"The lights of Fourteenth Street," as Dolly sings in the musical Hello, Dolly!, were synonymous with New York City's theatre district for nearly two decades from the mid-1870s. Clustered around Union Square were such theatres as the Union Square, Wallack's, and the Fourteenth Street; concert halls and museums; offices of booking agents; customers and wigmakers; play publishers and brokers (Samuel French was at 38 East 14th Street); theatrical trade newspaper offices; hotels, restaurants, and saloons. By the 1890s, the hub of theatrical activity was moving northward toward 42nd Street. While Times Square emblematizes theatre in the era of electric lights, Fourteenth Street was fondly remembered in association with theatre of the gaslight era.
See also Broadway.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.