By the 2010s, a common marketing tactic was to extend Tribeca's southern boundary to either Vesey[a] or Murray Streets to increase the appeal of property listings.

The name "Tribeca" was coined in the early 1970s and originally applied to the narrower area bounded by Broadway and Canal, Lispenard, and Church Streets, which appears to be a triangle on city planning maps.

Residents of this area formed the TriBeCa Artists' Co-op in filing legal documents connected to a 1973 zoning dispute.

[7] The area now known as Tribeca was farmed by Dutch settlers to New Amsterdam, prominently Roeleff Jansen (who obtained the land patent, called Dominie's Brouwery, from Wouter van Twiller in 1636) and his wife Anneke Jans who later married Everardus Bogardus.

[12] During the 1840s and then continuing after the American Civil War, shipping in New York City – which then consisted only of Manhattan – shifted in large part from the East River and the area around South Street to the Hudson River, where the longer piers could more easily handle the larger ships which were then coming into use.

[14][6] In the mid-19th century, the neighborhood was the center of the dry goods and textile industries in the city, and St. John's Park was turned into a freight depot.

[6] Later, the area also featured fireworks outlets, pets stores, radios – which were clustered in a district that was displaced by the building of the World Trade Center – sporting goods, shoes, and church supplies.

[15] By the mid-19th century, the area transformed into a commercial center, with large numbers of store and loft buildings constructed along Broadway in the 1850s and 1860s.

Because of a policy of "deferred maintenance", the elevated structure began to fall apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the highway was shut down in 1973.

The roadway project planned to replace it, called Westway, was fought by neighborhood activists, and was eventually killed by environmental concerns.

[6] Some warehouse buildings were converted to residential use, and lofts began to be utilized by artists, who lived and worked in their spaces, a model which had been pioneered in nearby SoHo.

[20] Tribeca suffered both physically and financially after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but government grants and incentives helped the area rebound fairly quickly.

[21] The Tribeca Film Festival was established to help contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan after 9/11.

[19] For census purposes, the New York City government classifies Tribeca as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called SoHo-TriBeCa-Civic Center-Little Italy.

[24] Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of SoHo-TriBeCa-Civic Center-Little Italy was 42,742, a change of 5,985 (14%) from the 36,757 counted in 2000.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018,[update] Tribeca and Lower Manhattan are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, abandoned and inexpensive Tribeca lofts became hot-spot residences for young artists and their families because of the seclusion of lower Manhattan and the vast living space.

[26]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Tribeca and Lower Manhattan is 0.0096 milligrams per cubic metre (9.6×10−9 oz/cu ft), more than the city average.

[26]: 13  In Tribeca and Lower Manhattan, 4% of residents are obese, 3% are diabetic, and 15% have high blood pressure, the lowest rates in the city—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.

[52] Tribeca and Lower Manhattan generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018.

[26]: 6  The percentage of Tribeca and Lower Manhattan students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.

[27]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [26]: 6  Additionally, 96% of high school students in Tribeca and Lower Manhattan graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.

[122] In addition, a fictional "Tribeca High School" appears in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Granting Immunity."

In the third book of the Witches of East End series, Winds of Salem, the Oracle, an almighty god from Asgard, lives in Tribeca.