Long Acre Square (Times), New York Theatre

Times Square, New York Theatre - about 1909

Looking south down Broadway in Times Square. Includes The old New York Theatre (center, occupying the block front from 44th to 45th Streets). A sign announces Richard Carle in Mary's Lamb, which played in 1908. It opened in 1895 and the building was demolished in 1935. Original title: Long Acre Square (Times), New York, N.Y. originally right section of a larger panorama. Source: Detroit Publishing Co. (between 1908 and 1910), Source / Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

◄ Antique photos of NYC

For most of the 19th century, theaters had existed in the midst of stores, hotels, and other businesses along Lower Broadway. The theater district spread northward in stages, stopping for a time at Union Square, then Madison Square, and then Herald Square.

In the last two decades of the 19th century, theater managers extended the theater district further north along Broadway, until it reached Long Acre Square, called Times Square since 1904.

Times Square, New York Theatre - about 1909