Feminine customers showed so much embarrassment while having their shoes shined, that a sympathetic New York bootblack mounted a roller curtain on his stand. Now the wearer of the most abbreviated skirt can pull down the curtain to suit herself, and sit unconcernedly in the elevated chair for a “shine” without being annoyed by the [...]
From the New-York Post, February 26, 1870 courtesy of the Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway. THE PNEUMATIC TUBE – A Reception Under Broadway For the first time in the history of New-York a reception with all the accompaniments of furnished saloons, champagne and salads, was held under Broadway this afternoon. On descending [...]
Under construction for a decade, the Ellis Island immigration station opened in New York harbor in 1900, just in time for the huge upswing in immigration to the United States that took place in the years leading up to World War I. In 1907, the peak year of immigration, 3,000 to 5,000 newcomers a day [...]
This gigantic spiral tower, designed to reach a height of 534 ft., with trolley cars for ascent, is the idea of a well known professor of structural engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N.Y. If his plans are successfully carried out the tower will be constructed in New York, and from it sightseers [...]
This shows a view looking south from Madison Square, across the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-third Street, to the famous Fuller (or “Flatiron”) Building. The cameraman elevates his camera, going from street level to the roof. Designed by D.H. Burnham and Company, the Fuller Building is an important early skyscraper and a New [...]
Before Halloween was the holiday known for dressing up in costume and begging for candy (this practice did not become common until the 1940s and 50s), children in NYC often participated in what was called Ragamuffin Day. On Ragamuffin Day – which was Thanksgiving Day – children would dress themselves in rags and oversized, overdone [...]
CANOE TILTING - This is a revival of the ancient game of tilting as described in “Ivanhoe,” except that the tilters use canoes instead of horses and blunt sticks in place of spears and lances. The object is for the tilter to shove his opponent out of his canoe, meanwhile seeing to it that the same undesirable fate does not [...]
The film is of a parade of fine horses and fashionable carriages taken along what is now the Harlem River Drive, in the Highbridge section of northern Manhattan. The view is from the Manhattan side of the river looking north. On the right is the Harlem River and on the opposite bank, the Bronx. Prominent [...]
Using time-lapse photography, the film shows the demolition of the famous Star Theatre in April of 1902. Judging from the various exposures, the work must have gone on for a period of approximately thirty days. The theater opened in 1861 as “Wallack’s Theatre,” and was re-christened the “Star” in 1883. It was well known for [...]
The camera platform was on the front of a New York subway train following another train on the same track. Lighting is provided by a specially constructed work car on a parallel track. At the time of filming, the subway was only seven months old, having opened on October 27, 1904. The ride begins at [...]
(Photographs courtesy of the Library of Congress/Tehrkot Media)
Bargain day on 14th Street as this film shows hundreds of tightly packed people crowding into the front door of the Rothschild Co. 5 and 10 cent store. They are so closely packed it is difficult to tell one from another. The view is from across the street, looking down from the 2nd floor. Filmed [...]
From Aperture: From 1906 to 1934, municipal worker Eugene de Salignac took thousands of incredible photos of Manhattan as the city was reborn as a modern metropolis. Through his remarkable images, he documented the creation of the city’s urban structure and infrastructure that make New York the metropolitan capital it is today. Although, his striking [...]
A street level view from the sidewalk, looking along the length of 23rd Street. Following actuality footage of pedestrians and street traffic, the actors, a man in summer attire and a woman in an ankle-length dress, walk toward the camera. As they cross a grate on the sidewalk they pause, and the escaping air blows [...]
The film shows members of “New York’s Finest” parading through a crowded Union Square during their annual parade and inspection on June 1, 1899. The head of the column is just turning into 14th Street from Broadway, the Morton House forming part of the background. Crowds line both sides of the cable car tracks, falling [...]
Photograph of the black board in the New York Gold Room, September 24, 1869, showing the collapse of the price of gold. Handwritten caption by James A. Garfield (20th President of the United States) indicates it was used as evidence before the Committee of Banking & Currency during hearings in 1870. From Wikipedia: Black Friday, [...]
