A Ride on the Sixth Avenue Elevated, 1916

Henry Ford's cameramen took a ride on New York's Sixth Avenue Elevated in 1916. The film ended up at the National Archives.

[@willieluncheonette]

thank heaven these films were shot and saved...priceless

[@kozmickarmakoala3526]

INDEED !!!

[@theresebuczek4685]

It's like a trip to the past. Love old photos

[@pauli6043]

You know what gets me? No trash or graffiti anywhere! People were just different beings then

[@Larry-qz3es]

The 6th Avenue EL never had an express track when it diverged from Trinity place and reconnected with the 9th Avenue line. It was all local stops and the first of the Manhattan EL's to be discontinued and demolished.

[@3069mark]

I have watched a few of the old archival footage of NYC on this channel, and I just want to say that I am so glad that you did not overlay the video with some goofy music track as some other channels do on their old time videos. I refuse to watch theirs just for that reason. The way that you narrate your videos are so much better, and you have a good voice for the job too. I am enjoying your videos so much that I have subscribed and turned on notifications for when you upload new videos. Thank you for your effort in bringing these awesome videos to us of a time long ago.

[@NVC1019]

guy jones channel is another great historic film channel he adds sounds to the video that fits very well and is not a distraction no overblown music playing at all...great comment 3069!!

[@mtanyctrainatlantamartatra7164]

Music is annoying over videos

[@charlesbeyer7041]

A portion of the elevator shaft for the Ninth Av El 110th St. Station, on the downtown (west) side, was still there until the 1980s and a pic was featured in NY Daily News "New York's Changing Times" segment in Sunday paper.

[@kozmickarmakoala3526]

Thanks for the info ! I am 56 and Morningside Heights is my home.The 110 Street segment is a scenic superlative ! I must look into the information you have provided. *THANK YOU !*

[@blakemcnamara9105]

All of the Manhattan els should be standing today. It was a terrible shame that they were demolished.

[@truckdaddy1957]

Such hard work and craftsmanship went into building all of that....great vintage advertising on a building at 3:54....times have certainly changed.

[@zaco21_]

Yet racist as well

[@TheChicagoL]

I often wondered what it was like to ride the el lines through Manhattan. Oh, I've ridden on a number of el lines throughout the boroughs of New York like the "F" and "D" lines to Coney Island and the "7" train for Flushing/Queens. But this video gives you an ideal of what it's like to ride a "true" elevated, one that is not merely an extension of an underground transit line.

[@Ryan-on5on]

As a matter of fact, sections of elevated track in Brooklyn dating back to the days of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company are still in regular use. If you ride ever ride the BMT Jamaica Line from Alabama Avenue to near Crescent Street you are going over track once belonging to the BMT Lexington Avenue Line, a Brooklyn elevated service which opened in 1885 and had termini at Fulton Ferry and 65th Street. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMT_Lexington_Avenue_Line

[@fredthompson7947]

So beautiful these.vintage looks at American Greatness. The efforts.of the USA must never be lost.

[@christineswanson850]

I was so surprised seeing all those Tall Buildings back all those Years ago.Loved this.Amazing..

[@rexluminus9867]

Ooohhh my! A by gone times so long ago. So many people gone too. Great American. Thank you.

[@harrylangdon491]

Somebody reading your comment in 100 years will say the same about you.

[@anthonynancydelarosa6781]

I know right now the MTA is probably regretting tearing down these wonderful lines that would have helped with commuter needs another thing was getting rid of the trolleys in favor of buses I know they're regretting this now with the environmental impact that buses create. Perhaps in the future the MTA will reconsider restoring the trolleys throughout all the five boroughs including Staten Island it's only a matter of time and from a fundamental standpoint it makes a lot of sense

[@kelliceswaggerty7662]

The history is amazing! Thank you for sharing!

[@seven8n235]

Awesome film..I think the large building at 7.04 is the Hudson Terminal building at 30 and 50 Church St. My grandfather and father had office there until 1964 when it was torn down to make way for the Trade Center towers.

[@visionist7]

What were the Terminals like inside, in terms of offices? Were they grand or prosaic?

[@steveseifer6784]

It's almost like being in a time machine.

[@hilaryrubinstein9022]

Truly remarkable films.

[@trainluvr]

Thank you good sir.

[@vitogironda4805]

Thank you great film.

[@wayne2150]

Wish I could go back in time.

[@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome]

I keep saying the same. Take a small concealable HD camera and get some great footage, then stick it up on youtube present day to do people's heads in with the blinding quality!

[@jimpern]

Great! Front-window (and rear-window) footage of the els is hard to come by! Thank you.

[@eyestoenvy]

Thank you so much for this

[@empirestate8791]

This would be so fun to ride. Imagine getting such a good view of the Big Apple every day while commuting to work. Most early subway stations were cramped, dark, and dingy, compared to the open-air El stations which had direct sunlight and fresh air.

[@charleskesner1302]

Fascinating.

[@monica012077]

Beautiful

[@joseabad9416]

An elevated train goes to the front of my building. I'm in the back part facing a beautiful garden. The neighbors in the front of the building say it's like an earthquake with storm noises when the train passes by. In the back side, I have to be in total silence to actually hear anything more than a breeze noise. I don't understand how anyone could live with all their windows facing the train tracks. When I'm in the street, just walking to the supermarket or train station, that thing makes a horrible noise. No wonder there's no more elevated tracks in Manhattan, apart from the 1 line from Dykman (200st.) and up. The good thing about it, it's that you get phone service in the entire elevated section. But I don't think that would be good enough for the people living in the front of the building.

[@Olizimm]

Beautiful video. Thank you !

[@DiggerEvans]

Wonderful to watch many thanks

[@tobygoodguy4032]

That was a treat. (Now we ride in a hole in the ground.)

[@cats0182]

"New York, New York, it's a hell of a town, The Bronx is up and the Battery's down. Where people ride in a hole in the ground. New York, New York, it's a hell of a town!!" Kudos to Leonard Bernstein's "On The Town".

[@visionist7]

@Craig F. Thompson that depends X-D

[@arifakyuz7673]

Depends. You could ride a 3 and be on time or you could ride the R and be late.

[@lirrindevelopment8926]

Even though the el was fun to ride on, it was in the way of the development of housing for the millions of new citizens needing a home, and also manhatten’s nightmarish traffic

[@blakemcnamara9105]

@@lirrindevelopment8926 It was in the way of gentrification. The rich, particularly on the Upper East Side did not want to live alongside working-class Jews and Irish and certainly did not want to live alongside Blacks and Puerto Ricans who were starting to move in. Lexington Avenue used to be the divider between the affluent Upper East Side and working-class Yorkville. With the els on Second and Third Avenue gone, property values on the far East Side would increase in value allowing for the construction of the high rises you see today. A similar mindset was most likely in effect when the West Side els were demolished also. The demolition of els was always part of a larger plot to push the working-class out of Manhattan.

[@irishmike3514]

What a great video!! I never knew this existed. It seemed to make traveling easier Thank you for sharing!!

[@Rushmore222]

That was fascinating. It was filmed the year my father was born.

[@juant3969]

Fascinating indeed

[@LeonNikkidude]

Seemed like much less trees in Bryant park in those days

[@kevincummings632]

Some insane curves! Especially Suicide at 110 St. No wonder there was that horrendous accident.

[@Tsass0]

Thank U

[@KFCJones]

Fantastic film! One quibble, going southbound, the AMNH should be on the left.

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

I should have said so in the narration, but since the train is going south on Columbus Avenue, it's looking at the backside of the museum.

[@KFCJones]

Speed Graphic Film and Video Aha! Now I see. So, unequivocally and unquibblably excellent film!

[@johnrobinsoniii4028]

“ZILLIONS” of years before I was born!

[@stormgirl09]

i find it fascinating how electric trains were around for more than 100 years now! and im sure thats when steam trains started phasing out a bit....but its cool how even though steam trains been obsolete for almost a century,they are still part of pop culture and most people's childhoods! Thomas anyone??

[@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome]

Steam trains didn't end in Britain til around 1966 where they had co-existed with electric trains for over 75 years, and ended in the US many years after that, so they were far from obsolete during the electric era

[@DOLRED]

All those multi-story buildings, many for business. No Air Conditioning in those times. I wonder if electric fans were available then!!

[@harrylangdon491]

I grew up without air conditioning. Movie theaters got lots of patronage with banners outside advertising CoolAir or similar, with letters drawn in a "freezing" style. We didn't miss air conditioning any more than we missed smart phones.

[@kiwitrainguy]

Harry Langdon - you don't miss what you've never had. I too lived without air conditioning until 2003 but now during Summer it's a real life saver.

[@visionist7]

Electric fans were everywhere; ceiling fans, desk fans, and desk style fans mounted to walls. No good if they blew warm ambient air though, lol. You'll notice almost all windows had awnings to block the sun in high summer, and all building's windows opened, even the highest skyscrapers.

[@Saboda53]

I wonder… if there was no AC, and most every window in most every building was wide open, would that cool down the temp on the street somewhat? I mean, if buildings, themselves, were more like “screens” rather than solid walls, might not that have helped lower street temperatures??

[@Josh442]

Another person who grew up without air conditioning. Hell, I didn't have it here until maybe 10 years ago, when I got heat exhaustion while doing some heavy work around the house (getting old). You quickly become dependent on it. Anyway, back in the day, there were some days you were desperately hot, but for the most part, it was OK. Not only did older buildings have awnings and fans as others have mentioned, but they had transoms that opened above the doors so the breeze flowed through the building. And my mom once told me that before the lengthened the stations, the IRT subway was the coolest place in town!

[@gretetimm]

Danke, Gruß aus Berlin mit Hochbahn. Thank you, greetings from Berlin with Elevated railway.

[@kinkisharyocoasters]

Funny to see low-rise buildings (don't know if they were tenements or offices) on sixth avenue in midtown

[@jamesboylan783]

Illuminating. When was the Sixth Ave. dismantled. I remember the Third Avenue, but not the Sixth.

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

The Sixth Avenue El was taken down in 1938. The parts of Ninth Avenue El that were in Manhattan were taken down in 1940. (It had been extended, some years earlier, into the Bronx.)

[@jamesboylan783]

Thanks.

[@leecornwell1062]

@@jamesboylan783 The 3rd Avenue elevated line was torn down to in 1973 because of low rider ship they let the trestle s tracks get rusted not taking care of it what they should of did is to check the trestle s tracks rails and painted them to like they doing now to the Elevated line s now they are stepping there game up they are now doing serious track work and painting every single trestle s and rebuilding all the stations under ground elevated stations elevator s to

[@wmbrown6]

@@leecornwell1062 - In the Bronx. The Manhattan portion of the Third Avenue el was shut down in 1955 and demolished a year later.

[@zestcres]

Dayum MTA...if yall only knew these els were needed!!!

[@SyedAli-qz1cp]

New York City still looks the same except now it is colored.

[@grahamsawyer831]

60ft in the air? must have got interesting, especially in a storm. anyone know what the highest section was?

[@jimjones6265]

I wonder how long it took to dismantle all of this

[@edwardmiessner6502]

They should have kept those old elevated railways and when they had the money, converted them to automated skytrains

[@SeaPhl2]

Does that elevated line still exist, or is it underground?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

All the classic elevated lines, the ones built in the 19th century, are gone. Parallel subway routes absorbed their traffic.

[@ezrapotter4631]

1:55 old style signal

[@mrpeel3239]

Is there any film showing heading towards the 58th Street terminus?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

I haven't come across any.

[@Interscope100]

They had it all! What a shame that they torn down those trains!!! #GREED

[@tomlion639]

which train line is the highline nowadays?

[@Interscope100]

That was the freight train.

[@amazing50000]

So the IND (City of New York) at that time could not build the new subway along 5th Ave instead of 6th Ave so that the 6th Ave EL could still be running today?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

One of the things I learned in my research was that the old 19th-century EL tracks couldn't support the weight of all-steel trains. For that reason alone, the EL's had to be either rebuilt or replaced.

[@amazing50000]

@@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo That is true.

[@leecornwell1062]

@@amazing50000 And the 3rd Avenue 8 elevated line could be still running today to that is definitely needed to Now you know they had build the second Avenue line back up again to 96 Street and they are going to extend it to 125 Street connections to the 4/5/6 trains and Metro North that's the Q/T trains to 125 Street in Harlem

[@wmbrown6]

The affluent, well-heeled residents and businesses of Fifth Avenue would never have permitted an underground subway built along that avenue (it was a struggle as it was to have certain east-west subway tracks built through it). It was the same reason why Fifth Avenue never had any streetcar service and it was at first through horse-drawn coaches and finally motorized buses, decades before the various streetcar routes in the borough (via such firms as Second Avenue Railroad, Third Avenue Railway and New York Railways) were all converted to bus service between 1933 and 1947.

[@pauliefromphilly]

North east corner of Central Park

[@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome]

No, it was northwest

[@LetticiaRosado]

Cool ride! Now the IND runs underneath Sixth Avenue (B, D, F, M)!

[@Ghost-tc2gj]

Back when the fare was a penny

[@insomniatique4214]

1:11 is that the Met Life tower?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

I wonder if it's the Woolworth Tower.

[@insomniatique4214]

@@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo , in that case the direction is southbound for that stop.

[@MrEnoBeano]

It’s good but there’s a lot missing.

[@fabfab5251]

🖖💛👾

[@MicrobyteAlan]

Fascinating