Cool Streets

Death Avenue

Prior to the construction of the High Line’s elevated tracks, the New York Central freight line ran at street level, giving the stretch of Tenth Avenue the dubious nickname of Death Avenue. This corridor earned the moniker due to the consistent, and almost always gruesome, incidence of trains colliding with people along the busy thoroughfare, often resulting in fatalities. Before the trains were eventually elevated, the New York Central Railroad hired men on horseback armed with red flags to ride in front of the trains to signal its arrival. These men came to be known as The West Side Cowboys.