baker field

Wonderland

Wonderland in Inwood.

Shortly after the turn of the century a small group of investors, led by real estate “wheeler-dealer” Andrew J. Cobe, made a land grab in northern Manhattan.  Their vision—a sprawling thirty-one acre amusement park to be built on the current site of Columbia University’s Baker Field. Cobe was a shameless self-promoter who had been kicked [...]

Read the full article →

Late 19th Century Inwood- Part III

William Calver

Much of what we know today about the history and pre-history of  Inwood and Washington Heights is due largely to the turn of the century work of amateur historians, self taught archaeologists and close friends William Calver  and Reginald Bolton. Starting in the 1880′s Bolton and Calver began exploring northern Manhattan with picks and shovels, [...]

Read the full article →

Moment of Zen

Cows grazing in Inwood, New York in 1883 photo

This 1883 photograph shows cows grazing on the site of the present day Baker Field along the Spuyten Duyvil.  In the far background (photo left) is Inwood Hill and the Palisades.  To the right of the cows is the foundry of the old Johnson Iron Works.  Construction on the  Henry Hudson Bridge was still decades [...]

Read the full article →

Columbia in Inwood

The Columbia University

Baker Field, the Columbia boathouse and the giant aqua-marine “C” painted on the rock wall of the Spuyten Duyvil…all are neighborhood landmarks and part of the social fabric that make Inwood so special. But how did Columbia University, with its main campus over 100 blocks away, wind up with a sprawling sporting complex in Inwood?

Read the full article →