Arizona republican., 1908-11-12

Longacre Square is the capital of this gay principally. Less than a century ago the cows pasturing on the peaceful acres of the old Astor farm were almost its only tenants.
 Now the great mass of brick and stone which forms the new Hotel Astor stands on the site of the old farm house, twenty theaters are within a stones throw and famous restaurants are grouped all about.
 More money is spent every day with
 in the space of these half dozen
 blocks for food, drink and amuse-
 ment than in any like area in the world. Longacre Square is the core of the evening life os the metropolis, where the lights flash brightest, where the crowds of pleasure seekers are thickest and where all that is typical of the gay, careless, fashionable life is most in evidence. Following Broad ways uptown course onward one passes block after block in the region about the lower end of Central Park given over almost entirely to the automobile industry. Gasoline AL ley" it is called in the local yer nacular. Still further north Is the region of great apartment hotels, the homes of those residents of the city who are among neither the richest nor the poorest, extending block after block in structures of towering height for several miles. Where the street begins to mount the heights that form the northern part of Man haitian it enters upon another phase. passing great institutions. the lofty arches of the Cathedral of St. John the halls of Columbia University, and further up the College of the City of New York. Open spaces begin to appear. There are private residences as well as apartment houses. Broad way her eoverlooks the lordly Hudson and the Palisades on the Jersey shore, and along this part of its course. from the upper heights to the northern end of the island at Spuyten Duyvil will stand in the future in all probability the finest and costliest of New York's homes. residences of the fashionable wealthy.
 Broadway has two advantages which many other famous streets lack "a worthy beginning and ending. At it's lower end is Battery Park. a spot of greenery looking out upon the busy waters of the rarbor. and at it's upper terminus is to be placed the beautiful Hudson memorial bridge. which will form a fitting gateway to the city from the landward side. Broadway will always be the street of spectacles and processions, the na- tional parade ground and the national playground.
 Even in the matter of age Broad way has no mean record. In the early days of the city it was the natural highway from the lower to the upper part of the island. since the ground on both sides. now occu- pied by skyscrapers, was then only marsh land. Down to 1642 the thor oughfare bore a succession of appel lations. First it was called simply the main road" Later it became the Public Road, the Hoog Veg or Highway. It was also called the Heeron Straat, or Street of the Mas ters. From 1640 on, however, it be- came generally known as Broadway, although it's identity was established much earlier. Perhaps in a way these early names corresponded to the newer titles given this much nicknamed thoroughfare. On Broad way it was that the first clergeyman preached regularly in a little wooden church near what is now Pearl street It was near what is now Pine street that Col. de Puyster in 1895 built what was described as a "palatial three story dwelling man. sion." Forty-four years later, in 1739, a public market house was erected in the middle of Broadway opposite Liberty street. It was a gigantic structure forty-two feet long and feet wide, but for some reason it was never popular.
 Of not other spot in the world are so many men able to say, If I'd bought that property thirty years ago for a song. I'd be a millionaire" The story of Broadway is one of unnum- bered fortunes made by those who did invest, and as the city moves northward 1t still applies. Back in 1892 lots on Broadway were sold as far as Fulton street for about S2O each Today these same lots are worth a hundred thousand times the original cost. Purchasters were re- quired to erect buildings not less than two stories in height and in some cases to cover the entire front of the lot. Today an owner of Broad way property who did not do more than this voluntarily would be con sidered insane, so great are rental values.
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