Sky scrapers of New York City, from the North River /

Sky scrapers of New York City, from the North River /

description

Summary

Filmed from a moving boat, the film depicts the Hudson River (i.e., North River) shoreline and the piers of lower Manhattan beginning around Fulton Street and extending to Castle Garden and Battery Park. It begins at one of the American Line piers (Pier 14 or 15, opposite Fulton Street) where an American Line steamer, either the "New York" or "Paris," is seen docked [Frame: 0120]. The camera passes one of the Manhattan-to-New Jersey commuter ferries to Jersey City or Communipaw [0860]. Proceeding south, the distinct double towers of the Park Row, or Syndicate Building, erected in 1897-98, can be seen in the background [0866]. A coastal freighter is next [1560], then Trinity Church appears, to the left of which can be seen the Surety Building, as a tug with a "C" on the stack passes in foreground [2032]. Several small steamboats come into view [2136], and the B.T. Babbitt Soap factory at Pier 6 is seen [2300], followed by the Pennsylvania Railroad piers (#5 & #4), with a group of docked railroad car floats [2556], and the Lehigh Valley Railroad piers (#3 & #2), also with car floats [3030]. Next are the Bowling Green Building (rectangular, with facade to camera) [3208], the Whitehall Building (vertical, thin side to camera) [3388], followed by Pennsylvania Railroad Pier #1 [3630]. Pier A (with a clock tower) is seen with the New York Harbor Police steam boat "Patrol" at its end [4654]. The Bowling Green Offices and the Produce Exchange at Bowling Green are visible in the background. The breakwater (sheltered landing) and the New York City Fireboat House appears [5270] and the distinctive round structure, Castle Garden, once a fort and immigrant station, but at the time of filming the City Aquarium, comes into view [5438]. The camera then pans east along the Battery Park promenade: the Barge Office (with tower) is visible in the distance [5804], and further out the Brooklyn shoreline with the grain elevators at Atlantic Avenue can be seen [6088]. This view is continued, with only a minor break in continuity, in the film Panorama of Sky Scrapers and Brooklyn Bridge From the East River. Together they comprise a sweep around the southern tip of Manhattan, from Fulton Street on the Hudson to the Brooklyn Bridge.
"A beautiful panoramic view of lower New York from Barclay Street to Battery Park, showing a beautiful stereoscopic effect of the sky-scrapers in the business section of the city. Old Castle Garden, at which place hundreds of thousands of emigrants have landed from time to time, but now used as an Aquarium, is also seen in the picture. One of the finest panoramic pictures of New York ever taken"----Edison films catalog.
H32025 U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison; 20May1903; H32025.
Camera, James Blair Smith.
Duration: 3:23 at 15 fps.
Master positives have not been viewed or compared for content.
Paper print shelf number (LC 2194) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
Photographed May 10, 1903 in New York, from the North River (i.e., Hudson River).
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.
Source used: Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 301.
Paper roll on this record is actually copy two; copy one is not on shelf as of April, 2013.

Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is one of the most famous streets in the world, known for its role in the international financial system. Wall Street is the symbolic and geographic center of American capitalism. Geographically, Wall Street is the center of Manhattan's financial district. It runs east/west for eight blocks from Broadway to South Street. The Street ran along a physical wall built by Dutch settlers when New York was still a Dutch Colony. Then-Governor Peter Stuyvesant ordered a 10-foot wooden wall that protected the lower peninsula from the British and Native Americans. It later became a street bazaar where traders met under a now-famous buttonwood tree. New York Stock Exchange is located on 11 Wall Street. History Of The New York Stock Exchange The NYSE was founded 17 May 1792 when 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement on Wall Street in New York City. Other businesses: The New York Federal Reserve Bank is at 33 Liberty Street, in close proximity to the Stock Exchange. The NASDAQ OMX is on 1 Liberty Place. Goldman Sachs is at 200 West Street, and JPMorgan Chase is at 200 Park Avenue. The NYMEX is at One North End Avenue in the World Financial Center. Wall Street Journal is at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.

The City History Collection. Predominantly Manhattan Views.

date_range

Date

01/01/1903
person

Contributors

Smith, James Blair, camera.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)
Niver (Kemp) Collection (Library of Congress)
place

Location

create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

Public Domain

Explore more

skyscrapers
skyscrapers