42nd

"On May 23, 1911, the main branch of the New York Public Library was officially opened in a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft. " - Wikipedia

That thing gotta Hemi??

The guy in the boater hat must be Secret Service, or the equivalent -- definitely challenging the photographer.

Both cars have the same licence plate number. Is it possible that all the cars of Taft's fleet had the same plates?

I think I found the answer. (Is there anything that can't be Googled?) By the auto registration laws of those days, dealers could apply for one registration for their entire fleet and then get duplicate plates of the registration number for all their cars. (I tried to make a tinyurl of the "McKinney's Consolidated Laws" Googlebook website but Flickr won't post it.) I'd guess that Taft took the train to NYC, and a local dealer supplied the cars for his motorcade. Can you tell the model? There's a logo on the lead car's grille, but it's hidden by the license plate.

The flags they use these days are a lot smaller.

Wow has the front changed with the grown trees now.

opening day: May 23, 1911 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Library

Probably belings with this image in the set: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163469624/

I believe the 42nd Street Library opened in 1911. The architects were Carrere & Hastings. Great photo!