Dyckman

Relic Hunting in Northern Manhattan

Reginald Pelham Bolton

“I chanced to visit an old inn near Fort George some years ago and I noticed a human skull that the proprietor kept among the bottles above his bar.  The man told me he had unearthed it, together with several swords and cannon balls, in his yard.  I offered to buy it, not caring much [...]

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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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Down and Out on a Dyckman Street Barge

Texas Guinan

“Today, Isobel and Margaret have only memories, but with ambition undimmed.  They exist in poverty on a discarded and rotting river barge.  It wouldn’t even float were it not jammed in the mud of stagnant Sherman Creek, near the Dyckman Street landing in New York.” (San Jose News, August 8, 1928)   As the summer [...]

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The Arras Inn

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In 1928 pulp fiction author Vina Delmar burst onto the publishing scene with “Bad Girl,” a shocking and scandalous exploration of pre-marital sex and pregnancy. At the time of its publication “Bad Girl” was considered so racy it was banned in parts of the country. The petite 23-year-old with porcelain skin and lustrous black hair [...]

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A Grain Field in City Limits: Inwood, 1895

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A GRAIN FIELD IN CITY LIMITS NEW YORK HERALD July 14, 1895 It Waves at 211th Street Awaiting the Reaper and Is Manhattan’s Last IS ON HISTORICAL GROUND That Part of the Island Was Devastated by Two Armies in the Time of Washington POINTS OF INTEREST NEAR BY “RIPE and awaiting the scythe of the [...]

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Isham Hill in 1913

Inwood, New York City in 1913

Since launching MyInwood.net I’ve read thousands of century-old news accounts regarding all things Inwood, but the following article, written in 1916, is one of my favorites. The account contains so many elements from my little corner of the neighborhood—The Seaman Estate, Isham Park, the still-standing Hurst house on Park Terrace East and 215th and the [...]

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Inwood Stay at Home Vacation: Suggestions from 1912

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This holiday season, like many of my Inwood neighbors, I chose to remain home when I would really rather have been sunning myself on just about any faraway sandy beach.  So, instead of climbing the walls, I took several walks in a convenient oasis just several blocks away—Inwood Hill Park. The brisk hikes reminded me [...]

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