New York City during the 1910s was a ball of motion with no signs of slowing down. The city grew and evolved with every passing year. In 1910, the original Pennsylvania Station was launched, becoming a central hub of transportation. Three years later, Grand Central Terminal also opened up.
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| New York in the 1910s |
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire happened on March 25, 1911, and took 145 innocent lives; the fire prompted the city to establish proper fire safety regulations.
World War I began in 1914, sending the country into a wartime society. When the war ended in 1918, soldiers returned home, and a new battle emerged. The Spanish Influenza raged through the country; over 20,000 New Yorkers died from the flu.
The 1910s also marked the beginning of New York’s new nickname as the “Big Apple.” Performers from out of town began referring to their shows as “apples.” Gigs performed in any other location was referred to as “little apples,” whereas a gig in NYC was a “big apple.” At the time, New York was seen as the place to be if you “made it” then you had a golden ticket to “make it.”
These amazing photos show what New York looked like in the 1910s.
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| Hudson River and Riverside Park, New York, October 1910 |
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| Metropolitan Life Building, Madison Square, New York, 1910 |
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| Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building, New York, 1910 |
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| Fifth Avenue at West 43rd Street, New York, circa 1911 |
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| Grant’s Tomb and rubber-neck auto on Riverside Drive, New York, circa 1911 |
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| New Year’s decorations in Chinatown on Mott Street, New York, January 30, 1911 |
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| Broadway, looking north from Cortlandt Street and Maiden Lane, New York, circa 1912 |
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| Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn. The Singer Building rises at left along with the Woolworth tower and Municipal Building, both under construction, New York, circa 1912 |
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| Policeman and police dogs, New York, 1912 |
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| Auto Street Cleaner, New York, circa 1913 |
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| Fifth Avenue looking north, New York, Easter 1913 |
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| Fifth Avenue, New York, Easter 1913 |
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| Fifth Avenue, New York, March 23, 1913 |
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| New Municipal Building, New York, circa 1913 |
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| View of New York from the Woolworth Building, 1913 |
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| Washington hikers. Suffragists on bus in New York City, part of the ‘hike’ to Washington, D.C., which joined the March 3, 1913 |
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| Woolworth Building under construction, New York, 1913 |
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| Broadway at West 55th Street, subway fire in New York, January 6, 1915 |
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| New York skyline, view from the Manhattan Bridge, circa 1915 |
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| New York, circa 1917 |
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| South Street, New York, 1917 |
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| Flatiron Building, New York, 1918 |
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| Lewisohn Building, 119 West 40th Street, New York, 1918 |
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| Start of cripples’ one-legged race, New York, circa 1918 |
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| Bowling Green Offices, New York, September 20, 1919 |
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| West 42nd Street east from Sixth Avenue, showing Aeolian Hall, New York, August 1919 |
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| Erie Canal at Utica, New York, circa 1910s |
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| Pennsylvania Station, New York, circa 1910s |
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| Riverside Park, New York, circa 1910s |
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| Surrogate’s Courthouse, New York, circa 1910s |
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| The Curb Market, Broad Street, New York, circa 1910s |
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| View of New York from the Brooklyn docks, circa 1910s |
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| Washington Street from Fulton with Beecher statue, Brooklyn, New York, circa 1910s |
