File:Broadway-1885-APL.jpeg
American Photo-Lithography Co. published by James J. Fogerty, New York
The image was likely generated to advertise the Broadway commercial district. It depicts telephone and telegraph lines and wires, which had begun in lower Manhattan in 1878; power lines followed in 1882. Municipal leaders decried the lines and promoted zoning laws that would put the wires (which were sometimes dangerous) underground.
The image is an early example of photomechanical printmaking.(Reusing this file)