Fine Print Blog

Evolution of New York City - Part 9 (1935-1940)

Posted on February 05, 2013

With most of its iconic skyline in place, the Big Apple is all set to emerge from the financial challenges of the early 30s. Under the leadership of Mayor LaGuardia there is a widespread effort underway to make the city more attractive to tourists and residents alike. The elevated subway stations which have cast their shadows on the streets for decades are coming down in favor of underground subway lines. Communities take full advantage of the scores of new parks and pools that have recently opened. More tunnels, bridges and highways are built, opening the city up to suburban commuters.

In 1937, the World Series draws massive crowds as the Yankees take home the title. Even greater crowds flock to the 1939 World's Fair, an event for which no expense was spared. All of these events coincide with the influx of refugees escaping the Nazi threat in Europe. By 1940, the drums of war can be heard throughout the nation and the Empire City prepares itself to launch another great era of industrialization.

1935 5th Avenue Coach Company

1935 Children Eye Fireworks for July 4th

1935 Chrysler Building

1935 Fulton Street Dock

1936 2nd Avenue El

1936 Astoria Pool Opens

1936 Ballerinas at George Balanchine's School

1936 Columbus Circle

1936 Cord Car

1936 First Model Tenement, 12th Street and 1st Avenue

1936 Downtown Manhattan

1936 El Second Avenue Line

1936 Grocery Store on Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx

1936 Harlem Dance School

1936 Hindenberg Flies Over Midtown

1936 Jay Street Brooklyn

1936 Liberty Island and New York Harbor

1936 New York Central's Mercury Train

1936 News Stand

1936 Newsies on the Job

1936 Original Greyhound Bus Terminal

1936 Pike and Henry Streets

1936 Potbellied Stoves in El Station House

1936 President Roosevelt speaks at 50th Anniversary for Lady Liberty

1936 Roller Skating in Central Park

1936 Shoeshine Harlem

1936 Stone and William Street

1936 Subway Tracks

1936 Talman Street between Jay and Bridge Streets, Brooklyn

1936 Times Square FDR Election

1936 Traveling Tin Shop

1936 US Olympic Team Departs

1936 Watuppa from Brooklyn Waterfront

1936 Workman on George Washington Bridge

1937 Allen Street

1937 Brooklyn El Train

1937 Child in the Lower East Side

1937 Downtown Manhattan

1937 Fire at Hotdog Factory

1937 Front Street

1937 Grand Central and Park Avenue

1937 Grand Central Station

1937 Harlem Merchant

1937 Last Flight of the Hindenberg

1937 Lincoln Tunnel Construction

1937 Lower Manhattan from East River Docks

1937 Lower Manhattan Skyline

1937 Lower Manhattan Skyscrapers

1937 McCarren Pool Brooklyn

1937 Midtown 42nd Street

1937 Midtown Lights

1937 New Years Eve in Times Square

1937 Queensborough Bridge from Sutton Place

1937 Rockefeller Center More Ice Skaters

1937 Summer in Lower East Side copy

1937 Tenement Laundry Lines

1937 The Wishing Tree at 137th Street and 7th Avenue

1937 Triborough Bridge

1937 Yankees Win World Series

1938 20th Street

1938 5th Avenue and 44th Street

1938 Apollo Theatre

1938 Broadway to Battery

1938 Brooklyn Bridge

1938 Bustling Times Square

1938 Children on Fire Escape

1938 Coentes Slip

1938 Downtown Cafe

1938 Downtown Manhattan

1938 Great New England Hurricane

1938 Hanover Square Train

1938 Last Moments of 6th Avenue El

1938 Manhattan Bridge and Skyline

1938 McDougal Alley Greenwich Village

1938 Nurses on Stairwell

1938 Roast Corn Man Orchard and Hester Streets

1938 Skyline Under the Brooklyn Bridge

1938 Swinging next to Manhattan Bridge

1938 Times Square

1938 Unveiling New Mercuries at Union Station

1938 View from Cities Service Building

1938 Wall Street from Above

1938 Wall Street Subway

1938 Watermain Burst on Madison Avenue

1938 West Side Highway

1939 42nd Street

1939 4th of July Prank

1939 Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly

1939 Brooklyn Bridge

1939 Chatham Square Station

1939 Chrysler Building Lit Up

1939 Flooded Road

1939 Helen Levitt Poses in front of Victory Bar and Grill

1939 Herald Square El at 33rd Street

1939 Neighborhood children playing in the Lower East Side

1939 Manhattan Bridge

1939 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia

1939 Meeker Avenue Bridge construction

1939 Modern Venus Contest at Steeplechase Park

1939 Nathan's Hot Dogs at Coney Island

1939 Reflection in Bookstore Window

1939 Robert Moses with Battery Bridge Model

1939 Savoy Ballroom, Harlem

1939 Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor

1939 Straphangers

1939 Street and entrance of Empire State Building

1939 Summertime Queensborough Bridge

1939 The Barrel at Steeplechase Park

1939 Trucks and Traffic

1939 World's Fair Scale Model

1939 World's Fair Construction

1939 World's Fair

1939 World's Fair Trains on Parade

1939 World's Fair Dancer

1939 World's Fair, The Perisphere

1939 World's Fair All Lit Up

1939 World's Fair at Night

1940 6th Avenue without El Renamed Avenue of the Americas

1940 9th Avenue El

1940 Arm wrestling in Harlem

1940 Automat Cafe

1940 British Refugees Arrive

1940 Chrysler Building from 42nd Street

1940 Columbus Circle

1940 Coney Island Parachute Jump

1940 Crowds at the New Sixth Avenue Subway

1940 Downtown from East River Docks

1940 Downtown Lights

1940 Empire State Building

1940 Fulton Street El

1940 Herald Square 33rd Street El Station

1940 Neighborhood Children Playing on the Curb

1940 Maiden Lane and Liberty Street

1940 Manhattan Tenement

1940 Kids Playing on a Truck

1940 Mayor La Guardia Cuts Ribbon for Opening of 34th Street Subway

1940 New York Station

1940 Peck Slip

1940 Queensborough Bridge

1940 Radio City

1940 Rockefeller Center Completed

1940 Snow Storm

1940 The Bowery El

1940 Times Square

1940 Transition of Subway to the Underground on 106th Street

1940 Under the Brooklyn Bridge

1940 Working Towards Greater New York

1940 Woman Walking Towards Grand Central