The earliest forms of mass transit in the City were the horse-cars, which were trolleys pulled by horses. Then came street railways, which in Manhattan were elevated. These would have been the main means of mass transit before the subway began operating around the turn of the 20th century. Horse drawn cabs were ubiquitous until they were replaced by motor powered ones.
Most people in the late 1800s did not travel around cities/metros as we do today. They lived closer to where they worked and mostly walked to their jobs or to their do their errands/keep appointments. Here, below is a collection of 30 amazing vintage photographs that capture street scenes of New York City from between the late 19th and early 20th century.
Central Park, near the Sixth Avenue and 59th Street entrance, 1864
Wall Street, around 1872
Brooklyn Bridge, 1873
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 1880
Mott Street, about 1890
Jacob Riis Park, Rockaway Beach, 1897
Wall Street and Nassau Street (statue of George Washington), 1900
Broad Street (on the left is the JPMorgan Office), 1900
Broadway and West 34th Street, 1901
The Williamsburg Bridge under construction, 1903
Central Park, showing the pond at 110th Street and the Botanical Gardens, 1906
Marble Hill Avenue and West 227th Street, 1906
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 1910
Nassau Street and Wall Street (showing the under-construction Bankers Trust Building and the Hanover National Bank Building), 1911
West 88th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, 1911
Oriental Boulevard (showing the Manhattan Beach Hotel), 1911
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 1912
Maiden Lane and Pearl Street, 1914
William Street and Maiden Lane, 1915
Queensboro Bridge Connection, 1917
White Plains Road and Burke Ave, around 1917
62nd Street between Second and Third Avenues, 1917
Park Avenue and 51st Street, 1917
The Victory Arch on Fifth Avenue and 25th Street, 1918
48th Street and First Avenue, 1918
Eighth Avenue and 130th Street, 1920
West 111th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues, 1920
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