April 17, 2018

A Road Trip through New York City~1911

13-historic-photos
There is a remarkable restored film that was made in 1911 in New York City by the Swedish company Svenska Bigrafteatern. The footage has been slowed down and there is unfortunately a soundtrack added that is not original.
It does show the remarkable time when streets easily  incorporated all users, and formal pedestrian crossings had not yet arrived.
In 1910 New York City had a population of 4.7 million people, of which nearly two million were born outside the United States. Through this film people walk across the street easily, and the trams are slow enough to allow people to cross. In the view from a rooftop at 6:59 you can see the unimpeded movement of pedestrians in the  streetscape.
This was a crucial time in the history of mobility and transportation – in 1908, Henry Ford built and sold the first Model T car, and sales for this automobile reached over 250,000 by 1914.
By 1916, the price of a Model T dropped to $360, the equivalent of  $7,828 American dollars (2015), making an automobile an affordable purchase.
What this film illustrates is the different use of the street before motordom usurped the space as their domain, and the use of boats, trams and trains as public transit. Over one hundred years later we are now examining goals of increasing the use of public transit and enhancing walking and cycling, revamping city fabric for the use of people.
As Will Rogers said in   the book ‘Henry Ford and Grass-roots America’ “It will take a hundred years to tell whether he helped us or hurt us, but he certainly didn’t leave us where he found us.”
The film can be viewed here.

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  1. Thanks. I really enjoy these old videos. This is sort of how it still works in many developing countries. I agree about the soundtrack. It would be better to just leave it out.

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