Last Updated on April 29, 2025 by Matt Staff
The Five Points neighborhood in Manhattan was infamous for its overcrowding, poverty, and violence; a symbol of how harsh life could be in late 19th-century New York. These 19 gritty photographs from the 1880s to the early 1900s offer a raw look at survival in the slums. From kids playing in alleyways to workers grinding through long days, this was a time and place where even getting by was a struggle.
1. The Five Points Corner in New York City in 1890.
This is a view looking northwest at the Five Points corner of Worth and Baxter Streets. On the corner is the Five Points Clothing Store, advertised as being Cheaper than any clothing house in the city with Sol Feinberg as Merchant Tailor and Proprietor.
2. A man in an apron sits in his tenement room in Mulberry Bend in 1890.
The Danish photographer Jacob Riis, who took this photo, included it in his book, ‘How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York’, which helped raise awareness of the living conditions and ultimately led to the demolition of Mulberry Bend in 1897.
For a deeper look into the real history of New York’s tenements, visit the Tenement Museum .
3. This guy is asking for a sign or something.
Hopefully, someone stopped to help him out.
4. A tough place to get the laundry done.
But, you had to get it done nonetheless.
5. Those alleyways could be dangerous, to say the very least.
You had to be alert at all times.
6. The smirks feel pretty sinister here.
And it’s not entirely surprising.
7. Looks to be a busy day on the block.
The busier the days, the more trouble there was that could be found.
8. Looks like they needed to stop for a quick fuel-up.
It looks to be potatoes, but one can’t be too sure.
9. That police dog doesn’t look like it messes around.
Police dogs are serious business.
10. Those were long shifts.
Their hands must’ve been exhausted from the long, seemingly endless hours.
11. Kids really had to stick together back then.
It was a time marked by the need for survival.
12. Get a load of that hat.
The hat wants to be taken seriously, but it’s still hard.
13. Giving a nightmarish look at the sleeping conditions for kids back then.
Things were anything but easy.
14. It seems like a new sidewalk was being put together every day back then.
Obviously, things have come a long way on this front.
15. A quiet, yet dicey day out there.
You’ve got to be careful around the lad who insists on sitting alone.
16. That kid seems overly enthused about everything.
The fit’s on point.
17. The real question is how long this guy stood out there?
The answer is probably somewhere in the department of “too long.”
18. Notice the three-piece suit, of course.
Many three-piece suits back in the day.
19. The kids living during this time went through all kinds of struggles.
Those childhood years were unkind to far too many children back then…