The year was 1943 and as mayor for the past 10 years, Fiorello LaGuardia had led New York’s recovery during the Great Depression and served as President Roosevelt’s director of civilian defense during the run-up to the United States joining the Second World War. Leonard Bernstein made his New York Philharmonic debut, Katherine Dunham starred in Tropical Revue at the Martin Beck Theatre, Duke Ellington played Carnegie Hall for the first time and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! opened on Broadway.

Also on Broadway that year was the above billboard for the 92nd Street YMHA at the corner of W. 78th Street. Featuring an image of the Abraham Lincoln sculpture at the Lincoln Memorial, it was in honor of the war effort, as was the adjoining Red Cross billboard for the War Fund. Monument buffs know the statue of a seated Lincoln was done by Daniel Chester French. It was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers of New York City in a studio in the Bronx from 28 blocks of white Georgia marble. The photos below are then and now of the same corner.

Who was at the Y in 1943? Concert recitalists included Jascha Heifetz, Rudolf Serkin and Gregor Piatigorsky. Dance performers included Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham and Doris Humphrey. Read more history on the 92nd Street Y Timeline.