Oct 31, 2026 · 6 hr 59 min · 61 segments
"Short Nonfiction Collection, Vol. 073-Various" presents a curated selection of thought-provoking essays that delve into diverse themes and ideas. This collection invites listeners to engage with a…
A passing glimpse of America's most famous thoroughfare.
By Emma Archer Osborne.
This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Broadway.
A unique street is this endless highway of New York City, which was once but an insignificant Indian trail tipping the rocky ridge that constituted the backbone of Manhattan Island, and was used by the Manahatas when making their peregrinations to and from the sea.
A romantic history has this old thoroughfare from its aboriginal days down to these, its most civilized and cosmopolitan period, and proud is the city of this ancient cradle of new york for broadway antedates even the days of henry hudson the time from which almost everything pertaining to the metropolis is reckoned indeed broadway antedates european highways for while europe boasts of her old roads made centuries back when civilization commenced to emerge from the dark ages new york can go the old world one better broadway always was skipping history, passing the days when Manhattan Island was sold for $24, passing the days of Dutch and British rule, of the period when colonial society centered on lower Broadway, when Lord Cornwallis, Lord Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, Talleyrand, General Gates, Benedict Arnold, and other celebrities lived there, when President Washington, during his short sojourn in the city, finding Cherry Hill, now the Manhattan terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge, too far out in the country to enable him to be in the social swim, moved down nearly opposite Wall Street, and passing scores of other interesting and important events in the street's national, municipal, commercial, and social history.
We take it as it is today.
What a place Broadway is, and what a vast amount of entertainment can be gained by a visit to it.
Unique, indeed.
and never ending in versatility with its shifting, changing life.
Architecturally, the street is many stories above and many stories below ground.
It is like city after city, built each on top of the other.
Officially, it is 14 miles long, extending to the Yonkers Line.
In reality, it lopes along to Albany, where it is supposed to end, since New Yorkers cannot conceive of anything going beyond the capital of their state.
Locally, the length, breadth, height, and depth of the street is measured by the time of day or night.
Broadway is a great living, breathing thing.
It's life and pulsations visible in localities according to the moods and modes of the restless human element which imbues it.
Someone has said that if one stands long enough at one place on Broadway, he will see half the people he ever knew.
Maybe the remark is a bit exaggerated, but one need not stand long in one spot to see many people, and he will see all classes, kinds, nationalities, and conditions in the general procession.
The sidewalks are wide.
They are not broad enough to accommodate all who would travel them.
The throngs push and jostle along in uncomfortable and acrobatic fashion.
They thread their ways in and out, dodging horses and bumping into wagons, carriages, and automobiles.
A passing glimpse of America's most famous thoroughfare.
By Emma Archer Osborne.
This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Broadway.
A unique street is this endless highway of New York City, which was once but an insignificant Indian trail tipping the rocky ridge that constituted the backbone of Manhattan Island, and was used by the Manahatas when making their peregrinations to and from the sea.
A romantic history has this old thoroughfare from its aboriginal days down to these, its most civilized and cosmopolitan period, and proud is the city of this ancient cradle of new york for broadway antedates even the days of henry hudson the time from which almost everything pertaining to the metropolis is reckoned indeed broadway antedates european highways for while europe boasts of her old roads made centuries back when civilization commenced to emerge from the dark ages new york can go the old world one better broadway always was skipping history, passing the days when Manhattan Island was sold for $24, passing the days of Dutch and British rule, of the period when colonial society centered on lower Broadway, when Lord Cornwallis, Lord Howe, and Sir Henry Clinton, Talleyrand, General Gates, Benedict Arnold, and other celebrities lived there, when President Washington, during his short sojourn in the city, finding Cherry Hill, now the Manhattan terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge, too far out in the country to enable him to be in the social swim, moved down nearly opposite Wall Street, and passing scores of other interesting and important events in the street's national, municipal, commercial, and social history.
We take it as it is today.
What a place Broadway is, and what a vast amount of entertainment can be gained by a visit to it.
Unique, indeed.
and never ending in versatility with its shifting, changing life.
Architecturally, the street is many stories above and many stories below ground.
It is like city after city, built each on top of the other.
Officially, it is 14 miles long, extending to the Yonkers Line.
In reality, it lopes along to Albany, where it is supposed to end, since New Yorkers cannot conceive of anything going beyond the capital of their state.
Locally, the length, breadth, height, and depth of the street is measured by the time of day or night.
Broadway is a great living, breathing thing.
It's life and pulsations visible in localities according to the moods and modes of the restless human element which imbues it.
Someone has said that if one stands long enough at one place on Broadway, he will see half the people he ever knew.
Maybe the remark is a bit exaggerated, but one need not stand long in one spot to see many people, and he will see all classes, kinds, nationalities, and conditions in the general procession.
The sidewalks are wide.
They are not broad enough to accommodate all who would travel them.
The throngs push and jostle along in uncomfortable and acrobatic fashion.
They thread their ways in and out, dodging horses and bumping into wagons, carriages, and automobiles.
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