Wikipedia: Union Square is an important and historic intersection in New York City, located where Broadway and the Bowery came together in the early 19th century; its name does not celebrate either the federal union or labor unions but rather denotes the fact that here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island and the confluence of several trolley lines, as in the term union station. Today it is bounded by 14th Street to the south, Union Square West on the west side, 17th Street on the north, and on the east Union Square East, which links together Broadway and Park Avenue South to Fourth Avenue and the continuation of Broadway.