#sapolio

Remastered poster with SAPOLIO advertisement

We’re traveling to New York City this #TransitTuesday to share an early 20th century photograph from the Warren Street express station, located at the intersection of Warren and Greenwich in Lower Manhattan. The station, which was built on February 14, 1870 and closed on June 11, 1940, served the now demolished IRT Ninth Avenue Line in the New York City Subway System.

This photograph was captured in 1910 for the New York City advertising agency Ward and Gow, in order to document their work. Ward and Gow is credited as one of the first firms to systematize advertising in the New York subway and elevated marketplace. Founded in 1899 by William Gow and Artemas Ward, a former ad manager for Enoch Morgan’s Sons Sapolio soap, the company worked as a syndicate of contractors in ten cities, selling streetcar advertising space at a standardized rate and terms. Ward & Gow attracted clients with the promise that they could place advertisements for national brands in thousands of streetcars and transit stations in cities nationwide with just a single contract. Ward & Gow’s business also grew to encompass monopoly control over vending machines and newsstands on elevated railway and subway platforms in New York City, as well as booking agent services for performers in the tourist destinations of Brighton Beach and Coney Island, where they also operated concession stands. The partnership was later dissolved in 1907 under poor terms, and Ward & Gow became Artemas Ward, Incorporated.