Reminiscences from the end of the horse era in New York City (1952)

[js2]

I watched Naked City (1948) the other night and there's a scene with a milkman delivering from a horse drawn carriage. I wondered, how long did horse-drawn carriages continue to be used in NYC (not including the carriage rides in Central Park)? Which led me to this lovely article.

I submitted it a day or two ago; I guess the HN mods thought it worthy of the second chance pool[1]. Thank you HN mods! :-)

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/pool

[thorin]

Strangely the rag and bone man and the brewery deliveries still used horses when I was a kid, late 1970s UK! I think the brewery used the carthorses as a kind of advertisement for the beer, but it was still very weird. I'm sure milk carts were still horsedrawn into the 1960s in the UK in some cases although I'm not sure where I got that from.

[nyc111]

What is “pool”, I don’t have such a link on my orange band.

[ggm]

A comment my mother made, from her experiences as a child in the UK in the 1920s was that if London hadn't moved to mechanical transport, the city would have drowned in horse-shit if the population rise continued. It was a nightly obligation to deal with the prodigious amounts of horse manure, every day, without fail.

I might add that many fine multi-million pound houses now exist inside the horse stables, the "mews" of London. They're a feature of many films in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

[teleforce]

In one of the pictures of the horse drawn fire engine similar to the one that I saw in one of the The Return of Sherlock Holmes episodes namely "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" indicated the year 1905 in the old photograph with Koch Bros company building at the background. This seems to be rather improbable (in Holmes' unique voice) since Koch Bros company founder will only be five years old at the time according to Wikipedia, unless Koch senior has already had a business before his son or it's totally different company altogether. Fun facts, this particular episode was based on the short story publication around the same time as indicated in the old photograph or 1903 to be exact.

[dieselgate]

Roads in Salt Lake City need to be wide enough so someone operating a horse carriage can turn around "without cursing" - from what I've heard while in the area.

[raffraffraff]

Mormons don't curse anyways, unless you count "shut the front door", "cheese and rice", "mother father" and "Got down sat on a bench"

[flanbiscuit]

I was visiting Charleston South Carolina recently and in the old quarter they have horses taking around tourists on carriages (like little mini horse drawn open air buses). The smell of horse piss and manure in the area was gross and very strong (this was summer). I can't imagine what it would be like to have that many horses in NYC as the main mode of transportation. The smell back then must have been awful. I get everyone just put up with it.

[pharmakom]

There will come a time when people say similar things about motor traffic in cities. So noisy! I can taste the fumes! How did people put up with this?

[ljf]

Don't forget that there was also no deodorant for the humans back then, I think it is easy to forget just how bad cities in general must have smelt back then. Plus coal fires, people smoking, people washing their bodies and their clothes irregularly.

(my father tells a story of how in the 50s he only had one work shirt and 10 removable collars - he'd wear the same shirt for 2 weeks just changing the collar daily)

[yMEyUyNE1]

We get used to the smell and stink (environment). Ever realized that the person who walks into the room notices a smell that the people in the room aren't even aware off.

[jvm___]

They couldn't clear dead horses until Sunday as the roads were too busy and crowded...

[bobsmooth]

Car exhaust smells better than horse droppings. Couldn't imagine living in the age of horses.

[thorin]

Potentially, but it has a lot more health impacts!

[fsckboy]

(1952)? these reminiscences are of the end of the horse era back at the turn of the century (1900)

[omneity]

It seems to be written in 1952, reminiscing what it was like around 1900.

[devb]

The first line of the article is "My memories are of New York around 1899 — when I was just a boy of seven."

[zubairq]

wonderful read!

[082349872349872]

Will AI keep a few of us around as pasture decorations?

("now, now, Mr. 9872, if you keep hitting up the replicator like that you're bound to get founder!")

[linksnapzz]

It'll also have 90% of the males castrated to make them more tractable.

[kouru225]

As long as humans are capable of producing more than we consume, AI will keep us around.

[syndacks]

Unfortunately NYC is still in a horse era with these beasts strapped to carriages towing tourists around Central Park, smelling like a fucking barn, kicking hay filled shit particles in the air on a hot summer day, just so the slob of a horse pimp can make a buck? TheFuckOuttaHere!!

[bozhark]

Who hurt you and why was it a horse

[shiroiuma]

I'd prefer not to see horses used this way too, but I think the pollution and danger from all the cars and buses is much, much worse. They should ban the private cars, and force the taxis and buses to be EVs, and install protected cycling lanes to get more people onto bicycles.

[lgkk]

Those carriages could lose the horse and become fully autonomous and electric.

Waymo could run those, you can book them and it’s just a carriage that is motorized.

[paleface]

Presumably, you’re more of a donkey (ass) man?!…