Northern Manhattan

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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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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Inwood’s Long Forgotten Springs and Wells

Thumbnail image for Inwood’s Long Forgotten Springs and Wells

Today, when a New Yorker wants a glass of water, feels like a shower or needs to wash the dishes; the act is as easy as turning on a tap.  But, before the turn of the twentieth century such simple tasks took a bit more effort—especially in the then undeveloped land of northern Manhattan, where [...]

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A Band of Gypsies

Gypsy

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 [...]

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