Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-11-03
THE PASSING OF FIFTH AVENUE.
The Uptown March of Business in
New York City.

swiftly passing from the glory or
residential exclusiYeness to the more
obscure if not less useful, role of an
ordinary commercial thorougnfare.
Only few days ago the police found
it necessary 10 make wholesale ar
rests in order to prevent the block.
ing OF the sidewalks, in what was
only a few years ago the most aris-
tocratic section of the avenue, by
worl ers in the big manufacturing es-
adjustments that have invaded Its
once sacred precincts Throughout
| The lower two miles of its course
which 20 years ago was soIidly lined
with the brownstone fronts that typi-
| fed wealthy ownership in that period
of he city's development, there are
today only few scattered residences
where a handful OF stubborn Knick-
erbockers continue to defy the inYa-
son of trade and commerce. Even
these few homes are overshadowea
by the lofty skyscrapers that rear
their fronts in ever-increasing mum
bers along the stately avenue, and
m st of them remain with barred
doors and windows during the great
err part of the year. In another half
cade the last of them probably will
nave disappeared or will have been
converted into shops. and it is only
matter of a very brief time when
there will not be private residence
left along Fifth avenue below Cen
trail park. This includes practically
all that the New Yorker of a gener-
alton ago meant by Fifth avenue, for
the upper portion of the street was
then given over 10 scattered novels
and unsightly heaps OF rock.
Fifth avenue is not an old street
as compared with Broadway or the
Bowery, or Wall street or any Of the
thoroughfsres that extend to the
lower portion of Manhattan island.
1t dates back only to 1871, when the
present plan of the city was adopted.
Its name then signified no more
than did these of Sixth and Seventh
or any other of the numerically des-
| ignated avenues extending up and
down the island In fact, its develop
ment was slower than that of some
of these others for many years, due,
probably, to the circumstances that
it took its beginning at what was
then the Po-ters' field, now Wash
ington square, while its upper course
was flanked by rocky elevations
which competent engineers asserted
could not be turned into building
sites with any profit.
Consequently, Fifth avenue is be-
ing forced steadily anad surely into
the third thoroughfare It's lower
section is already given up to whole
sale establishments-clo manu-
facturers, dealers in furs and flowers
and feathers, and agencies of mills
and factories in all parts of the coun-
try. Further uptown retail shops
have taken possession, and the de-
par ment sore is beginning to make
ings occupy the desirable corner sites,
and trades of every sort are repre-
scented throughout the once fashion
able district where trade in any form
set foot generation ago. Meanwhile
land values are steadily rising, anu
prices approaching $500 a square
! foot, unmatched elsewhere outside
| Wall street district, excite no partic-
ular comment in the record of Fifth
avenue realty transactions. Fifth av-
enue bids fair to remain the abode
of wealth, but it will be the we 18th
of business in corporate form, not
of individual fortunes.
1t is significant fact that the
fashionable life of this famous street,
covering almost exactly half cen
fury, has coincided so closely win
that of the two structures which gave
the first impetus toward its growth
as a s-rec. of wealthy homes. The
old reservoir at Forty-second street,
a fam ous landmark for many years,
has been removed to make way for
the great New York library. not yet
completed. and the Eff h avenue no
tel closed its hospitable doors for the
last time a year ago to give place 10
big Office building. Their passing
marks the passing of Fifth avenue
Fifth avenue of magnifit ent homes, /
millionaire residents and fashionable
affairs
AS to whether the fam ous stree
will have a successor comprising the |
combined glories of wealth and fash
ion appears to be doubtful, There |
are too many millionaires ana near
millionaires today to be grouped |
within the limits of a single street. |
1t is probable that the extreme up |
per end of Manhattan island and the /
region beyond it along the Hudson. !
in measure. will succeed to the /
fame of Fifth avenue as a fashion
able residence section, but never
again. it is safe to say, viii a single
comprise so large pro
portion of the wealth of the city and
nation as did Fifth avenue in is
palmy days-the days that are passed
forever.
Going to the Play.