USA > New York > Bronx County > History of Bronx borough, city of New York : compiled for the North side news > Part 12
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From here towards the Sound, the winding lane crossed the present Southern Boulevard, ending near the oldl Arnold Man- sion. I have heard that there was a Revolutionary house at this place, possibly the Leggett Mansion. At any rate, they have ali
HEL-
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HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
vanished now. "Arnold's Point," afterwards Oak Point, that well known resort for bathers and excursionists, now forms the busy freight yards of the New Haven Railroad Company.
Another stately edifice has not survived the general destruc- tion. This is the immense Whitlock or Casanova Mansion, which rose like a sentinel above the surrounding regions. B. M. Whit- lock, its former owner, carried on an extensive trade with the
as if by magie, only to close again in the same manner. A lady who had been an invited guest at this chateau told me that one Sunday morning Mrs. Whitlock wished to drive with her to church. They did not go, for out of the fifty-six horses on the estate, the servants were using every one of the carriage horses for their own purposes!
Just before the Civil War an entire regiment from Georgi
Site of Old Revolutionary Cave
Southern States, and selected this spot, then an ideal one. for a country residence. A magnificent forest surrounded it. and only the top of the great central dome was visible above the trees.
Many wonderful stories have been told to me about this palatial abode. Three years it was in building, being completed about 1859, some of the elaborate decorations having been im-
Casanova Mansion
warted from France. Solid gold knobs were on the massive itout doors. Long drives wound through the grounds. As a carriage approached the immense gates, the horses would step on some hidden spring, and suddenly the gates would fly open
was entertained at his mansion by Mr. Whitlock, the men en- camped in tents on the lawn, and the officers having possession of the spare rooms in the house. With the Rebellion, we learn that financial distress came to the family and Mr. Whitlock was obliged to 'sell his beautiful residence, which passed into the hands of a distinguished Cuban, Senor Casanova, and the place was styled "Castello de Casanova."
Through the courtesy of the owners I made a tour of in- spection through the old house, taking an entire afternoon for exploration. The great front doors were thrown open for us to enter, and we read at our feet in inlaid tiling the legend, "SOYEZ LE BIENVENU," and were confronted on all sides by the most beautiful polished white marble. Perhaps the most charming apartment of all was the "Louis XVI Room," a dazzling blaze of blue. white and gold. Or was the finest room the one built under the great dome at the top, evidently intended for a ball room, but resembling a chapel, in that it is lit by the most jewel- like stained glass windows? Another apartment, also highly unique, was the room in which the great safe stands. We only discovered it by accident, as it is lighted by oval panels, that closely resemble wood, until we entered through a secret doorway and found they were of opaque glass,
Much doubt has been cast upon these underground cham- bers, and I could scarcely believe they were there myself uns I wandered through them, almost tumbling into the well that (1: ttently supplied the house with drinking water. At every point we met some strange and novel sight. The extravaganty of amelled door knobs that we found lying on the floor were inde i jewels in themselves. We rang bells that sounded far away in
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HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
the lower part of the house. No servant responded, however, for the one resident was outside and did not keep any "help." So, whoever wanted to be surrounded by luxury, by everything that taste can desire or money can buy-all in the past tense, should have paid a visit to this magnificent Casanova Mansion.
The old Westchester Turnpike branched from Third Ave- nue (Boston Post Road) at 150th Street, and wended its way to the Village of Westchester. Purdy's grocery store, for so many years a landmark of the entire section, which stood at the corner, has yielded its place to one of our great department stores. After crossing what was formerly Mill Brook, the road passes on the right hand the remains of the extensive Janes & Kirtland's iron foundry, which in its day wrought many famous pieces of iron for different parts of the country. Examples of the work follow: The iron work for the dome of the Capitol at Washington, and it is said that when this order was secured. so large was the undertaking that the firm moved its factory to the then wilderness of Westchester County, in 1858, where it erected a large brick edifice, 3.300 feet square; they also did work for the Treasury Department, the General Post Office at Wash- ington and the Patent Office; also the iron railing on the old Brooklyn Bridge approaches, the iron bridge across the lake in Central Park, which was cast in ten-ton pieces. China, South America, Cuba, Hawaii, Mexico and Haiti claim mythological pieces, dogs, deers and lions, all cast by this firm. The immense fountain for the City of Savannah, considered one of the most notable examples of ironwork in America, was also their work. which in later years gave up the manufacture of ornamental and architectural pieces. It may be stated here that the dome of the Capitol at Washington weighed 10,000,000 pounds, and took three years to manufacture.
Reaching St. Ann's Avenue, if we go about a mile south ward, we come to St. Ann's Church, a Gothic structure built by Gouver- neur Morris the second, and containing in its burial plot the grave of his father. The church itself. we learn, has a memorial to the memory of Mrs. Gouverneur Morris, who was a lineal representative of the illustrious Pocahontas, of Virginia. The little branch road running from Port Morris to the Harleni Division at Melrose, is, for some reason or other, styled the l'ocahontas Branch.
But speak not of this as an obscure freight railroad. We read that it once boasted of four passenger trains a day to and from Port Morris. Over this line the passengers of the "Great Eastern" were brought to New York City. at the time of the first arrival of the vessel at our shores, her captain having chosen the course down Long Island Sound instead of coming up New York Bay. Finally he feared passing through the dreaded mael- strom of Hell Gate, and brought his huge craft at last to anchor in the deep waters off Port Morris.
Following St. An's Avenue northerly from Westchester Avenue, we come to a tiny burying ground, almost bisected in years past by the change of direction of St. Ann's Avenue. This was Old Bensonia Cemetery, or as the old deeds phrase it. the "Morrisania Cemetery at Bensonia." Once a beautifully kept rural graveyard, it is now in a hardly conceivable state of deso- lation, only eight of the many trees remaining that once were its pride.
A mysterious fact is related in connection with this little enclosure. I have been told that when A. T. Stewart's body was stolen from its resting place, it was buried for several days in the quiet seclusion of little Bensonia Cemetery, where it lay un- noticed while the family received a grim message from the rob- bers in the form of an irregularly shaped piece of cloth, which when compared with that torn from the lining of the coffin, was found to fit exactly.
After a time, when the officers of justice began to follow up the thieves too closely, a notice was sent to the Stewart family. offering to surrender their prey on payment of a certain sum as ransom. The place for the body to be given back was men- tioned, being, as near as I can place it, on the old Pelham Avenue. a short distance east of Bronxdale, one of the loneliest places in the whole region. At midnight a certain relative of the family was to drive to the solitary scene in a covered wagon, which he did, being stopped on the wayside by successive masked senti- nels on horseback, who, seeing that he was alone, directed him to proceed. At midnight he reached the appointed spot. the money he had brought was counted out by the flicker of lanterns. the body placed in the wagon and the young man dispatched on his long and weird homeward drive, reaching his destination just as dawn was breaking over the great city.
I have learned that Bensonia Cemetery has been condemned by the city as a public park, and trust that steps will be imme- diately taken towards this purpose. The name of this section arises from B. L. Benson, who owned considerable land in the vicinity, and lived in the old fashioned house with graceful columns that used to stand at the northwest corner of West- chester Road and Carr (St. Ann's) Avenue.
From here Westchester Road continues its course. once a quiet country turnpike, now a noisy city street, utilized by trolley cars on the surface and by the Rapid Transit trains thundering overhead. An old map gives a toll gate and house a short dis- tance east of Prospect Avenue, on McGraw's Hill, but no traces of this now remain.
Passing by Fox Corners, the road reaches the Bronx River. where a fine bridge has been erected. From here it climbs the hill. passing the beautiful "Wilmont." the former home of the Watson family, and afterwards passing quite close to "Black Rock," which lies imbedded in the marshes.
CHAPTER XXVI
TREMONT AND FORDHAM
Ancient Bathgate Avenue House-Historical Tremont-Jacob Lorillard Residence-Old Stenton Mansion-Old Powell Farm House-Rose Hill Farm House-Fordham Heights Cemetery-Poe Cottage -Duten Reformed Church-Ancient Manor of Fordham
On Randal's Map of the property of Gouverneur Morris is to be found "an old stone house," built at a different angle with the streets and avenues. The map is dated 1816 and shows things quite different from what they are now. This "Old Stone House" stood on the westerly side of Bathgate Avenue, at a strange slant with the avenue itself. A gentleman once told me that when he came to Tremont, half a century ago, this house really looked older than it did a few years ago. The reason of its being erected without regard to the existing streets was because it was built to face the south. Now that Bathgate Avenue has been widened the old stone house is no more.
The former police station, which was perched on top of the rocks, on Bathgate Avenue, just above Tremont Avenue, now the site of the new and highly modern police station, was in old days a school house, and a fine play ground the little Tremonters used to have, as the grounds extended as far west as Washington Avenue.
Old Bathgate Avenue House
Half a century ago, we read, Mount Hope was all country fields, and from Tremont to West Farms it was all farm land. To the north, near 178th Street and Third Avenue, is "Oakley Grove," one of the oldest landmarks in the Bronx. Miles Oakley, from whom the place derives its name, was a vestry- man in St. Peter's Church, Westchester, in 1702, becoming in 1730 the second Mayor of Westchester.
Following up Fordham (Third) Avenue, a short distance brings us to the Old Quarry Road. a small section of which still exists east of Third Avenue, while the remainder, leading slant- wise towards the southwest, crossed the Harlem Railroad at about 179th Street. Thence it ascended Mount Hope llill diag- onally, taking a turn to the northwest, and lastly climbing the justly named "Spake Hill," reached Macomb's Road almost in
front of "Mount Fordham," the late Lewis G. Morris's stately residence.
In the triangle formed by this Quarry Road, the old Fordham Road and Kingsbridge Road, which is now occupied by the mas-
Powell Farm House
sive buildings of the Home for Incurables, still stands the of residence of Jacob Lorillard, which is the present home of the Medical Superintendent of the Home for Incurables. Close by is the site of the celebrated "Oak Tree Stump." to which refer- ence has previously been made.
Stenton Mansion
On Washington Avenue, near Pelham Avenue, stan! : ancient houses, well worthy of description. One is the C : Mansion on the old Stenton Estate, where Washingion an 1 2 ... men once stopped while passing through the Harlem Valley.
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HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
An old barn, close by, where General Washington's horses were stabled, was destroyed by fire about four years ago. Directly north of the Stenton Mansion is the venerable Powell Farm House, now over 100 years old. once the residence of the Rev. William Powell. rector of St. Peter's Church, Westchester. which is regarded as the oldest house in Fordham. Many
Berrian Cemetery, Fordham Heights
wonderful ghost stories concerning this spot have been told me hy a former occupant, while on the kitchen floor is said to be a mysterious blood stain that will not wash out in spite of all attempts. This old abode stands with its back to Washington Avenue, and I have heard that a private road once wound its way down to Kingsbridge Road near the Home for Incurables.
Facing Washington Avenue are the extensive and beautiful grounds of St. John's College, on Rose Hill, said to have been once the residence of the celebrated Motte. On these premises, until about two years ago, stood a very antique house, used as the College Infirmary. It was the Rose Hill Manor Farm House. having been built before 1692. One authority asserts that it was Washington's headquarters, while another states that he so- journed at what now is Nolan's Hotel. Fordham Square. The latest reports inform us that St. John's College is now known as "Fordham University," while the main college building, au ancient stone structure with antique cupola. was the original Rose Hill Manor House itself.
Poz Cottage
I. Rowing Kingsbridge Road to the crest of the hill, we find that Fordham Road turns of happy to the west. A short distance along this latter highway, which was also known as Fordham Landing Road, stands the old Peter Valentine Farm House, now enlarged into the pretty residence of the late John
B. Ilaskin. Crossing the old Croton Aqueduct, beyond Macomb's Road, we come to the much neglected Berrian Ceme- tery, at the corner of Sedgwick Avenue. The cutting through of this last named avenue, together with the widening of Fordham Road, sliced off a good part of the little burying ground. I have been told that part of a coffin was at one time seen projecting from the steep slope. Among the inscriptions we find :
Oliver Cromwell died in 1818.
John Berrien (1. Jan. 30. 1836.
Peter Valentine d. April 22, 1840.
Nicholas Berrien, March 10, 1846.
Samuel Berrian, May 27, 1785.
If we continue directly along Kingsbridge Road. we shall soon pass a tiny cottage on the east side, which from 1846 to 1849 was the abode of that wonderful literary genius, Edgar Allan Poe. Very fitly has it been described as "no more than a little paint box, shingled on the sides as well as on the roof." I have seen one of the original shingles, an immense specimen, hand- »plit and fully three feet long.
Several of Poe's works were written at this Fordham home. "A short distance back of the cottage there is a rocky elevation crowned with cedars and tradition asserts that this was a favorite haunt of Poe's. Here it was that he wove in his brain the ideas which found expression in 'Eureka.' 'Annabel Lee,' 'For Annie." and 'Ulalume,' all of which were written while he lived at Ford- ham. Another favorite resort of his was the Aqueduct pathway. leading from High Bridge to Fordham."
His masterpiece, "The Raven." many statements to the con- trary notwithstanding, was written in an old house on Riverside Drive, near Eighty-fourth Street. On the rocks behind the Ford- hai cottage, overlooking the grounds below, are said to be the remains of a British battery of Revolutionary days.
Here is an interesting reminiscence of Poe: Two ladies came to the Jacob Lorillard Mansion, not so long ago, saying that they used to live there many years since and that Poe came there one evening while the full moon was flooding everything with its majestic beauty, and recited there for the first time his master - piece "The Raven."
One who visited the cottage as a messenger boy, has said : "On my first visit Mes. The was sitting in the sun on the little porch, wrapped in whit appeared to be a counterpane. At my next visit she was on a couch, covered with a man's overcoat. for the weather was chilly and the house was cold. I remember that while I was waiting for I've. his wife coughed and I saw
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HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
him wince at the sound. There i, every reason to believe that in their 'Kingdom by the Sea' both of them were tired and hungry." Another visitor tells us that when she called there Poe had climbed into a tree to pick cherries, and his wife was standing on the ground underneath, to catch the fruit in her apron. "He was a very nice looking young man," she said, . "and very agreeable. His wife had come out into the fresh air, and to dig in the ground and get well. But she was too thin and weak to dig."
In January, 184;, poor Virginia Poe, the beautiful "Annabel Lee," died and was buried from the old Dutch Reformed Church, still standing on the Kingsbridge Road, about half a mile be- yond the cottage. Her remains were first interred in the Valen- tine family vault, and in 18;8 they were removed to Baltimore to be placed beside those of her husband.
"The sunshine and fresh air and isolation and freedom of their Fordham home were as much for her sake as for his own." "The tiny cottage had an air of taste and gentility that must have been lent to it by the very presence of its inmates. So neat, so poor, so unfurnished, and yet so charming a dwelling I never saw !"
The last minister of the Fordham Dutch Reformed Church previous to the Revolution was the Rev. Dom. John Peter Tetard the chaplain to General Montgomery. The original structure was erected in 1706 on the farm of James Valentine, more lately occupied by Moses Devoe. The latter's residence is said to have been the old Dutch Church parsonage. In 1801 a second struc- ture was built, and still later, the present church, the following in- scription on one foundation wall of the second building being preserved in the "new" church :
I. V. S. 1706.
-( 1
while still another inscription is taken from a stone in the Valen- tine house adjoining the site of the old church :
H. M. K., 1704. 1
At the intersection of the Kingsbridge and Fordham Roads, and opposite the former, stood an ancient house with its side to the street. An old resident told me that this was of Revo- lutionary origin, and that in its glory it stood apart, not shut in by the houses that now enclose it on both sides. For many years it was the residence of General Morris. A second old abode, on the opposite side of Kingsbridge Road, and a little further on, stands high in the air, through the grading and widening of Kingsbridge Road on the one side and the opening of Valentine Avenue on the other. It is said to have been built about the same time as the Poe Cottage, and in its rooms lived. as I have been told, one who furnished Poe with the bare necessi- ties of life, thus keeping him from starvation, when everything else failed him.
The Manor of Fordham was at the foot of old Break Neck Hill, just south of Kingsbridge. It lay between the lands of Van der Donek and Bronck, being purchased principally from the In- dians by Jan Arcer, or John Archer, between 1655 and 1671. In 1669 a ferry was located at the growing settlement of Fordham on Spuyten Duyvil Creek. After a while Archer had built up a fine estate of over a thousand acres. A purchase in 1669 made him the sole owner of lands as far south as flighbridge, the con- sideration being : "13 coats of Duffels, one halfe anchor of rume, two cans of brandy-wine, with several other matters to ye value of 60 guilders wampum."
This Colonial settlement of a dozen houses must not be confused with the Fordham of later times, as no traces of its buildings now remain.
N. Y. Central R.R. Bridge 4th Ave.
New York Central Bridge at Park Avenue, over Harlem River
Madison Ave Bridge (138th St.)
Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th Street, over Harlem River
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Second Iron Bridge at Third Avenue, Replaced by New Third Avenue Bridge
New Third Avenue Bridge
CHAPTER XXVII
BRIDGES OF THE BRONX
Bridges Crossing from the Borough of the Bronx to Manhattan Island-Their Various Histories and Points of Interest
It has been suggested that the Harlem River be filled up, thus ceasing to exist, but nevertheless mighty bridges are still being constructed over it, each congested with traffic a few years after completion.
Old King's Bridge, of which mention has already been made, comes first in the list. It was erected in 1693 under a franchise for 99 years, granted tc Frederyck Philipse or Flypsen, to build and maintain a bridge at his own expense and to collect "easy and reasonable tolls." The original bridge was constructed a little to the east of the present one, remaining in the hands of
The railroad bridge at Spuyten Duyvil was authorized in 1846 and is chiefly used by freight trains of the New York Central Railroad. Near this spot the grand Hendrick Hudson Memorial Bridge will soon be built, connecting the heights of Manhattan with those of the Bronx, its driveway forming a continuation of the Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, and overlooked by one of the Bronx's oldest houses, the solidly built "Berrian Farm House, now changed and added to, by a wealthy resident.
Between the King's and Farmers' Bridges stands the New Broadway Bridge, built only a few years ago, and a perfect
Washington Bridge
Philipse's descendants down until after the Revolution, when It was forfeited to the State because of the fact that the family were Loyalists.
Those having occasion to cross this early bridge protested strongly against the payment of tolls, so much so, that another lange was built, which is still in existence near the old Manor "i Fordham. It was erected in 1750, and variously styled the Jammers,' Free, or Dyckman's Bridge. Close to King's Bridge sund an old mill, that made use of the water power to turn il, wheels.
example of its type. Ai Fordham Heights used to be a small foot-bridge, which fell to ruin many years ago. On its site we learn the Broadway Bridge over the Ship Canal is to be located, after being floated down from its present position by a gigantic engineering feat
Next we come to that triumph of mechanical art, the grace- ful Washington Bridge, which words can scarcely describe. Al. most every Bronxite knows it by heart. We may only remark that it was two years in building, being opened to public use in 1889, and that its entire length is 2.375 feet.
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HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
About a quarter of a mile below Washington Bridge, rise the graceful arches of High Bridge, only intended for pedestrians, as between the foot-walk and the arches are three immense water conduits. When completed in 1849, it had only two conduits each three feet in diameter, but about 1863 the side walls of the bridge were raised and a third pipe, seven feet six inches in diameter, was laid above the other two.
This grand bridge, with its fifteen semi-circular arches, is one of the sights of the region, the arches at the crown giving a height of 100 feet above high water. It has a total length of 1,450 feet.
"Various plans were proposed for the aqueduct at this point." some one writes, "and in 1837 a contract was actually let and work started on a rock fill, with an arch at the centre eighty feet wide and thirty high, the intention being to lay the water pipes on top of the embankment and cover them with earth." Luckily the government saw very quickly the error of this plan. which would have effectively barred the Harlem as a navigable
About the year 1813 we learn that Macomb obtained a grant to erect a dam across the Harlem from Bussing's Point, on the southerly side, to Devoe's Point on the Westchester shore, thus practically forming a mill pond from this point to Kingsbridge. There was a stipulation, however, "that it should be so constructed as to allow the passage of boats . . . and that Macomb should always have a person in attendance . . . The rent was the same as for the mill at King's Bridge, and Macomb and his suc- cessors levied toll on all vehicles and persons passing over this bridge."
But were the residents of both sides of the river going to stand this unauthorized toll-bridge? No, indeed! A number of prominent residents, including the Morrises, the Valentines and the Devoes met together and decided that even the opening in the dam did not afford sufficient navigation of the river.
Then a strange thing happened. A vessel laden with a cargo from a neighboring state ascended the river and demanded pass- age through the dam. Lewis G. Morris built a dock about half
High Bridge
stream, and, refusing to allow the continuance of the work, stepped in and caused the erection of the bridge as it now exists. Of course they used a quantity of solid frame, or "false- work" in the construction, and one of the old houses in Morris- sania is built in part out of these very timbers. Between High and Washington Bridges is the spot where the new Crotona Aque- duct crosses after the fashion of a siphon. a fine gatehouse being erected on both sides.
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