Back in 1906 the elevated IRT train (today’s one train) first reached Inwood. With it came the first true housing boom the neighborhood had ever seen. Seemingly overnight apartment buildings sprang up east of Broadway to house working class folks lured uptown by an affordable, and suddenly accessible, part of Manhattan. Below is a 1906 real estate ad for just such a building.
Using an inflation calculator, $32.50 in 1906 would equal about $770.00 in today’s economy. But of course, even in 1906 prices were known to fluctuate. By November of that year the owners shaved $2.50 off the asking price for a top of the line apartment.
And while I’m not sure who would have qualified as a “desirable tenant” in 1906, with a free month of rent and no mention of a broker’s fee, I’m guessing it was a renter’s market.
I lived at 172 Sherman Ave. moved in 1958 to Trenton, N.J. All Irish back then. I miss the old hood.
I live in inwood From 1977 and know 2016. I have 3 children that were born inwood and 2 grand child too. I came from the Bronx in 1977.