This post card of Cooper Square in New York City fascinates me. Cooper Square is at the junction of 3rd & 4th Avenues and E6th Street. It is the home of Cooper Union, one of the finest colleges in the USA.
The post card depicts Cooper Union (building with the flag), the 3rd Avenue El and trolley cars on 4th Avenue in 1917. On November 14, 1832 the world’s first streetcar line ran on the Bowery and 4th Avenue, between Prince and 14th Street. Street cars of the Third Avenue Railway ran underneath the El.
Notice the cobble stone roadways. Those stones lead to the installation of iron street car rails in the streets for a smoother ride than the carriages of the day could provide. Horse drawn street cars evolved to electric street cars, and the buried third rail between the tracks supplied safe hi-voltage electricity to run the street cars.
The post card is hand colored, and the color of the street cars may not be authentic.
