Broadway

Summary
This lesson introduces students to Broadway.

Objectives
• To be able to list the history of Broadway.

• To be able to describe what Broadway refers to.

• To be able to describe what vaudeville entertainment is.

Suggested Grades
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade

Excerpt
As its name implies, Broadway is a wide avenue in New York City. It runs the full length of Manhattan, and it also extends into the Bronx. It is the oldest thoroughfare in the city that runs north to south.

Broadway was originally known as the Wickquasgeck Trail. Native Americans carved the trail into the brush. This trail originally ran through the rocks and swaps that ran the length of Manhattan. The first mention of this trail was in a journal entry made by David de Vries in the year 1642.

The most famous stretch of Broadway today is near Times Square in midtown Manhattan. In the 1960s and 1970s, this section was New York?s Red Light District. Since the 1980s, this section has become better known as a family tourist center and is home to many of the Broadway theatres.

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