“Herald Square, showing the ‘Great White Way’ and Herald Building,” states the back of this late 19th century postcard, which depicts what was then the city’s theater district as well as a thriving shopping area.
Even without Macy’s, which was still headquartered at 14th Street at this point, Herald Square appears to be as bustling, crowded, and messy as it is today.
Tags: 34th Street, Great White Way NYC, Herald Square history, Macy's Herald Square, New York street, New York Trolleys, sixth avenue el, Vintage postcards New York City
Ephemeral New York 
June 4, 2012 at 9:05 am |
Certainly looks more human, almost European, than it does today.
June 4, 2012 at 1:07 pm |
Hello,
Thanks for all the knowledge you share on NYC.
I’ve nominated you for the Illuminating Blogger Award: http://bookscupcakescats.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/1-2-3-sunshine-award-time/
June 4, 2012 at 1:31 pm |
Great postcard
June 4, 2012 at 1:49 pm |
Does anyone know why Broadway was called “The Great White Way”?
June 4, 2012 at 1:57 pm |
I found this at greatwhiteway.com:
“Nearly a mile of Broadway was illuminated in 1880 by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the United States.
The headline “Found on the Great White Way” appeared in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram.
The journalistic sobriquet was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area, especially around Times Square.”
June 4, 2012 at 4:39 pm |
What’s the dial on the right? I know the left one is a clock.
Man, I love Ephemeral New York and I live in Nebraska!
June 4, 2012 at 5:03 pm |
Thanks! Looks like a compass. Shorpy posted a closeup:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/9993?size=_original#caption
June 4, 2012 at 5:13 pm |
Probably a barometer.
June 4, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Dave at the Shorpy link says it was a “wind rose”. Maybe a hold over from sailing days when wind direction was of constant interest?
June 4, 2012 at 5:07 pm |
Do you suppose that the reddish building up Broadway, and in front of the tall building, may be the old Metropolitan Opera House?
June 4, 2012 at 5:34 pm |
Even though the entrance for the Met opera house was on B’way the stage entrance was on 7th Ave & 40th St. Was going to work there at one time till they found out how old I was or was much too young.
June 5, 2012 at 3:40 pm |
Are the long narrow shadow on the right-hand edge and the reddish brown girder squaring off the lower right-hand corner the 6th Avenue el?
July 20, 2012 at 2:18 pm |
There’s something so charming about this postcard. It transports you to the past of Herald Square and yet it looks just as bustling as it does today! It’s absolutely stunning.
February 27, 2014 at 5:42 am |
[…] the city marched northward, so did the newspaper headquarters: to new enclaves named for them, like Herald Square and Times […]
March 1, 2021 at 3:56 am |
[…] Herald Square is interesting—perhaps it’s pictured because West 34th Street was part of the Theater District at the time, and it was the place to see these and other “New York […]