CHAPTER V 



BIG INDUSTRIES 



Where Men and Women Shop — The Facilities Offered by Traction Companies — 



Proposed Improvements. 



]IKE all large cities, The Bronx has its business cen- 

 ters. It is in these shopping districts that property 

 shows the greatest increase in values, pays the best 

 rentals, provides the best investment, and is most in 

 demand. The junction of One Hundred Forty-ninth 

 Street and Third Avenue is, without doubt, the most im- 

 portant district of the most northern borough. Not only is it 

 the transfer point of the West Farms subway and elevated rail- 

 roads, but practically every trolley car operated in The Bronx 

 passes thru this point. It is also the recongized shopping dis- 

 trict of the Borough. Twenty-five years ago lots could be bought 

 here for $6,000; today they bring that much rental per annum. 

 Here are located department stores and other up-to-date business 

 establishments that compare favorably with the largest in Man- 

 hattan, and no less than five first-class playhouses bid for the 

 amusement seekers' patronage in this particular neighborhood. 



Only a few years ago, theater-goers were obliged to ride 

 downtown in order to attend a high-class production. It was 

 generally accepted that no first-class theater could be made to 

 pay in The Bronx. How far this belief was from fact may be 

 judged by the success our theatrical enterprises have achieved. 

 During the last five years more than $3,000,000 have been invested 

 in amusement structures here. There are one hundred and forty- 

 seven amusement places in the Borough, the list including every 

 variety from the home of serious drama to the "nickelet" and open- 

 air playhouse. 



The next busiest center is in Tremont. This upper middle 

 section of the Borough has shown extraordinary development, and 

 there are now in course of construction one hundred and ten build- 

 ings, mainly apartment houses. Tremont Avenue, its main thoro- 



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