Part of Manhattan Was Once Known as ‘Death Avenue’ 🌆 Searching for Secrets | Smithsonian Channel

A freight train in the middle of Manhattan? With cowboys riding ahead of it to warn away pedestrians? It’s true-but you have to go all the way back to 1846 for the origins of this ‘Only in New York’ story.
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[@Shireman1997]

If you’re so oblivious that you can’t see/hear a massive train coming, how are you suppose to hear the guy on a horse warning you about the train?

[@b_uppy]

Because people get used to the sound and are too preoccupied to look up. That's where the cowboy helps. He can nudge them before someone's hurt. Also at 1:43 you can see a lot of traffic coming off of side streets blocking easy egress.

[@pleasestfu4801]

It was an industrial area, so it was a VERY loud place. Your brain filters human voices out better through the droning and whirring of machinery.

[@updownstate]

I can think of two incidents in which pedestrians were killed not hearing the train whistle behind them nor noticing people running toward them waving their arms and screaming. I guess the whistle becomes part of the ambient sound.

[@63artemisia63]

@Shireman1997 (Maybe they were hunting hobbits.) Have some empathy: it still happens everywhere.

[@b_uppy]

That was converted into a beautiful park. Great reuse. Looks like many got caught in the intersections/traffic and couldn't move out of the way...

[@williamlouie569]

I was alway want to know the history of those elevated tracks. Thanks.

[@ristube3319]

The Highline park is amazing.

[@EyesOfByes]

0:38 Inception Time

[@bankerdave888]

Society once again paid a heavy price for a few unworthy heartbeats.

[@headishome8452]

Gotta 💜 history!!

[@ifrancescobarra]

Great footage.

[@christopherellis2663]

The pedestrians must have been a bit slow. Brilliant bit of Civic planning, quite demonstrative of Yankee know how, what?

[@simplesimon5739]

Great footage from the 1850's

[@John-jz5yv]

Lol

[@kodo1232]

Mhm

[@seanwebb605]

Bah. Look at the film footage that you included. They created an elevated track for the train then almost immediately added trolleys at street level. Trolly Dodgers!

[@kodo1232]

They did?

[@seanwebb605]

@@kodo1232 You didn't watch the video?

[@vitaliyvyntu4566]

Hello from Lviv

[@tonyarichards5430]

I wasn’t aware the name had been changed. Lol

[@63artemisia63]

I’m sure the cowboys were glad to go back home after the chaos and overcrowding of nyc!

[@jjmacjjmac]

I don’t blame the RR for pedestrians death. 🙄

[@darkmath100]

How can someone manage to get run over by a train going 5 mph flanked by cowboys on horses?

[@yeetandskeet]

Noise! Everything around them was probably extremely noisy, lots of stuff going on, etc. It may have also been going faster in certain areas.

[@darkmath100]

@@yeetandskeet What about the size of a freight train? They're hard to miss!

[@Acc0rd79]

They are New yorkers......not the brightest.

[@b_uppy]

@@darkmath100 1) People get preoccupied with what they're doing and 2) inured to the noise of the train. 3) They got caught up in traffic flow, look at 1:43...

[@androiduser384]

New Yorkers

[@Life_42]

Wow she's beautiful!

[@alexanderhall4281]

I was going to say money well spent but for the deaths and changing times it's sad to say to build it was the wrong way to go.

[@MrRisingSun]

I began to like history🙂

[@motojunkie8348]

I'll never understand why anyone would want to live in a place like New York. Both back then or now.

[@SK22000]

Only in NYC would you have a cowboy riding in front of a train on a city street 😂

[@jolyfrye1871]

An interesting historical 📰 fact.

[@Cosmicmonkeyman]

That’s one hot historian

[@63artemisia63]

@Cosmicmonkeyman you look like just her type

[@John-jz5yv]

In the 1850's there were no motorcars. Come on, now...

[@seanwilliams3634]

Let's build a train track... Regardless of people's safety and more about money, money, money.... The American way.

[@jasmineburgos3651]

Female historians are always wicked smoking hot

[@YourMom-vl2sp]

The track is literally 6 feet across. If you get killed by a train, it is your own fault

[@63artemisia63]

@Your Mom Hope you’re never called for jury duty

[@Katiesarabians]

Sounds like Darwinism to me. If one can't see a train-the biggest thing not including buildings- that's just weeding out the idiots.