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“View of Broadway opposite Fulton Street”

From Harper’s Weekly [February 18, 1860], pp. 104–5

1860

Woodcut 

15 1/2 × 21 5/8 in. (39.2 × 54.9 cm)

Library, Bard Graduate Center

Broadway and Fulton Street were the main thoroughfares running between uptown and downtown and from east to west, respectively. In the 1850s, gridlock reigned at the intersection, with some 1,200 vehicles reportedly passing every hour, and chaos prevailed, even in nice weather. However, in this scene, the melting snow has turned to mud, causing omnibuses and sleighs to skid and forcing pedestrians to risk their lives—and white undergarments–while crossing the street.

— Zahava Friedman-Stadler