Series III: Sixth Avenue Line

Series III. Sixth Avenue Line contains 136 photographs that span the period from ca. 1876 to 1933. The Sixth Avenue Line ran from Morris Street to one terminus at 59th Street and also had a branch that turned west at 53rd Street, then headed north on Ninth Avenue to 110th Street where it curved east onto Eighth Avenue and continued north to 155th Street. The Sixth Avenue Line began service to 59th Street in 1878 with the northern section of the route opening the following year.

Images of the line below 59th Street include two 1880s mammoth plate albumen prints of the station at 34th Street, and another of the station at 42nd Street, that depict the decorative architecture of the station buildings. In contrast to the ornate stations, the dark spaces created beneath the tracks are evident in a series of three albumen prints of Sixth Avenue from 42nd Street to 43rd Street. Among the businesses visible is the studio of photographer James A. Bostick, suggesting, perhaps, that he made these images. A set of nine gelatin silver prints from 1899 documents the tracks in lower Manhattan, each one captioned with text describing problematic structural details. Two cyanotype views from 1902 show the tracks at the South Ferry Station, which by that time was the southern hub of the elevated lines. A silver gelatin print, taken by Herman Cos in 1913, shows the stairway to the 50th Street Station.

Above 59th Street, a series of mammoth-plate albumen prints document the construction of the tracks from 97th Street to 112th Street. Two of these, dated February and April 1891, show the same view under the tracks both before and after the paving of Ninth Avenue. Two gelatin silver prints from 1933 show the tracks at 63rd Street. Two early-twentieth century copy prints of photographs from ca. 1876 show early test trains on the tracks between 59th and 60th Streets. The dramatic curve at 110th Street is captured in a series of mammoth-plate albumen prints from 1879. The 100th Street station is shown in cyanotypes from 1903 as well as in a few silver gelatin prints from 1933. The construction of the yards at 155-159th Streets, used by both the Sixth Avenue Line and the Ninth Avenue Line, appears in several cyanotypes dated 1902 and 1903. A 1904 print showing cars at the yards has the notation "Cottington vs. Interborough R. T. Co." on the verso. An album from 1902-1903 holds sixty photographs which document the construction of the Inspection Building at 159th Street.

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