FIFTH   AVENUE
 

61
 

From a lithograph, Currier & Ives, 1869.                                                  Collection oj retry Walton^

FASHIONABLE   TURNOUTS   IN  CENTRAL  PARK,   NEW  YORK.

(Sketched from life by T. Worth in 1869.)
 

nent in society. Most of the houses of the Marble Row have been
altered or torn down to make room for business buildings.

Although in 1869 Fifth Avenue below 59th Street was an almost
unbroken row of brownstone mansions, as early as 1882 trade had
invaded the Avenue as far north as Central Park. Between 34th and
59th Streets are now estabhshed many of the foremost jewellers, art
dealers, publishers and high-class shops.

Not until 1847 was Fifth Avenue lighted with gas as far as 18th
Street, and not until 1850 as far as 30th Street; about 1870 gas was
carried as far as 59th Street. As early as 1869 the Sunday parade
of fashion on Fifth Avenue had become a feature of New York life.
The Easter Parade still continues, but the fine equipages, with spirited
horses and uniformed footmen, have given way to the automobile.
Another notable feature of former days was the driving in Central
Park. Here might be seen old Commodore Vanderbilt, driving his
famous trotter, "Dexter"; Robert Bonner, speeding "Maud S.";
Thomas Kilpatrick, Frank Work, Russell Sage, and other horsemen
driving to their private quarter- or half- mile courses in Harlem; leaders
of society and dowagers in their gilded coaches; and even maidens
of the "Four Hundred" driving their phaetons.

John D. Crimmins, most of whose long hfe has been spent in New
York, gives an interesting picture of Fifth Avenue before the war.
His father was a contractor, who, before entering business, had been
employed by Thomas Addis Emmet as a gardener. The Emmet coun¬
try-seat was on the Boston Post-Road in the vicinity of 59th Street,
 

Invasion of
Trade as
far North as
59th Street

Lighting the
Avenue

The Sunday
Parade and
Driving in
Central
Park  .
 

Recollections
of John D,
Crimmins