Panorama of New York City's water front and the Brooklyn Bridge from East River, May 9, 1903.

This film depicts the East River shoreline and the piers of lower Manhattan starting at about Pier 5 (the New York Central Pier) opposite Broad Street, and extending to the Mallory Line steamship piers just south of Fulton Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. The film begins with shots of canal boats or barges (from the Erie Canal via the Hudson River) docked at and around Coenties Slip. As the film progresses, the New York Produce Exchange located at Bowling Green, Manhattan, with its distinct tower, comes into view in the background. Between here and the Wall Street ferry, there follows in order of appearance: steam tugs, a wooden hull barkentine with box barges alongside, a docked iron hull sailing ship, probably British, an ocean steamer with yards on the foremast, a derrick lighter laden with barrels docked at the end of a pier, and a fruit steamer. In the Wall Street Ferry slip (between Piers 15 and 16) there is a Wall St., Manhattan-to-Montague St., Brooklyn, double-ended steam commuter boat. The ferry is visible immediately before a shot of the large advertising billboards on Pier 16. The film next shows the Ward Line piers (J.E. Ward & Co., New York and Cuba Steamship Co.), a Pennsylvania Railroad tug, a derrick lighter, and the Mallory Line piers. A Mallory Line steamer can be seen on the south side of one of the Mallory Piers. The camera begins panning out into the East River after passing pier 20, catching the fog bell at the end of pier 21. A car float is visible passing under the Brooklyn Bridge. The pan follows the line of the Brooklyn Bridge eastward to Brooklyn Heights, where the Hotel Margaret (tall building in background) is visible just before the end of the film. This film continues the view begun in the film Sky Scrapers of New York City From the North River. Together they comprise a sweep around the southern tip of Manhattan, from Fulton Street on the Hudson to the Brooklyn Bridge.

(Video courtesy of Thomas A. Edison, Inc./Library of Congress/Tehrkot Media)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• New York City
• River
• Water
• Brooklyn
• Manhattan