Series I: Second Avenue Line

Series I. Second Avenue Line is made up of sixteen photographs (ca. 1899-1906) of the elevated line that ran from Chatham Square to 129th Street in Manhattan. The Second Avenue Line was the last of the four Manhattan elevated lines to be constructed, beginning service in 1880. An 1886 mammoth plate albumen print shows the curving tracks at the 129th Street Terminus. Two prints in the series illustrate the relationship between the tracks and buildings, one an 1899 view looking down at the tracks near 42nd Street, the other a 1905 view of the tracks over Allen Street, looking north from Division Street. The latter image is part of a set of ten photographs from 1905 that also show street life under the tracks along Division Street. A 1905 view captures an electric train at the 34th Street station, providing evidence of the system-wide conversion from steam to electricity that occurred 1901-1903. A 1906 image shows a train at the 80th Street Station, the conductor's head appearing out of a window as a man in a bowler hat (who may be William Reeves) watches from the platform.

Photographs are arranged from south to north on the train route. The number of prints in each folder is noted in parentheses.