The street has a Beaux-Arts architectural feel with many buildings dating back to the Gilded Age or shortly thereafter.
The early 19th-century buildings on the south side of the easternmost block are called Schermerhorn Row and are collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Regular cricket matches were held near the present Fulton Market in 1780 when the British Army-based itself in Manhattan during the American Revolution.
The Fulton Fish Market was located nearby at the South Street Seaport until 2005, when it moved to Hunts Point in the Bronx.
In August 2013, parts of the street were excavated in order to install water mains, but while they were digging, construction workers uncovered over 100 empty liquor bottles from the 18th century used as part of landfill to extend the street to the East River.