Video: Touring the Streets of New York in 1911

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See the streets of New York City just as they were more than a century ago in this beautifully preserved and restored film from 1911. 

 

With the exception of aircraft, we suppose, this wonderful old film must show every form of transportation available to the people of New York City in 1911. In these eight minutes you’ll see trains, street cars, and motor buses, ships and boats, and every manner of horse-drawn conveyance, too, from carts to heavy wagons. And there are plenty of motor vehicles as well: gasoline and electric taxicabs, motor trucks, and touring cars loaded with families seeing the sights.

We found this aspect of the film fascinating: While motor vehicles are already well in evidence by 1911, as yet there is no overt sign to be found here that the automobile would very soon come to dominate the the urban landscape across America. As yet, cars were simply one more way to get around, it seems—in New York, anyway.

Originally produced by a Swedish company, Svenska Biografteatern, the film also includes some noteworthy New York landmarks, including Battery Park, the Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue, and right at the film’s opening, the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The footage, restored and presented by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, is in beautiful condition and all in all, it’s quite a treat for students of transportation history. Enjoy the video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=269&v=aohXOpKtns0

6 thoughts on “Video: Touring the Streets of New York in 1911”

  2. Thanks for sharing this extraordinary piece of history. Early modes of transport in the hub of the American melting pot.

  3. It is most difficult to realize that this remarkable film from 1911 beautifully represents the New York City environment 107 years ago. My maternal grandfather had just begun his long practice of medicine in Providence , Rhode Island and my parents were yet to be born in Rhode Island and Iowa. At 81 years of age I can appreciate the antiquity of the film and the objects and persons shown. Life is finite , fleeting and yet wonderful. Sic transit gloria mundi. Thank you Mac’s Motor City Garage for posting this item for us to enjoy.

  4. By the sound of the horn use in the film, not much has changed. Altho there might be a few less “road apples” these days.

  6. Great stuff! Love seeing the expressions on people’s faces as they watch the filming taking place.

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