This is Riverside Drive, another famous street which varies from 90 to 168 feet in width and is three miles in length. Part of Riverside Park is shown in the picture. On this street are some of the finest residences in the City. Lots are worth $1200 to $1600 per front foot.
North of the tomb is a gingko tree sent by Li Hung Chang, who admired Grant. Near Grant's tomb is the grave of a five year old child with the inscription "To an amiable child," died in 1797. It is the only grave except Grant's maintained and cared for by the city in one of its public parks.
Going on up Broadway to 59th Street we come to Columbus Circle, also one of the famous spots in the City, which marks the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway and 59th Street, one of the busiest corners in the City. One entrance to Central Park is here. Maine monument at the entrance to the Park and Columbus monument at the intersection of the streets may both be seen. This section is known as Automobile Row. U.S. Tire Building, built in conformity with the new building code regulations, and the Fisk Tire Building are at the left in the picture. A large Negro section is to the right. The Circle is a wonderfully beautiful sight on a winter's night, with snow swirling and the lights shining through. Broadway loses much of its glory from this point northward and becomes a district of small retail shops of every sort with restaurants and all kinds of eating places interspersed. We shall leave Broadway for a time to go down and pick up some things of interest before going to the upper end of the City.
The wholesale district is very different in the character of its buildings, as shown in this picture, from those of the financial district. It follows Broadway for two miles from the City Hall to 23rd Street.
Transportation problems in New York are peculiar because of conformation of area on which the city is built. An interesting street that starts near the Battery is Water Street, which follows the water front on the East Side with numerous jogs, passes under Brooklyn and goes on up the East Side. The famous old Jerry McAuley mission is on Water Street under Brooklyn Bridge. Broadway, one of the world's famous streets, starts from Bowling Green and runs northward at somewhat of an angle through the entire length of Manhattan Island, on through Yonkers and continued as an unbroken highway to Albany, the state capital. Bowling Green has been famous in history and is still one of the best known places in the city. It was here that Washington reviewed the Federal procession to commemorate the ratification by New York State of the Federal Constitution in 1787. It is from this point that many present day parades start. No. 1 Broadway is occupied by the Washington Building, built by Cyrus W. Field, whose name is connected with the Atlantic Cable. This building was once the tallest in the city. Robert Fulton died in a house just back of this building. The Bowling Green Building at No. 9 is now owned by the Goulds. Daniel Webster's home was for a time in Nos. 17 and 19 Broadway. At Nos. 21 and 27 stood the hotel where Jenny Lind stopped, now occupied by the Cunard Building. At No. 52 Broadway, below Wall Street, stood, until recently, the first successful skyscraper, built in New York City in 1884. It was only eight stories high but it demonstrated the feasibility of skeleton steel construction and made the present New York City possible. The Adams Building, Nos. 56 and 61 Broadway, contains many beautiful offices. In No. 61 Broadway are the headquarters of the Rockefeller Foundation, which controls millions of dollars, and which is doing much along the lines of health education in this country and abroad.
Leaving the Custom House we come out upon Battery Park, which to me is one of the most interesting spots in New York City. Small docks are scattered along the water front at Battery Park which are used by the Ellis Island Ferry and by pleasure boats going to nearby beaches and resorts. But the lawn of the park goes almost to the Water's edge. Standing on this lawn and looking out across the harbor one sees almost every craft imaginable: war ships, merchant ships, sailing boats of every size and description, wooden ships, steel ships, air ships, barges, motor boats, launches, trim private yachts, ferries, the great ocean passenger liners, saucy little tugs rushing here and there as if the business of the world's shipping rested wholly with them.
At Fifth Avenue and 57th is the Heckscher Building (the tall building in the foreground built in tiers), built to comply with the new city building regulations. Just across the street is the Vanderbilt residence and back on the next street the Plaza Hotel, one of the most fashionable in the City. This view also shows the beginning of Central Park. This is the end of the shopping district on lower Fifth Avenue, but after the Park has been passed the Avenue comes again into a district of shops, though this time they are on the upper East Side and are entirely different in character; one would not recognize in it the street from Washington Square to 59th.
At 23rd Street we come to Madison Square where Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue. Facing this square we have the famous Madison Square Garden Building, the Metropolitan Building, and the Flat Iron Building. Madison Square Garden occupies an entire block, with a beautiful tower topped with a statue of Diana by St. Gaudens, costing $3,000,000. It contains one of the largest amphitheatres in America, seating 12,000. It has been the scene of great political meetings, horse shows, Barnum and Baily and Ringling Brothers circuses, prize fights, dances, etc.
