Looking north on Broadway from "The Park" (later City Hall Park) in war
time, one sees the Stars and Stripes waving above the recruiting station,
past which the soldiers stroll. There is a convenient booth with liquid
refreshments. To the right of the picture the rear end of a street car is
visible, but passenger travel on Broadway itself is by stage. On the left
is the Astor House, then one of the foremost hostelries of the city. In
the lower photograph the view is from the balcony of the Metropolitan
looking north on Broadway. The twin towers on the left are those of St.
Thomas's Church. The lumbering stages, with the deafening noise of their
rattling windows as they drive over the cobblestones, are here in force.
More hoop-skirts are retreating in the distance, and a gentleman in the
tall hat of the period is on his way down town. Few of the buildings seen
here remained half a century later. The time is summer, as the awnings
attest.
[Illustration]