Fifty Years on Fifth, 1907-1957

Over The Past Fifty Years, From A Declining Thoroughfare That Was Fast Losing Its Links With The Past And Heading Towards An Indeterminate Future, Fifth Avenue Has Changed Into The Street Of Distinction That It Is Today. The City’s Population Was Less Than Five Million Persons When The Fifth Avenue Association Was Organized In 1907 By A Small, Civic-Minded Group, Who Feared That Demoralizing Changes Were Setting In. Skyscrapers Were Unknown Except For The Flatiron Building Which Had Stood At Twenty-Third Street Since 1902. Houses And Billboards Were Plastered With Signs. Traffic And Street Cleaning Problems Were Acute, And Vagrants Were Taking Over The Sidewalks. Factory Conditions Had Been Set Up Along Lower Fifth Avenue. A Street, Noble In Its Original Conception, Stretching Smoothly Northward For Miles, And Dividing The Island Of Manhattan In Two, Was Going Into Eclipse. The Metamorphosis In The Last Half Century Has Been A Striking Civic Development.