5th

these are fantastic , keep em comin!

complètement dingue!! J'adore

The street looks uncannily clean considering the fact that there were horses on it; was the photo retouched? Or, it could be that New York had an extremely efficient group of street-sweepers at the time.

Wow, I think that's just 8 blocks south of the Apple Store!

A charming photograph of what now would now be considered an incredibly unsafe playground. This picture shows that Carnegie built playgrounds as well as libraries for the urban poor.

One hardly could call Fifth Avenue "poverty row." Another Bain/LOC photo of the 5th Avenue Carnegie Playground:

Here's the story, from The New York Times, August 1, 1911: "The Parks and Playgrounds Association of New York City opened yesterday its fifteenth vacant lot playground, on a plot loaned by Andrew Carnegie. This playground is on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninety-first Street, and is equipped with swings, sandboxes, teeter boards, slides, basket ball court, and other equipment. "The opening was not advertised, but there were 200 children on hand when it was opened. The children came from the section immediately east. The association sends play leaders into the tenement sections, organizes the children into guilds and takes them to the ground. Two leaders are in charge at the ground. The association is supported by voluntary contributions."

A root in the census shows two Edith Coles'eses in 1901, and none at all in 1911. One Edith was 1 month old in 1901, so that's not her.

This one (a .pdf) was only eight, so would be 17 in 1910. CofE, born in Cornwall, living in Cove, near Kinsale in 1901. Her Dad was gone in 1911, too, maybe they moved back to England.

So is this that Edith? Or is it some furriner actress who was just visiting?

This is only eBay, so not a permanent link, but it's a postcard of Edith Coles "The Worst Woman in London".

Niall McAuley I was thinking furriner, but maybe not. And wow, wonder if that was a character assessment, or was it a character she played in the theatre... Added it as a tag either way.

From Memories of Show Business by Percy G Court, 1953:

Miss Edith Cole had her usual benefit on Friday night of each visit - ah -hem "The Still Alarm" with its two white horses which harnessed themselves to the engine and drove off the stage with fire bells clanging.

A playbill from Leeds, 1909:

Monday, 17th May, 1909. This evening's entertainment consists of the 'special engagement of W.W. Kelly's London Company, including the celebrated actress Miss Edith Coles, in the most successful historical play of the century' called, 'A Royal Divorce', by W.G. Wills.

So, if she was a headliner in 1909, I don't think she was our Kinsale girl, she'd only be 16 in 1909.