Times Square, New York

Times Square, looking north from the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, about 1996. Date based on event dates in billboard advertisements depicted in the image. Source: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

Photo shows the famous large billboards and skyscrapers in the Times Square area.

Illuminated billboards appeared in New York City since late 19th century. In 1888, illuminated bulletins by the New York Herald, about the presidential election, were projected on a canvas screen on top of the old Flatiron commercial buildings (demolished) at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue.

The 10-story building facing Times Square (1600 Broadway, behind billboards), also known as Studebaker Building, was erected in 1902, when the area was known as Long Acre Square, and demolished in 2004.