cks of buildings have always been dwelling houses or shanties, and
these have given way steadily to the pressure of business below them. In
a few years the entire street, from the Central Park to the Bowling
Green, will be taken up with substantial and elegant structures suited to
the growing needs of the great city. From the imperfect sketch of its
history here presented, the reader will see that the growth of the street
is divided into distinct periods. Under the Dutch it was built as far as
Wall street. The next 100 years carried it to the Park, from which it
extended to Duane street, reaching that point about the close of the
Revolution. By the opening of the present century it had reached Canal
street. Its next advance was to Astor Place. Thence it passed on to a
point above Union Square, and thence by a rapid growth to the
neighborhood of the Central Park.

II. DESCRIPTIVE.

The most wonderful street in the universe is Broadway. It is a world
within itself. It extends throughout the entire length of the island,
and is about sixty feet in width. Its chief attractions, however, lie
between the Bowling Green and Thirty-fourth street.

[Picture: BROADWAY, AT THE CORNER OF ANN STREET.]

It begins at the Bowling Green. From this point it extends in a straight
line to Fourteenth street and Union Square. Below Wall street it is
mainly devoted to the "Express" business, the headquarters and branch
offices of nearly all the lines in the country centring here. Opposite
Wall street, and on the west side of Broadway, is Trinity Church and its
graveyard. From Wall street to Ann street, Insurance Companies, Real
Estate Agents, Banks, Bankers and Brokers predominate. At the southeast
corner of Ann street is the magnificent _Herald_ office, and adjoining it
the Park Bank. Both buildings are of white marble, and the latter is one
of the grandest in the Union. Immediately opposite are St. Paul's Church
and graveyard, just above which is the massive granite front of the Astor
House, occupying an entire block, from Vesey to Barclay streets. On the
right hand side of the street, at the lower end of the Park, is the
unfinished structure of the new Post Office, which will be one of the
principal ornaments of the city. In the rear of this are the Park, and
the City Hall. Back of the City Hall, and fronting on Chambers street,
is the new County Court-House, which proved such a gold mine to the
"Rin