Would they have believed you?

Interesting pic from Shorpy recently:

That's a street view looking East from basically the intersection of Cortlandt Street and West Street in New York City in 1908. Pretty cool seeing the old street cars and the restaurants and shops with people going about their daily chores.

What makes this picture even more interesting to me is that you won't find Cortlandt Street in New York any more. All these shops are gone now. The Hotel is long gone and even the street itself was done away with.

You see, the intersection of Cortlandt and West also coincides with 115 West Street.

Ground Zero.

This photograph was taken essentially from the base of where the World Trade Center Towers would one day stand, almost 100 years before the towers were brought down on 9/11. Makes me wonder, when I look at closer views of the old picture:

Imagine walking up to these Gentlemen as they leave the Hotel and starting up a conversation: 

"Almost a century from now, there will be two buildings here in this spot over 1300 feet tall filled with people working in their offices. One morning a group of religious zealots who hate the United States will steal a couple of 300,000 lb flying machines and crash them into those buildings killing almost 3000 people."