washington heights

The Building of Modern Inwood

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During the mid to late 1800′s, Inwood was a quiet, pastoral environ with cows crossing dirt roads–in fact there were very few roads to speak of.  Perhaps the old neighborhood might be best summed up in the words of Robert Perkins, who, during the retirement ceremony for the Reverend George Shipman Payson, pastor of the [...]

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Fort George Amusement Park

Fort George Amusement Park in turn of the century Inwood, New York City

In 1895, on the same spot where George Washington and his band of Revolutionaries defended a British assault after the Battle of Brooklyn, a glorious and magnificent amusement park rivaling Coney Island opened near the northeastern end of Manhattan. The Fort George Amusement park was located in what is now Highbridge Park between 190th and [...]

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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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Libbey Castle

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If some imaginative Gotham scribe were to write a tale about the colorful and often bizarre history of New York in the 1800′s he or she couldn’t find a better backdrop than Libbey Castle.   While northern Manhattan would eventually see other monumental estates including the Seaman Mansion, the Billings estate and even another castle [...]

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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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Bickford’s: Inwood Memories Wanted

Bickfords

As many regular MyInwood readers know, I love collecting oral histories and old photos of the neighborhood. A while back I put out a call for for memories on the old Inwood Lanes and the response was overwhelming. Within days readers sent in photos of the pro-shop and so much more. Truly amazing. This time [...]

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Paterno’s Castle

Detail from Paterno Castle. Once located in Washington Heights.

In the late 1800’s Northern Manhattan was still very much a wilderness of farmland dotted with occasional country inns and taverns, but that rural tranquility would end with the industrial age. The clean air and remoteness of the area soon attracted newly minted millionaires who created splendid monuments to their own wealth. For a brief [...]

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CKG Billings Estate

Billings Mansion, Inwood, New York, 1910

We’ve seen photos documenting the splendor of old Northern Manhattan. Breath-taking mansions of a grander time, now gone except for a forgotten arch or lost driveway meandering around a city park. That these architectural wonders were photographed at all is remarkable. But to step inside one of these homes, to see the art, the table [...]

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