The Main Street-125th Street Harlem

A capital of African American cultural life since the early 20th century.

Harlem’s most important commercial street, the epicentre of Harlem, 25th Street is a melange of Culture, entertainment, architecture and rich history. It runs east-west from the Hudson River to the East River on the island of Manhattan. 125th Street is one of 15 broad crosstown streets that fall approximately every 10 blocks along the tilted north-south axis of Manhattan Island

1811

Streets platted

1826

Erie Canal begun

1837

New York and Harlem Railroad opened

1870

Harlem Hall opened

1875

Underground railway station built

1884

Mount Morris bank built

1889

Harlem Opera House opened

1903

Sheffield Pure Milk Bottling Plant opened

1904

NYPL 125th St. branch opened

1912

Hotel Theresa Built

1914

New Burlesque Theater opened (later Apollo Theater)

125th Street, Harlem

History

The inauguration of the Erie Canal in 1825 made New York the country’s most important port city along global trade routes. Work on the canal was left incomplete, but its start formed what would become 125th Street.

Harlem was a 200-year-old village, first settled as an outpost on the Indian frontier as a line of defense for the city of New Amsterdam growing at the southern tip of Manhattan.

It became an entertainment center for which several notable buildings were constructed. Harlem Hall opened on East 125th and the Harlem Opera House opened at 207 West 125th, seating 1,800 audience members. Hammerstein opened a second theater on 125th Street—the Columbus Theatre.

Designed by architect George Keister, the New Burlesque theatre, later Apollo Theatre, opened at 253 West 125th which operated first as a Black vaudeville house and later as stage for the country’s most famous Black musicians and entertainers.

Later, Harlem received a new station constructed below ground at 125th Street, spawning the street’s commercial development. 

Left to Right: Apollo Theatre, Columbus Theatre, RKO Proctors, Harlem Opera House

125th Street - Two Centuries of Change

Growth of Black Harlem

James Weldon Johnson, “Negro Harlem 1925” and “Negro Harlem 1930.”

In 1910, 9% of Central harlem population was African American. By 1920, the percentage had risen to 32%, and it reached 70% in 1930.

After World War 1, the 'Great Migration' of the African Americans in the took place. These people sought higher wages and equality in the North.

But, Many white families feared the inundation of blacks into their communities and believed these people would instantly depress real estate values.This restricted the single property owner from selling to African Americans. Thus, the emigrating blacks were forced to move to the working-class lower income neighborhood of Harlem.

Strike protesting high rent in Harlem, September 1919 (International Film Service. 1919

There were plans to make 125st a sprawling, developed commercial hub of Harlem. As African Americans moved into Harlem, real-estate values dropped. In addition to this, the National Housing Act of 1935 meant to hinder the sudden growth of mortgage defaults and make housing more affordable, had the reverse effect on minority communities. Black majority neighbors such as Harlem were declared ineligible for mortgage loans. 

A 1924 parade by the Universal Negro Improvement Association on Lenox Avenue, Harlem (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. 1924)

Stagnant real-estate values and the lack of financial resources led to stunted commercial growth, and little economic development in Harlem. The Great Depression brought economic challenges to Harlem. Economic decline and a rise in crime and drug use rose the area. Yet 125 th  Street still remained to be the identity of African American New Yorkers, representing their accomplishments and challenges.

Important Landmarks

Map of cultural institutions, Urban Design Lab


Main Street Shoppers

The 1940 broadside flyer in the New-York Historical Society’s collections stated, “125th Street, Harlem’s principal shopping center, ranks with the best retail streets in the city.”

Shop in 125th St. Stores with Confidence! Broadside, SY1941 no. 75. Cover. Digital item 86022d. New-York Historical Society.

The committee worked towards solving issues on the streets. there was a representation from church and women’s groups, bankers and the local chamber of commerce, and the city council who ensured good treatment to customers, selling at fair rates and indiscrimination in hiring.

Shoppers were assured, “On 125th Street you can get anything from a good fur coat, living room suite, a high grade radio, a diamond ring . . . right down to a paper of pins. Why ride downtown for what you can get practically at your front door?”

125th St. West from Third Avenue, undated. PR-65, Stereograph File, Box 38, 0408-0001. New-York Historical Society.

In a couple of years, however, complaints by Harlem housewives and calls for boycotts of unfair merchants returned. In the summer of 1943, there were riots taking place and many of these stores suffered damage and looting. 

Left to Right: 207-211 West 125th Street, 1956. PR-20, Geographic File, Box 36, Folder 23., Beauty shop sign, Harlem, 125th Street, 2010. PR-311, Raymond Germann Photograph Collection, Box 1, Folder 4. , Southeast corner, 125th Street and Eighth Avenue [Frederick Douglass Blvd.], 1975. PR-20, Geographic File, Box 36, Folder 23., Southeast corner, 125th Street and Eighth Avenue [Frederick Douglass Blvd.], 1975. PR-20, Geographic File, Box 36, Folder 23., New-York Historical Society

There are no systematic records kept of things like what a store occupied at a given time, especially as most shopkeepers are renters and not owners of their buildings.

Shop in 125th St. Stores with Confidence! Broadside, SY1941 no. 75. Interior. Digital item 86022d. New-York Historical Society

Controversies relating to 125th Street still existed. Despite all these events, complaints about poor treatment of local customers by shop proprietors continued. As the storefronts closed and went into decline, debate began about what new stores would come in to a revitalized retail district.

Digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996

In 1934, blacks were fighting for the right to work not outside, but inside, and their victory marked a turning point in Harlem history. Louis Blumstein, in 1894, opened a store and died in 1920 and in 1921 his family demolished the store for a five-story building, the biggest thing on 125th Street after the Hotel Theresa, at Seventh Avenue. When Blumstein's rebuilt its store, blacks were occupying larger areas of Central Harlem. In the late 20's black religious and civic leaders began pointing out that the 125th Street merchants hired only or mostly whites, and in 1929 Blumstein's did hire its first blacks -- as elevator operators and porters.

In 1932, one leader, J. Dalman Steele, called for a boycott of such companies, but in vein.

Blumstein Dept store, New York Pictures

The New York Age newspaper backed this movement; noting that 75 percent of Blumstein's sales were to blacks but that it refused to hire black clerks or cashiers, it called for a boycott of Harlem's most important store.

According to The Amsterdam News, in 1943 Blumstein's had the first black Santa Claus, was the first to use black models and mannequins and successfully appealed to cosmetic manufacturers to produce make-up for non-white skin tones. For years its mechanical black Santa Claus was a Christmas fixture on 125th Street.

References:

125th Street, Harlem

James Weldon Johnson, “Negro Harlem 1925” and “Negro Harlem 1930.”

Strike protesting high rent in Harlem, September 1919 (International Film Service. 1919

A 1924 parade by the Universal Negro Improvement Association on Lenox Avenue, Harlem (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. 1924)

Map of cultural institutions, Urban Design Lab

Shop in 125th St. Stores with Confidence! Broadside, SY1941 no. 75. Cover. Digital item 86022d. New-York Historical Society.

125th St. West from Third Avenue, undated. PR-65, Stereograph File, Box 38, 0408-0001. New-York Historical Society.

Shop in 125th St. Stores with Confidence! Broadside, SY1941 no. 75. Interior. Digital item 86022d. New-York Historical Society

Digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996

Blumstein Dept store, New York Pictures