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12/01/2007: "Park Avenue Puzzle"

There's something odd about the Park Avenue photos posted below. Park Avenue was originally Fourth Avenue and the New York Central trains ran on the street to Grand Central, which opened in 1870 (the present structure was built later). Park Avenue may have once been a park as the picture suggests, but it wouldn't seem it could have been a park for very long. Also its doubtful to me that the name "Park" Avenue could stem from the Avenue originally being a "park" as the name appears to originate in 1860 or before. Its also doubtful it was even entirely closed to auto, streetcar, railroad and/or wagon traffic. The median in Park Avenue is unusually wide even today and there are six or more lanes. The photo may have been shot from the middle and traffic lanes, maybe only one or two, on either side are out of view. Park Avenue also changes as you move along. The top photo with the park shows St Bartholomew's, built in 1918. Here's how the street was described in a Times article: "In 1914, the parish decided to move to Park Avenue, a factory street that a new crop of apartment houses for the well-to-do was turning into an elite boulevard."

The photo with the cars might be between the Terminal and the Helmsley/NYC building. Its an interesting photo anyway and if there's a New York historian who could flush out the truth here, it would be interesting to know. Today Park Avenue is still known for its plantings, primarily begonias, which are maintained with the help of a fund set up for that purpose, and its still nice to think for a fleeting minute a street with twenty story plus buildings could be a park.

Eric Miller, on 12.01.07 @ 17:40PST