FIFTH   AVENUE
 

77
 

From a photograph.                                                                         Copyright, 1915, by Perry Walton.

THE   END OF FIFTH AVENUE, 143ed STREET AND THE HARLEM RIVER.

A story of Fifth Avenue would not be complete without referring  The Scene
to the many great parades of which it has been the scene.    Within of Many
the past fifty years  more processions,  pageants  and parades have  Noteworthy
marched along Fifth Avenue than on any other street in America,  Parades
not  excepting   even   Pennsylvania   Avenue,   in   Washington,   D.C.
During  gala   celebrations  commemorating historical  events, or on
occasions when the country has been steeped in sorrow. Fifth Avenue
has been fittingly chosen as the scene for public exhibition of the
Nation's emotions.     Among the most noteworthy events were the
Evacuation Day parade in 1883; the vast parade in 1889 at the Cen¬
tennial of Washington's Inauguration;   the series of pageants in 1892
celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America;   the
Dewey   Celebration;   the   Hudson-Fulton   parades;  Lincoln's   and
Grant's funeral processions, and those of Horace Greeley and General
Sherman.     An   endless   number   of  political,   police   and   firemen's
parades, and other exhibitions of local importance, have also taken
place on Fifth Avenue.
 

From an obscure beginning to a position of world-wide importance,
from a country road to the Nation's greatest street—within the span
of a single century—this is the remarkable transformation of Fifth
Avenue. Unparalleled in progress and achievement, held in high
esteem for its historic associations and present importance, who
can foretell to what higher plane destiny may lift this marvellous
thoroughfare ?