trip

This photo was taken on East 17th Street in New York City, in front of Union Square. Two of the buildings in the background are the Century Building a.k.a. 33 East 17th Street (currently a Barnes & Noble) and 200 Park Avenue South.

Also, based on this and several other New York Times articles, it seems that the photograph commemorates what was for some time an annual event: an "Orphans' Automobile Day" where all the orphans in the city would be driven via auto to Coney Island.

Hola, soy el administrador de un grupo llamado Antiguas y nos encantaría agregar esto al grupo.

Here's a photo of those buildings today. The one with the big arch has been replaced by the glass AT&T structure.

Interesting that they were hauling orphans to Luna Park only ten days after Dreamland burned: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2162672387/

I am very glad I found this Flickr account. I hope you all keep posting these great historical photos. Daniel Ewert Pensacola, FL

Great composition and light. Just to think of the age of this photo.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Wir haben`s schwarz auf weiss ONLY THE BEST IN B&W ART♥ ♥, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

its excellent compo and light details ...

that's an incredible photo

Love these old pictures~

Okay. Ill start with the easy ones Right to left: Packard ( like it says! ) Chevrolet ? Studebaker ( again, like it says ! ) And ...Buick?

Andy If you use the Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.19107 link to the left, the radiator reads Stutz, and I think it's the 1915 Bulldog. www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z16887/Stutz-Model-4F.aspx The cars also have big L's and pennants and signage for the Lincoln Highway, a project for a coast to coast highway. This trip's official title was the Lincoln Highway Motion Picture Film Caravan. Here is a short description of the trip these cars are beginning: "The Lincoln Highway Association also arranged a tour to the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The primarypurpose was to make a motion picture of the road as part of the association’s campaign to keep the public interested in the highway. The tour began in New York on May 15, 1915, and reached San Francisco at the end of August. According to the association’s official history: Everywhere elaborate preparations were made to show each city at its best . . . . Automobile parades, scenes of road improvement, dedications of bridges and of newly constructed sections of highway, processions of school-children, every sort of function, celebration and activity connected and unconnected with highway building was arranged for them to photograph. The association, in fact, had to ask communities to replace the fire and police displays with “scenes having a real interest, scenes tending to make it safe, easy, and pleasant to come your way and call on you.” Between cities, the party busied itself taking photographs of scenery, historic sites, road construction, maintenance, improvement, and anything else tending to interest the traveler and stimulate touring. When the touring automobiles reached San Francisco, they were placed on display between the Transportation Palace and the Palace of Manufacturers. After the exposition, the Lincoln Highway Association used the film in an eastbound publicity tour of one-night stands. “It met with high enthusiasm everywhere,” according to the official history. [The Lincoln Highway: The Story of a Crusade That Made Transportation History, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1935, p. 122-124]" www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/not2.pdf

Art Siegel OOOOOH-- NICE! Thanks so much and thank you for all the information! I tried enlarging and fiddling on photoshop but got nothing! Any idea what the cutie on the end left is !?

No.. it might be possible to find out by looking through accounts of the trip. Sadly, the film that was made is almost completely destroyed now, as it was not transferred from nitrate to safety film stock. The story here: lvgaldieri.wordpress.com/tag/three-mile-picture-show/ And that is H.C. Ostermann, a Lincoln Highway official, driving the Stutz. quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh/x-lhc2813/LHC2813?from=inde...