When the Jewish community settled in Vilnius, this street soon became the central part of its quarter – all the ways led the Jewish community to this street until the beginning of the 20th century. At that time the so-called Pohulanka (nowadays – mostly J. Basanavičius str.) – new and modern center of Jewish life in Vilnius – took the spotlight from Jewish street. The Great synagogue and the great Vilna shulhof stood in Jewish street – all the members of the Jewish community came there to chat and spread the news. Almost every building on the Jewish street housed a separate prayer house for members of different professional communities. Neverthemore, this street became the spotlight of attention mostly because of Vilna Gaon, who lived in a small apartment of Jewish street in the 18th century, and it is where most of his worldly appreciated work on Jewish religious thought has been born. At the beginning of the 20th century yet another place became the centre of attention on the Jewish street – the majestic Judaica library of M. Strašūnas.

Despite the fact, that this street was the centre of the Jewish religious life in Vilnius, it was densely inhabited by mostly poor Jewish families. Tenants of this street were constantly changing and in the 19th century there lived not only Jewish families, but many newcomers, who came to Vilnius to find their luck – Poles, Russians etc. Until 1940 there were many small shops on the ground floors of the buildings on the Jewish street. The traders on this street operated not only in the buildings but outside on the street as well.

During the interwar period in Vilnius, there were several popular entertainment places of the long Jewish street as well. The most popular was the restaurant of U. Welfke, which was famous for its free bohemian atmosphere and visited by Vilnius artists of any ethnicity. Also, on this street was one of not so many vegetarian restaurants in Vilnius – it was opened by young creative woman Fania Lewando, who came to Vilnius from Warsaw.

In 1940 all the buildings on Jewish street were nationalized by Soviet occupants. In 1941 when Nazis occupied Lithuania, in September they established a ghetto (so-called Small Ghetto) in the previous territory of Jewish quarter and Jewish street became a part of the ghetto as well. This Small Ghetto was closed after two months – most of its inhabitants were murdered in Ponary, and the minority of them were relocated to the Big Ghetto.

After the Second World War, during the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania, the buildings on the Jewish street were nationalized once again.