BY SAMUEL BRUCHEY
Newsday Staff Writer
May 11, 2006
Photos: Newsday - Robert Mecea
The Big Apple has never treated its hardworking equine inhabitants
particularly well. (Photo - 1)
In the 19th century, when New York City was mostly farmland and roads
were made of dirt or cobblestone, as many as 200,000 horses called
Manhattan their home. (Photo
- 2)
In 1854, more than 22,000 horses pulled public vehicles, historical
accounts show. A team of horses could haul a Long Island Rail Road street
train 10 miles between Manhattan and Jamaica in less than an hour,
according to the book "Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898."
And when horse-drawn carriages became affordable, thousands of city
dwellers became horse owners. The proliferation of horses became a
problem, since when a horse died, there was no place to put a carcass that
could weigh as much as 1,200 pounds. So, they rotted in the street until
decay rendered them easier to cart away, according to the article "The
Horse and the Urban Environment." (Photo
- 3)
Cobblestone streets could be slick and collisions with carriages or
other horses were common in the 19th century. When a horse broke a bone,
it was almost always euthanized, records show. In 1860, the New York
Police Department formed its first traffic-related unit, "The Broadway
Squad." Its mission was to escort pedestrians across dangerous streets.
For anyone following the current effort to ban carriages, consider
this: A century ago, cars were banned from Manhattan because they
frightened horses, according to "Gotham." It wasn't until the end of World
War I that horses were rapidly replaced by automobiles, and eventually
relegated to use by a few cops and tourist carriages. (Photo
- 4)
(Photo - 5)
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.
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