Saturday, September 6, 2008

Then and Now: Looking at St. Michael's from 40th Street

St. Michael's tower is probably the most immediately recognizable part of Sunset Park, at least from afar. However, the story behind these photos is the change in 4th Avenue. The medians look lovely, don't they? Much nicer than the skinny, concrete "waiting areas" we have now. There were also gas lamps along the side of the street, and buildings didn't crowd the street with just the sidewalk to separate them from the street. Much healthier for whatever air gets in your window from our modern day traffic, I'd say.

The BPL photo doesn't have a year listed in the description, but judging from the other photos that do have dates attached to them, and the telephone lines seen on the street, it's probably from the early 1900's - 1910-ish? Anyone want to chime in with a more accurate guess?

2 comments:

Brenda from Flatbush said...

Wow. I never knew 4th Ave. had median strips once! What a difference some 'green' makes, even in B&W.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the pics of St. Michael's. I went to school there and was married from there. From the new style lamp post this pic is probably sometime after 1960.

Pat