Dumbo Then and Now: Manhattan Bridge Construction in 1908


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The old photo above, courtesy of New York City Municipal Archives, from 1908 of Manhattan Bridge shows the bridge under construction. 870,000 photographs of New York and its municipal operations have been made public for the first time on the internet. The city Department of Records officially announced the debut of the photo database yesterday.

Above is one of the photos that was released (on Yahoo News):

“In this June 5, 1908 photo provided by the New York City Municipal Archives, the superstructure from the Manhattan Bridge rises above Washington Street in New York. Over 870,000 photos from an archive that exceeds 2.2 million images have been scanned and made available online, for the first time giving a global audience a view of a rich collection that documents life in New York City. (AP Photo/New York City Municipal Archives, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures, Eugene de Salignac)”

Construction of the Manhattan Bridge started in 1901 and was open to traffic at the end of 1909. This view looking down Washington Street is a well known one. This 1908 photo also shows the buildings on Plymouth Street, which still stand today (left one is 30 Washington Street and right one is 25 Washington Street).

Here’s another image of the photo from 1908, 1974, and 2009.


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{Dumbo Then and Now, series, DumboNYC}

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