In a film class I learned director Billy Wilder was inspired by this short Edison clip to produce the iconic uplifting dress scene in The Seven Year Itch. But there are several deeper aspects of this film which makes this seemingly innocuous film more fascinating than at first glance.
1901 was the dawn of the automobile. The first really big oil strike happened a six months earlier near Beaumont, Texas, which signaled a plentiful, cheap form of energy to power the emerging horseless carriage. Up to this point, petroleum was competing with steam and electric (batteries) to be the main source of power for the autos. 1901 marked the beginning of the dominance of the internal combustion gasoline engine. Yet you don't see one automobile on the busy New York street, just wagons being hauled by horses as well as an occasional electrical trolley.
Another fascinating fact is the United States was experiencing one of its hottest summers on record. The cities in the Northeast were especially hit hard from mid-June until early August. Hundreds of New Yorkers lost their lives from heat exposure. In this pre-air conditioning era, people were sleeping on rooftops and streets to escape the brutal heat building up inside their apartments. Yet, presumably this clip was shot that summer, and the attire for both men and women were full-length clothing. How they could survive in such apparel is truly remarkable. Maybe the symbolism behind the uplifted dress was the producer's way of suggesting that a more practical form of dress with lighter, less formal clothing should be worn when the summer heat turned brutal.
Lastly, in July 1901 the Edison Manufacturing Company had won a federal court case again the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, which ruled the later was infringing on certain patients. The verdict gave Edison complete control of both film cameras/projectors and movies, which hamstrung the industry since Edison's company had to approve each film--or it couldn't be shown. Consequently, simple "actualities" like this 23rd Street could only be produced since the Edison studio wasn't exactly known for cutting-edge narratives and film techniques until the court wisely overturned the ruling in early March, 1902.