Overturned Car, 145th Street St., Lenox Avenue, 1917

This is a photograph of an overturned car, near the 145th Street Bridge ramp at Lenox Avenue in Central Harlem on July 10, 1917.

The 145th Street Bridge, located in New York City, is a four-lane swing bridge that crosses the Harlem River, connecting 145th Street and Lenox Avenue in Manhattan with East 149th Street and River Avenue in the Bronx. It once carried northbound New York State Route 22 and New York State Route 100. Additionally, this bridge, for its proximity to the eponymous avenue, was once named the “Lenox Avenue Bridge,” an original name that has fallen into disuse. The bridge is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.

Construction on the 145th Street Bridge began on April 19, 1901, and the $2.75 million bridge was opened to traffic on August 24, 1905. The designer was Alfred Pancoast Boller.

In an episode of The Jeffersons TV show (The Expectant Father), Lionel and George get drunk and go to paint Lionel’s name on the bridge.

Right in front of the car to the right, someone is pulling up the cobble stones in the street (Eugene de Salignac/Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives).

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