riverside drive

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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Where Cobwebs Thrive on Manhattan Isle

Libby Castle

When New York Tribune reporter Eleanor Booth Simmons explored the hills of Inwood and Washington Heights in 1921 she discovered a quaint country community rapidly being swallowed by the big city. In this article she gives us a guided tour of the still standing homes of once rich and powerful families including Nathan Straus, James [...]

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Inwood in Aviation History

Pilot Glenn Curtiss

On December 17, 1903 Orville Wright took to the skies above the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Orville and his brother Wilbur conducted their experimental flight tests in total secrecy.  While obsessed with flight, the Brothers Wright were more concerned with securing their patents. The Wright brothers had true cause for concern.  Fast [...]

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Inwood Street Names

Broadway Street sign in Inwood, New York.

Academy Street Named aptly for the first school in Inwood. Dedicated in 1858, Ward School 52 was also known as “MacKean’s Folly” for the school commissioner who ordered the three story structure built in the then sparsely populated area.

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