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The City of New York is the most marvelous exemplification of those traits of the American people which have made the United States of to-day. Interest in New York does not lie in the mere magnitude of the city, but is found rather in the bound-less enterprise, the bold conception and the amazing achievement, which have reared the mighty fabric of the Metropolis. The theme is one which might well challenge the pen of him who would celebrate the America of the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
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NEW YORK CITY MANHATTAN. |
- Main Touristic Routes in Manhattan. A popular and much more comfortable way to see the city is by means of one of the numerous sightseeing buses. There are several companies with starting points at convenient places, and the points of interest they have selected are the result of close acquaintance with the city. There are two routes generally selected—one through the lower part of the city below 23rd Street, and the other north, or uptown.
- Wall Street Wall Street took its name from the wall which once defended New Amsterdam at this point. It has become the most famous street name in the world. Wall Street, the place, is the financial center of the country. Wall Street, the name, is synonymous with securities, stocks, bonds and shares, trust certificates, gold, money, investment, speculation, fortune, ruin. We shall find here a succession of imposing hank and office buildings.
- Fifth Avenue FIFTH AVENUE is New York's fashionable thoroughfare, famed for its costly residences and the people who live in them, its hotels, clubs, churches and libraries, and the brilliant social display which gives to the street its dominant air. Beginning at Washington Square on the south, it extends north six miles, past the Central Park to the Harlem River.
- Central Park CENTRAL PARK extends from 59th street north to troth street, and from Fifth avenue west to Eighth avenue. It is two and one-half miles long and one-half mile wide. The area comprises 879 acres of diversified woodland, meadow, lawn, lakes and ponds; and the Park ranks as one of the most beautiful pleasure grounds in the world.
- Broadway from Bowling Green to Wall Street. We have now quite thoroughly explored Battery Park and vicinity and will resume our tour up Broadway, starting at Bowling Green in front of the Custom House. It marks the beginning of the Main Street of New York And goes to Wall Street.
- Broadway from Wall Street. The Standard Oil Building. Almost directly across the street is that Holy of Holies, the Standard Oil Building, at No. 26. Whole chapters could be written about this one building, perhaps the best known, certainly the most talked of, on Broadway.
At No. 52 Broadway, below Wall Street, stood until recently a building of more than ordinary interest—the first successful skyscraper erected in New York (1884). Bradford Lee Gilbert, was the architect whose genius gave to New York and the world this remarkable type of building.
- Broadway from Chambers Street to 42 Street. We have now covered the principal points in the down-town section. To get our exact bearing see map. We have drawn a straight line at Chambers Street from East to West, clear across the island. All the territory South of this line is what we have just been over. We shall now go East from the City Hall to the great East Side, Chinatown and the Bowery.
- Broadway from Trinity Church to City Hall. North of Trinity is a magnificent building named after the trimity church. It is in gothic architecture and one of the most notable in appearance on Broadway. Adjoining it is the well-known Singer Building, the first to possess a tower of important height.
- St. Patricks Cathedral ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. is the largest and most beautiful church edifice in America, and holds high rank as an example of decorated and geometric style of Gothic architecture to which belong the cathedrals of Rheims, Amiens and Cologne, on the Continent; and the naves of York, Westminster and Exeter in England.
- Manhattan below Wall Street. This is an index of the City buildings and sculptures of artistic and historical importance in Manhattan bellow Wall Street.
- New York Skyscrapers The New York sky scrapers constitute one of the most impressive and interesting features of the city. The high buildings of Manhattan Island are a picture which has no parallel in the cities of the world. Our first impression of Manhattan is the height and magnitude of these architectural marvels.
- St. Patricks Cathedral ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. is the largest and most beautiful church edifice in America, and holds high rank as an example of decorated and geometric style of Gothic architecture to which belong the cathedrals of Rheims, Amiens and Cologne, on the Continent; and the naves of York, Westminster and Exeter in England.
- Trinity Church Trinity Church, set in its churchyard on Broadway at the head of Wall street. The Trinity Church is the third of those which have stood here since 1697. The present edifice, which was completed in 1846. It is of brown sandstone, and is regarded as a fine specimen of the Gothic style.
- The Produce Exchange THE PRODUCE EXCHANGE, on Whitehall street (near the lower end of Broadway), occupies a building which is one of the notable architectural features of New York. The exterior is of brick and terra-cotta, of rich red tones; the decorations are the Arms of the States, the prows of ships and the heads of domestic cattle.
- The Apellate Court House The Court House of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the City of New York is on the east of Madison Square at Madison Avenue and Twenty-Fifth Street.
- Custom House In the Custom House, fronting on Bowling Green, New York possesses the largest and most beautiful custom house in the world. The building is seven stories in height. It is embellished with a wealth of exterior decoration, the motives of which are found in the world-wide commerce of the United States.
- THE NEW YORK FINANCIAL DISTRICT
- Wall Street the Financial District of New York Of the four streets in New York known the world over —Broadway, Fifth Avenue, the Bowery and Wall Street—the latter is by far the most famous. For a street less than half a mile long and but little more than thirty feet wide, its importance is altogether disproportionate to its mere physical size.
- Wall Street. The Stock Exchange. Just below the New Street corner is the Wall Street entrance to the Stock Exchange, easily the most talked of institution in the financial district. It is fully de-scribed in the pages relating to Broad Street, which is its official location and principal entrance.
- The United States Sub-Treasury. Across Nassau Street, directly opposite the Bankers' Trust Company, is the United States Sub-Treasury easily recognized by the massive bronze statue of Washington in the centre of the steps.
- New York Banks. On the northeast corner of William and Wall, near where once stood a marble statue of William Pitt, now in the Historical Society's custody, is the oldest one of them all, the Bank of New York. The second oldest is the Bank of Manhattan. The third is the Merchants' Bank, and the fourth the Bank of America.
- The New York Exchanges. The last of the great exchanges is the Consolidated, on the corner of Pearl and Beaver. It is essentially similar to the regular exchange, except that it deals more largely in small and odd lots—a sort of retail annex, as it were.
- The New York Stock Exchange Leaving the Curb we are soon in front of the imposing, many pillared building of the Stock Exchange. All the sightseeing buses stop here, as well as at other interesting points in this section. Admission to the Stock Exchange is now restricted.
- Brooklyn Heights. East River. The East River and South Street are just in front of us and across the river can be seen Brooklyn Heights, at 'me time a very fashionable residential section, but now large abandoned by its old families and given over to hotels and boarding houses.
- The Broad Street Hospital and The Eastern Hotel. Near the heart of the financial district and counted a distinct part of it is the Broad Street Hospital, a stone's throw from the imposing building of the Seaman's Institute. This institution overlooks the East River and its rapid growth has been marvelous. The Eastern Hotel, a block from the Seaman's Institute, is one of our oldest buildings and the oldest hotel in town.
- Manhattans Fifth Avenue. It is not an exaggeration to say that in no other city in the world is there a street so altogether attractive as Manhattans Fifth Avenue from Madison Square to Carnegie Hill.
- Manhattans Fifth Avenue Stores and Clubs. Manhattans Fifth Avenue Countless exquisite "Shoppees" dot these stores, all catering to what is known as "specialty" trade. They enjoy an air of exclusiveness not possible in the Larger establishments. These shops arc patterned after their prototypes in Bond Street, London, and the Avenue de l' Opera, Paris.
- Manhattans Fifth Avenue Book Stores. There are no such wonderful book stores as on the Avenue and nearby. Bookshops are common in The Fifth Avenue, however, there are few of them but very important.
- 42 Street and Pershing Square. 42 Street is the main artery of the Grand Central Terminal Zone and its marvelous accessibility has resulted in the building up of a community almost of its own. In the modest language of John McE. Bowman, it is the "Heart of the World." General Wingate's magnificent Victory Hall occupy the Park Avenue corner of Pershing Square.
- Bryant Park and the Public Library. This attractive little spot occupies the remaining half of Reservoir Square belonging to the city and lying between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. The Public Library now stands on this site. The Bryant park is named after the well-known poet, William Cullen Bryant, whose home was at 34 West 16th Street.
- Madison Avenue, Murray Hill and Park Avenue. Next in social importance as a residential street in the old days was Madison Avenue. Starting at 23rd Street, this avenue for many years was the only rival to Fifth. Today nothing remains of its former polite grandeur. On the next block is the highly ornate Appellate Court House, a really dignified and impressive building. The name Murray Hill comes from Robert Murray, whose farm it was.
- Fifth Avenue War Parades. For many years Fifth Avenue has been a riot of motion and color. First came the Preparedness Parade, in which over a hundred thousand citizens joined. Then came the drafted men on their way to camp. This time marching on to war.
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