The street is named after George Stanton, an associate of landowner James De Lancey.

The site of the second African burial ground in New York lies between Stanton and Rivington Streets, now a playground in the Sara Delano Roosevelt Park.

The Lower East Side, once known for its large Jewish community of German, Eastern European Jews and later by Puerto Ricans before an influx of newer immigrants, is beginning to see a slight resurgence in the Jewish character of the neighborhood, led by the Stanton Street Synagogue, Congregation Bnai Jacob Anshei Brzezan.

The Sara D. Roosevelt Park had a service facility at Stanton Street which included a public restroom until 1994, when it was closed.

[citation needed] The street, crowded, with market goods, is shown in the first popular sound movie "The Jazz singer" (1927).