In the mid-19th century, the name for St. Nicholas Avenue was: Harlem Lane. Then, as now, Harlem Lane ran north from Central Park, skirting the cliffs of St. Nicholas Park.

The (above) lithograph was published in 1865, showing a stretch of Harlem Lane in a rural, suburban area well north of New York City. [Note that Harlem did not become part of New York City until 1873 when it was amalgamated after a huge economic crash that wiped out nearly 80% of real estate value in Harlem.]

Harlem Lane was (at the time of the lithograph’s printing) an old country road that began as an Indian trail. Its path extended northwesterly from roughly 107th Street between Park and Fifth Avenues to 123rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, where it branched into Kingsbridge Road and Manhattan Street. Although the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 eliminated Harlem Lane, Andrew H. Green decided to maintain and widen both the diagonal route and Manhattan Street in order to provide better access to the river. In 1866 the state legislature gave the Central Park Commission, which he chaired, the authority to incorporate portions of Harlem Lane and the meandering Kingsbridge Road into a new thoroughfare, St. Nicholas Avenue. Following the path of two country roads, the avenue breaks Manhattan’s orthogonal plan as it runs obliquely from the northern border of Central Park and Sixth Avenue to 124th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, where it turns northward and snakes to 155th Street.

A Harlem Wedding

Ebay has a 1930’s photo of family members who attended a large Harlem wedding:

The proud and joyous family are dressed in their finest for the photo, with the groom (centered below) and the bride (to his left):

The Harlem photo studio that took the image had an address on 116th Street:

Here is that location, today: