CHEAP RENT IN TIMES SQUARE: The Beginning of Broadway

How we got Broadway is a fun story. Let’s go back to the beginning, right around 1903. But first, a quick quiz to test your Broadway knowledge. And we mean Broadway, the actual street. 

1. The famous part of Broadway runs through NYC’s Theater District. But how long is Broadway in its entirety? 

A. 7 miles
B. 1 mile 
C. 13 miles 
D. 30 miles 

2. Broadway traverses two New York City boroughs. Which are they? 

We’ll give you the answers at the bottom of the blog. 

So back to the turn of the century, 1903. The five boroughs had only existed as the city of New York for five years. The subway system was a year away from being up and running. Population growth accelerated. Andrew Carnegie was the BMOC, setting the pace for the Titans of Industry and positioning New York as the most powerful city in the world.  

The arts scene, centralized around Madison Square Garden and Union Station, found itself in a bit of a real estate squeeze as prices rose. Looking for cheaper properties, producers headed uptown at the turn of the century—which, then, was mostly family homes and farms. Definitely not the Midtown Manhattan landscape we know today. 

During 1903, several almost unbelievable things happened. First, the Hudson Theatre opened on West 44th Street for producer Henry P. Harris,

presenting Cousin Kate with *the* Ethel Barrymore (great-aunt of Drew). A few days later, the New Amsterdam Theatre opened on West 42nd Street with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, although the theater will forever be remembered as the home of Ziegfeld Follies from 1913-1927.  

In 1912, Henry P. Harris booked an unfortunate passage on the RMS Titanic, and there his story concluded, sparing him from having to compete with Ziegfeld Follies. 

Third—yes, we are still in 1903—producer Daniel Frohman built the Lyceum Theatre on West 45th Street. And while you may not recognize the title of the first play mounted there, The Proud Prince, everyone recognizes the Lyceum as the home of the hottest ticket currently on Broadway, Oh, Mary! 

These three OG Broadway theaters—the Hudson, Lyceum, and New Amsterdam—remain at their original addresses, today part of New York’s Theater District Olympus. 

 

Although the Hudson had to work as an adult cinema, business conference center, and location for Comedy Central stand-up specials during periods of its life,

it returned as a fabulously renovated Broadway theater in 2017. The first production was Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The Hudson Theatre, then, owns the unique distinction of being both the oldest and newest Broadway theater.  

The New Amsterdam hit hard times during the Great Depression, closing as a live theater and reopening as a cinema for the next sixty years. But! In swoops Disney Theatrical Productions in 1995 with a 49-year lease. They spent two years renovating, then opened with the Broadway premiere of The Lion King. 

And the Lyceum? Well, it managed to stay open as a theater all this time, retaining the original Beaux Arts façade, making it the oldest continuously operating theater on Broadway. 

Yet, that’s not all 1903 had up its sleeves for the creation of Broadway as we know it. The first electric-light-blub-powered marquee fired up that year, causing a rush of electric signage up and down the street. These bright lights illuminating Broadway earned the street the nickname “The Great White Way.” 

With electricity, brand new top-of-the-line theaters, and a New York City bubbling with wealth, industry, and immigration, the Broadway scene became a thing. Over the next decade and into the 1920s Golden Age, Broadway would see 200 shows open in a year across more than 100 theaters. Times Square grew up around this flush theater economy and extraordinary creative output.   

What’s important and extremely cool about this made-from-scratch tale of our beloved Broadway is that everything you’ll see on the 2026-2027 Peace Broadway season traces right back to Times Square, 1903. Each show is part of a heritage deeply tied into unique aspects American history and culture. “From New York to Greenville” is literal, with every production’s roots reaching back to these plucky and fortuitous beginnings. 

Broadway is more than just “a show.” It’s a part of us. 

 

 

Be part of Broadway’s ongoing history with a season subscription to Peace Broadway 2026-2027. 

Well, well, well. Look who scrolled down to find the answers to the Broadway questions.😉 Did you get them right? 

1. C 

2. Manhattan and the Bronx