joined between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. From there it flowed southward across what is today Washington Square Park, it then crossed southwest, traversing what is today its namesake, Minetta Street and Downing Street, eventually discharging into the Hudson River near what is today Charlton Street. The creek was filled in by the mid-nineteenth century, although it persisted as an underground stream through the twentieth century. Debate continues on whether the creek still exists.