Inwood History

A Kangaroo on Dyckman Street

Kangaroo on Dyckman Street

In the Fall of 1909 the battleship Wisconsin sat anchored off of Tubby Hook on the Hudson River preparing for a tour at sea.  On-board was the ship’s mascot, a Kangaroo named Jim Jeffries. In a bizarre event, which certainly captured my imagination, several sailors, or “bluejackets,” took the kangaroo ashore only to have him [...]

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215th Street Stairs

215th Street stairs in Inwood, New York City

Generations of Inwood residents have trudged up and down the familiar stairs which connect Broadway with Park Terrace East. The steps themselves have stood frozen in time as the surrounding neighborhood reached maturity. The stairs are a familiar sight to anyone who has ever passed through Inwood. The ancient passageway was built in an era [...]

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The Undiscovered Country: Northern Manhattan in 1904

Seaman Drake Arch in 1904

In 1904 Inwood’s first modern apartment building appeared on the corner of Dyckman and Broadway (then still referred to by many as the Kingsbridge road). The erection of the Solano and Monida Apartments should have have served as warning that the agrarian lifestyle residents had known for so many generations was  nearing an end.  So [...]

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1943 “Inwood Chatter” Advertisements: Now and Then

Inwood Chatter, 1943.

Not long ago I posted the contents of a June, 1943 issue of the “Inwood Chatter,” essentially a scrapbook put together by local schoolchildren and sponsored by local businesses. While the topic of children living under the cloud of war is a fascinating topic, my attention eventually turned to the advertisement section at the back [...]

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A Civil War Veteran and His Inwood Truck Farm

Inwood Truck Farm post

Imagine yourself a soldier returning from the Civil War. Disoriented. Jobless. Before that bloody War Between the States you had been a farmer.  A New York City farmer at that! But Manhattan had changed much in your absence. You simply couldn’t plant a potato patch wherever you pleased anymore. Gone were the wide-open farms and [...]

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William H. Hurst House

Photo detail of a window on the old William Hurst house in Inwood, New York.

530 West 215th Street at Park Terrace East Many people, some who’ve lived in the neighborhood for years, often ask me, “What’s the deal with the beautiful bricked up building next door to the Northeast Academy School?” Well, here’s the deal: If the  architecture looks institutional in style,  it should.  Built by architect James O’Connor [...]

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Old Real Estate Ads from Inwood and Surrounding Area

Inwood real estate ads from ages past

Below are a collection of real estate advertisements from ages past.  As both a real estate agent and fan of Inwood history, I found the below images fascinating.  If you’ve lived in any of these building and have stories to share, please feel free to comment in the space below the image box.

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An Amphitheatre in Inwood Hill?

Open Air Theater for Inwood Hill Park

Since the 1880’s various ideas have been floated for how best to use the space we now know as Inwood Hill Park.  From a World’s Fair that never took place to an ambitious plot to build a Coney Island style amusement park called Wonderland, developers, speculators and entertainment promoters long had their eye on the [...]

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