No Crosswalks Necessary
Decatur Metro | November 6, 2010 | 7:18 pmAs evidenced by this film of Lower Broadway in Manhattan circa 1902, when all parties moved at the same speed, the street was a very different place.
As evidenced by this film of Lower Broadway in Manhattan circa 1902, when all parties moved at the same speed, the street was a very different place.
J_T
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decaturite16
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These are wonderful, DM. Thank you for posting them. Ellis Island, New York, and Miami Beach: my family history!
I particularly liked the one you highlighted. What are those streetcars running on? Must be rail, but I can’t make it out.
How did you find these?
My guess is that the streetcars are running on overhead wires (non-technical term!) that aren’t showing up in the film because I don’t see tracks or any people or horses stepping over tracks. I don’t see engines on them.
streetcars could be electric -= battery – not overhead wires
wouldn;t be gas or steam
probably not cable
wle
Except that fatalities were numerous and gruesome. I’m reading “The Devil In the White City” by Erik Larson, a historical fiction piece about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1873. Here he describes Chicago in 1890: “Anonymous death came early and often. Each of the thousand trains that entered and left the city did so at grade level. you could step from a curb and be killed by the Chicago Limited. Every day on average two people were destroyed at the city’s rail crossings. Their injuries were grotesque…Streetcars fell from drawbridges. Horses bolted and dragged carriages into crowds.”
Correction: the book referenced above is NOT fiction.
And working in a meatpacking plant at that time wasn’t real pleasant either (The Jungle). But love the ladies’ hats!