The History of Herald Square: From Newspaper Headquarters to Retail Corridor
Herald Square is today known for many things. There’s the flagship Macy’s department store and the pedestrianized part of Broadway that extends to Times Square. And it serves as an epicenter of the retail corridor that now runs from 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue. Some may remember the song, “Give My Regards to Broadway,” from the George M. Cohan musical “Little Johnny Jones”with the iconic line, “Remember me to Herald Square.” But written in 1904, “Give My Regards to Broadway” references a very different Herald Square than the one we’re familiar with today.
Herald Square Elevated Rail
Herald Square had its beginnings in 1846, when the city acquired the area for the extension of Bloomingdale Road, now Broadway. Its name comes from an architecturally distinctive building that once sat at the intersection of Broadway and Sixth Avenue: The New York Herald Building. Newspaper Row had traditionally been located downtown in lower Manhattan on Park Row, where heavy hitters like The New York Times, New York Tribune, and The New York World were all headquartered.
As a demonstration of how important Newspaper Row was, The New York World Building was the first building in New York City to surpass the height of Trinity Church, and it held the title for the world’s tallest building from 1890 to 1894. The domed building was unfortunately demolished in 1955 to accommodate the Brooklyn Bridge access ramp expansion.
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