info on broadway??

Question

hey..i need to find the founders of broadway in nyc and when it was built!! i ahve tried every search engine(yahoo!, ask.com and google) and i havent found anything!! if u can answer my question with a url or with an answer that wood be great!!!

i meen as in the theatre!! not the street!!

Answer 1

There were no real "founders" of Broadway or a date it was "built." There were theatres in New York virtually from its founding, but the idea of "Broadway" really only dates from the late 19th century.

Until that time, the theatre district was really centered around Union Square and 14th St. (excepting Yiddish theatre, which was based around the Lower East Side and 2nd Avenue and various ethnic theatres -- Italian, Hungarian, etc. -- that were located throughout those neighborhoods downtown).

As the city grew, more and more people and businesses moved uptown, and around the turn of the last century, the "theatre district" as we know it today was created. The intersection of 42nd St. and Broadway (which virtually runs the length of Manhattan) was designated Longacre Square and many theatres were built. The 1939 WPA Guide to New York shows 91 legit, radio, and movie theatres between 38th and 59th Streets and Sixth and Eighth Avenues (there were ten theatres on 42nd between 7th and 8th alone).

Probably the height of Broadway's Golden Age was from the 20s to the 40s, when dozens (if not hundreds) of shows would open every season.

In short, nobody said, "Let's build Broadway;" it was an accident of geography and commerce.

The links below should give you all the information you need.

Answer 2

Ummm...honey, Broadway is a street. It runs at a diagonal the length of Manhattan.

Answer 3

Broadway is a street in Manhattan.

Answer 4

just go into the history of Broadway and it will pull up Broadway 101 and you ll get your info