30 Amazing Vintage Photographs of New York City From Between the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

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

Broadway and 34th Street, 1921

150th Street, 1922

38th Avenue between Main and Union Streets, 1922