5. Wartime Service

Poster by Guy Lipscombe. From Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons

During the First World War, the British government had a military recruiting station in 280 Broadway for expat Brits and Canadians in the United States. To assist with these efforts, the British created a recruiting poster directing volunteers to the building.

Another wartime poster noted that the building was also home to the Emergency Fund Committee of the Navy Relief Society, which aided families of American sailors killed in the war. Not to be outdone by the British or the Navy, the US Army also had a recruiting station in 280 Broadway, though we haven’t found any Army posters referencing the building.