This article is about the street in New York City. For other articles with the name Broadway, see: Broadway (disambiguation).

A view of Broadway in 1909

Broadway, as the name implies, is a large, wide avenue in New York City, New York, and is one of the oldest main north-south thoroughfares in the city, dating back to the first Dutch New Amsterdam settlement. It runs the length of Manhattan, the central borough, being the only street running from almost the southern tip of the island, where it starts at Bowling Green, to the northern tip. It then crosses the Harlem River as the Broadway Bridge and continues through the Bronx and into Westchester County. (There are also separate streets called "Broadway" in the city, one each in the other three New York City Boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island; and smaller streets using its name such as East Broadway, West Broadway, Old Broadway, and others in Manhattan itself.)

Broadway continues running through several Hudson River towns of Westchester County, before becoming the "New York-Albany Post Road ", and running as far north as the state capital, Albany. Diagonally crossing the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 of Manhattan streets, it has been marked by "squares" (some merely triangular slivers of open space) and induced some interesting architecture, such as the famous Flatiron Building.

The section of lower Broadway from its origin at Bowling Green to City Hall Park is the historical location for the city's ticker-tape parades, and is sometimes called the Canyon of Heroes in reference to such events.

One famous stretch near Times Square in midtown Manhattan, through which Broadway passes, is the home of many Broadway theatres, housing an ever-changing array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals. This part of Broadway, also known as the Great White Way, draws millions of tourists from around the world. Starring in a successful Broadway musical is considered by most singers, dancers and actors as the ultimate success in their chosen profession, and many songs, stories, and musicals have themselves been based around the idea of such success. The annual Tony Awards recognize some of the most successful new shows and revivals each year.

Further north, Broadway follows the old Bloomingdale Road as the main spine of the Upper West Side, passing the campus of Columbia University on Morningside Heights as it continues northwards.

Public transit

From south to north, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, BMT Broadway Line, IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line and IND Eighth Avenue Line all carry subway trains underneath Broadway. On the surface, MTA New York City Transit's M1, M4, M5, M6, M7, M10, M20, M100, M104, Bx7 and Bx20 bus services all use Broadway. The Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad and Broadway Surface Railroad streetcar lines used to use Broadway.

See also

• Grand Central Hotel
• Singer Building
• Trinity Church, New York
• Winter Garden Theatre
• Woolworth Building

External link

• History of Broadway (and Manhattan)