Times Square, Astor Theatre

Title: Times Square, New York, N.Y. Photo shows Hotel Astor (opened in 1904) and Astor Theatre. Also used as the right section of a larger panorama. Created in 1908. Detroit Publishing Co. Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

The theater district shifted north to Times Square in the late 19th century. Between 1901 and 1920, 43 theaters were built in Midtown Manhattan, east and west of Broadway.

Astor Theatre was located at 1537 Broadway, at West 45th Street in Times Square. It opened on September 21, 1906, with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and continued to operate as a theatre until 1925. From 1925 until it closed in 1972, it was a movie theater. The building was demolished in 1982 to make way for the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The Times Building is to the left. Below, enlargement of the shops.