Check Out 19th Century Crowds Swarming a New Department Store

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The Museum of the City of New York recently released a trove of historic photographs on its website. Above, hundreds of people mass outside the opening of the Siegel Cooper Co. department store in 1896. The store stood on Sixth Avenue between W. 18th and W. 19th Streets in the Flatiron District—although it wouldn't have been called that at the time, since the Flatiron building wasn't completed until six years later.

The website is more than worthy of an hour or two of your time, but New York nostalgia nerds in a hurry can get the best restaurant-related images from Eater NY, or head to Curbed NY for the real estate version.
· The Museum of the City of New York Collection Portal [Official Site via Kottke]
· Old Images of New York Dining Released Online [Eater NY]
· Huge Archive of Photos of Old New York Now Available Online [Curbed NY]