The Slower Road

Today, we offer two short videos from the very early twentieth century.

First is a parade of carriages on the Harlem River Speedway, which was filmed in July 1903 (although the YouTube heading says 1902).

The leisurely pace of these parading carriages was not typical for speedway drivers in the early 1900s. You can read more about early-twentieth-century speedways in the January issue of The Carriage Journal and in a future post here on the blog.

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Next: a street scene on lower Broadway (New York) from June 1903 (although, again, the video’s YouTube heading says 1902). Here, you can see pedestrians, horse-drawn trolleys, private vehicles, and all sorts of delivery vehicles.

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A heartwarming story for Christmas week:

From The Washington Post, December 22, 1918:

Arrangements have been completed for the Christmas dinner for horses to be given by the Washington Animal Rescue League at Twelfth and Little B streets northwest on Tuesday, the day before Christmas. The Haymarket space has been devoted to the equine holiday, and there will be a tree loaded with such delicacies as hay, corn, carrots, and apples. Each horse will get a substantial feed of oats. The drivers will be served with free hot coffee, and there will be music.

The Christmas dinner for horses originated in Washington four years ago, and is now a feature of the holiday in several American cities. The Animal Rescue League works solely for the welfare of animals and has been very successful in enlisting the sympathy of horse owners and drivers in the work of relieving unnecessary suffering.

Tuesday has been fixed for the horses dinner because of the fact that on Christmas day they have done their work and are resting in the stable. The league, therefore, has chosen a busy day to reward the horses that have been active in delivering holiday packages. Every driver is invited to get a cup of coffee while his horse is feasting.

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From The Washington Post, three days later, on Decemeber 25, 1918:

The Haymarket, at Twelfth and B streets northwest, was an animated scene yesterday, when market horses were made the guests of a bountiful Christmas dinner. Motion picture photographers were there, and they secured views of the horses helping themselves from a Christmas tree on which were strung corn, carrots, apples, lumps of sugar, and other delicacies. Horses have been hard at work delivering Christmas packages and were given a chance to pose while partaking of a hearty dinner of oats. Every driver got a cup of hot coffee, but the horses were the real guests of honor.

Several ladies of the Washington Animal Rescue League were in charge of the dinner. They were ably assisted by Boy Scout Christen Davis, of Troop 59, and by Scouts Newman and Atkinson. The two latter furnished music. Portable troughs were carried to the horses in some cases, and they enjoyed their oats in spite of the rain and the busy hauling of trees and turkeys. One or two automobiles were also used in carrying oats to horses at the other markets. In all, it is estimated that several hundred horses received a reward for faithful work they had done to make Christmas happy for humans.

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a Christmas dinner for horses was held in Washington DC on December 24, 1918

I was doing some research on sleighing and “speedway” racing, over snow especially, when I came across this tidbit from The New York Times. Coincidentally, it was published on December 15, 1902 … exactly one hundred eight years ago today.

Yesterday was a day of days with sleigh owners in Brooklyn. Everything on runners in the borough, from the grocer’s rude and clumsy delivery sleigh to the dainty and graceful Cutter, was out, and the boulevards and parks were crowded with happy riders gliding over the snow. Horsemen who frequent the Ocean Parkway declared that not in the past ten years had there been such perfect sleighing. There was a fine bottom to the hard, flaky snow on the driveways, and the conditions generally were just right for a full enjoyment of the exhilarating sport.

The greater number of drivers in Brooklyn headed, of course, for Prospect Park and Ocean Parkway. Most of the sleighs went down the popular Speedway, all the way to the ocean. Coney Island came out of its winter sleep and opened up in spots to entertain the throng of sleigh riders. The resort by the sea wore an air of animation all the afternoon. Ocean Parkway was alive with sleighs of all descriptions from early morning up to a late hour last night.

The sleighing at night in the bright moonlight was enjoyed by many even more than that of the day. The road houses on the Parkway, from the Circle down to the Concourse, were crowded with merry sleigh riders. Eastern Parkway also had its crowd on runners, many drivers going out that way to the network of fine roads in Queens Borough.

It’s snowing here in Lexington today, so I thought I would post a few more videos of old winter scenes. I couldn’t find any more sleighing videos, but I hope you’ll enjoy these …

First, some fire-fighters, in what appears to be a parade, rather than an actual response to a fire. And in the snow, no less:

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Next, a video that has no horses or horse-drawn vehicles, but one that is definitely wintery.   🙂

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And … a street scene following the first snowfall of the season. Are they racing??

With tomorrow being the first of December (already?!), I hope you’ll enjoy this video ode to winter.

New York’s Central Park in 1898: