As this photo reminds us, neighborhoods in Queens such as Woodside were much greener than early 20th century Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn.

Dense development, the lack of vegetation, and the unequal distribution of parks across the city left some neighborhoods with few shade trees. New York's Tree Planting Association reported that in the fifteen years following consolidation (1898), the city lost 200,000 trees due to urban development, restricted space and light, crowded root systems, hazardous pollution, and physical damage inflicted by automobiles, carriages, and horses. The Times lamented that this left swaths of residential areas two to five square miles “almost wholly without trees.”

New Yorkers have long sought shade in parks like this one on Eastern Parkway.

Felix Adler, professor and social reformer, wrote of his youth in the 19th-century city: “I can remember, how keenly, as a boy, I delighted in the mere sight of a few shade trees, with their faint suggestion of woods and fields, and how tolerable, on hot summer days, they seemed to make the ugly streets in this city in which they stood.”

An important part of the local ecosystem, trees provide shade, evaporative cooling, and temperature regulation. Vegetated landscapes remain cooler during the day and cool off faster than landscapes dominated by brick, stone, and concrete. Places where “natural” features dominate, like parks, function as “urban cool islands.”

Flatbush residents mourned the loss of Argyle Road's shade trees, shown freshly cut here in 1953.

Caption via Brooklyn Public Library: "Neighbors felt cut down--Argyle Road residents were stunned when workmen [in foreground] yesterday cut down four huge shade trees alongside site of addition to Public School 139 [located at 330 Rugby Road] at corner of Cortelyou Road. They insist city promised a year ago the trees would remain. One, a consulting engineer, figured cost of removal at $800. 'A ridiculous waste of taxpayers money and a handsome, tree-lined street is ruined in the bargain,' he said."

Shade and water provide a cool oasis in midtown Manhattan on a hot summer day.

Proponents of tree planting promised that more trees would bring environmental improvements and greater comfort. Trees created, in the words of Dr. Stephen E. Smith of the city’s Board of Health, “permanent climatic conditions favorable for the habitation of man” that might “render the city comfortable to its summer residents.”

Tree planting on Arbor Day was an investment that provided relief in future summers. New York State first celebrated Arbor Day in 1888. By the early 20th century, the holiday had became popular among tree-planting associations and public schools.

In June 1966, the New York Times described city streets as “a perfect place to flee from yesterday as the temperature climbed to 90 degrees on the first really hot day of the season.” One woman told a reporter, “If you’re in the city there’s only one thing to do on a day like today. Just sit under a tree.”

As far back as the 1870s, the press warned citizens about the potential health risks of direct sun exposure. Harper’s Weekly cautioned New Yorkers against overexposure in 1873, writing “If you must go out in the blazing sunshine, do not be afraid to carry an umbrella.” Likewise, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper advised in 1882, “when the sun is too generous with its caloric...to find immunity from sunstroke and kindred evils, one should avoid excessive indulgence in ice-water, use an umbrella or other extra protection for the heat when exposed to the direct rays of the sun.”

New Yorkers have long sought shade on city streets, in parks, and at the beach. The use of shade equipment, such as umbrellas, was particularly important when it came to a day at the beach. In 1880, the New York Times reported, “The bathers were engaged in their sports in the water all day long...little boys and girls shed their shoes and stockings and paddled along the beach, apparently insensible to the heat, while their parents strode along by their side...carrying huge umbrellas.” In the heatwave of 1905, record-breaking crowds of over 300,000 people visited Coney Island. It was so hot that one woman lacking shade was overcome by the heat on the beach, according to reporters.