Robert Louis Bracklow was born in Germany in 1849. He came to New York City at age 4 with his parents. Little is known of Bracklow’s personality or interests. Edward Steichen, a fellow Camera Club member, remembered that Bracklow was afraid of the dark, earning the nickname “Daylight Bob.”

Molly Granger (1845–1940), a New York public school teacher, was Bracklow’s romantic companion for most of his adult life. When Bracklow died in 1919, his possessions were left to Molly Granger.

These vintage photos were taken by Robert Louis Bracklow that show street scenes of New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

23-21 Pearl Street, Manhattan, New York, circa 1890

Cheap Grocery Store (demolished in 1891, replaced by the Liberty Storage Warehouse) at 43 West 64th Street, Manhattan, New York, circa 1890

The Elephant Hotel was a seven-story structure on Surf Avenue and West 12th Street, Coney Island, Brooklyn from 1885 until 1896, when it burnt down in a fire, New York, 1892

Rocking Stone in Bronx Zoo, New York, 1895

The Grahl Portrait Studio at 200 W 34th St, just west of the corner of Seventh Avenue, New York, 1898

Woman in Black, Bronx Park, New York, 1898

Woman Pushing a Pram, Amsterdam Avenue and W. 86th Street, Manhattan, New York, 1899

Bowne House (built about 1661 by John Bowne, an English-born Quaker), Flushing, Queens, New York, circa 1900

Choice Groceries at Lexington Ave and E. 83rd Street, Yorkville, Manhattan, New York, 1900

Photo of a Photographer, New York, circa 1900

Flushing’s Fountain House, SE corner Broadway (now Northern Blvd) and Main Street, New York, 1901

Cow & Farmhouse in Flushing, Queens, New York, 1903

Daylight Bob’s Work Room at 457 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York, 1903

West 81st Street & Broadway, New York, circa 1903

St. Peter’s Church, Westchester Square, Westchester Avenue, the Bronx, 1905

Photographer Robert Louis Bracklow owned this stationery & printer shop at 141 Fulton Street, Manhattan, New York, 1907

Robert Louis Bracklow’s car being serviced on an unidentified rural road, New York, 1907

“Defeat of Slander” – A Statue that Lasted Six Weeks was erected as election propaganda in Times Square by Tammany Hall. After Tammany’s candidates lost the election workmen smashed the plaster statue, New York, 1909

View of a naval parade on the Hudson River for the “Henrick Hudson 300 Years Celebration”, New York, 1909

Antique Shop on 28th St., near 5th Ave., New York, 1913