From the category archives:

Inwood History

A Band of Gypsies

Today northern Manhattan is home to thousands of gypsy cabs, but step back a century in time and you would find a sleepy little farming community inhabited by, among others, real life European gypsies.
As early as 1887, according to a New York Times article, Mr. J. Hood Wright allowed a full blown Romany encampment to [...]

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Inwood During the Great Depression

One of the most important if not enduring images of the Great Depression is Dorothea Lange’s haunting portrait of a migrant worker cradling her two young children. Her eyes tell a personal story of quiet desperation, while the photo itself serves as a tragic commentary on a country in the throes of economic [...]

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MyInwood Memories: Coal and Soap

Frequent MyInwood contributer Herb Maruska grew up in Inwood. His memories of post World War II Inwood are as detailed as they are fascinating.
This time around Herb takes us into the kitchens, basement and furnace of his childhood home located in 157-159 Vermilyea. He calls this piece “Coal and Soap.”
Thanks Herb for this peek into [...]

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Sherman Avenue in 1906

Back in 1906 the elevated IRT train (today’s one train) first reached Inwood. With it came the first true housing boom the neighborhood had ever seen. Seemingly overnight apartment buildings sprang up east of Broadway to house working class folks lured uptown by an affordable, and suddenly accessible, part of Manhattan. Below is a 1906 [...]

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Bickford’s: Inwood Memories Wanted

As many regular MyInwood readers know, I love collecting oral histories and old photos of the neighborhood. A while back I put out a call for for memories on the old Inwood Lanes and the response was overwhelming. Within days readers sent in photos of the pro-shop and so much more. [...]

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Paterno’s Castle

Detail from Paterno Castle. Once located in Washington Heights.

In the late 1800’s Northern Manhattan was still very much a wilderness of farmland dotted with occasional country inns and taverns, but that rural tranquility would end with the industrial age. The clean air and remoteness of the area soon attracted newly minted millionaires who created splendid monuments to their own wealth. [...]

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CKG Billings Estate

Billings Mansion, Inwood, New York, 1910

We’ve seen photos documenting the splendor of old Northern Manhattan. Breath-taking mansions of a grander time, now gone except for a forgotten arch or lost driveway meandering around a city park. That these architectural wonders were photographed at all is remarkable.
But to step inside one of these homes, to see the art, [...]

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Inwood’s Mount Olympus: The Seaman Mansion in 1869

Old Seaman Mansion in Inwood New York City

A while back I wrote a history of the old Seaman mansion that once stood on the grounds currently occupied by Park Terrace Gardens. Today the only trace of the Seaman estate is the crumbling marble arch located down the hill on Broadway.
The following description from 1869 finds the home occupied by its original [...]

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