The almost empty road depicted in this Ben’s Lens is the Roosevelt Boulevard, one of Philadelphia’s now notoriously overcrowded and dangerous thoroughfares. Running through North and Northeast Philadelphia, the road’s name was changed from Northeast Boulevard to Roosevelt Boulevard after the death of Theodore Roosevelt in 1919. A WPA guide to the city described the Boulevard as “a refreshingly verdant parkway” with the four lane center artery separated from the narrower parallel roads “by pleasing strips of shade trees, shrubs, and grass.” One of the city’s official photographers took this photograph in 1926, the same year Roosevelt Boulevard became part of Route 1.

The following people correctly identified the scene:

Lois and Julian Brodsky
Kerry Bryan
Donald H. Cresswell
Will Fox
Steve Harlen
Ron Lieberman
David Long
Andrew Terhune
Glenys A. Waldman