USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 37
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The old Tippett house stood on the eastern side of the neck in a grove of locust trees. During the Revolution, the Tippetts were loy- alists and in consequence lost their property by confiscation. It was sold to Samuel Berrien, who had married Dorcas, a daughter of George Tippett; another daughter was the wife of the celebrated James De Lancey, sheriff of the county and leader of the Westchester Light Horse. Though the Berriens were good Whigs, their home, as well as that of Tippett, was a resort for the loyalists, owing to the protec- tion offered by the forest above, whose officers could not have found duty upon the neck very irksome with several pleasant houses in the neighborhood to visit. In 1852 the old Berrien tract was composed of three farms. These were sold to three gentlemen of Troy, New York, who had the property surveyed and laid out as a village. It was at first called Fort Independence, under the impression that the fort had been located on the crest of the hill; but later, the name was changed to Spuyten Duyvil, after the creek. A foundry was estab- lished at the base of the bluff, which has expanded as the years have gone by into an extensive plant which has for a number of years sup- plied modern and improved projectiles for the guns of the United States Navy. There has thus grown up near the foundry a small village to accommodate the hands who work in the Johnson mill, and it is here that stores and postoffice are located. From the point upon which the mill stands, to the opposite shore of the creek on Manhattan, there stood in Revolutionary times a pontoon bridge connecting the posts and fortifications of the two sides of the creek. It was also upon the Cock Hill on Manhattan that there was to be found the spouting spring which is supposed to have given its name to the locality.
Upon the higher part of the neck the section is residential, and there are many beautiful houses and pieces of property. The ridge ends in a bold, rocky bluff, from which is obtained a beautiful view. At the feet of the observer is the winding creek entering the broad Hudson, which here, by contrast, appears as a lake; across the river towers the per- pendicular frontage of the Palisades; while across the creek is the gently rising and heavily-wooded dome of Cox's Hill on Manhattan. To the southward and eastward, Marble Hill rises with its residences, and at its foot is the western entrance to the Ship Canal; while still
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further away our view extends to the heights of Fordham with the great buildings of the Catholic Orphan Asylum and of the New York University outlined against the sky; still further away are those en- gineering triumphs, High Bridge and Washington Bridge. When moon- light spreads its glamour over the scene even the ugly railroad bridge at the mouth of the creek is beautiful. On the morning of October 22, 1609, the "Half-Moon" left her anchorage at Teller's Point near the mouth of the Croton River and made twenty-one miles to the southward during the day ; but encountering head winds and tides she was obliged to anchor in the afternoon off the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil.
In 1909 occurred the three hundredth anniversary of Hudson's ex- plorations, and the city celebrated with numerous civic and military displays. It occurred to Mr. Nuschenheim, proprietor of the Astor Hotel, who had fixed his home at Spuyten Duyvil, that a statue of Hudson on the point opposite the scene of the anchorage of the "Half- Moon" would be an appropriate memorial, and he succeeded in inter- esting four other gentlemen to go in with him as a committee, and lists for subscription were opened with such success that nearly $100,- 000 were pledged. The monument is in the form of a hollow shaft one hundred feet in height, the base surmounted by a sixteen-foot statue of the explorer. Walter Cook was the designer of the monument, and Karl Bitter the sculptor of the statue. The point of the neck upon which the monument stands is two hundred feet above the river, so that the gallery at the top of the shaft is three hundred feet high. A superb view is obtained at this point, access to which is obtained by a winding flight of stairs within the shaft.
In connection with the tercentenary of Hudson's discovery it was planned to have a memorial bridge span the waters of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, connecting Cock Hill with Spuyten Duyvil Neck, at a sufficient height to be clear of interference with navigation, and to connect the Boulevard Lafayette with Spuyten Duyvil Parkway. Though plans were in sufficient time to allow of the construction of the bridge by 1909, they did not meet with the approval of the Municipal Art Com- mission and other bodies. The road of travel east from the Spuyten Duyvil Station of the railroad meant formerly the crossing the New York Central tracks three times, once on a bridge over a deep cut in the solid rock, and twice within a few yards at grade, these last having been very dangerous crossings. It was near these crossings that there occurred on January 13, 1881, a dreadful railroad accident in which thirteen persons were killed, among them Senator Wagner, the inventor of the sleeping coach and parlor-car which bears his name. There were thirteen coaches on the wrecked train, and this combination of "thir- teen" confirmed the credulous in their belief in the old superstition.
HOUSEBOAT COLONY AT 207TH STREET AND THE HARLEM RIVER
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It was to get rid of this dangerous passage through Kingsbridge that the railroad changed its route to the Ship Canal in February, 1906. The Hudson, off the mouth of the creek, was the scene of an earlier accident on July 28, 1852, when the river boat "Henry Clay" was burned, and seventy persons, mostly women and children, lost their lives either by fire or drowning.
Riverdale Avenue is a fine road leading to the top of the hill to the ground just passed over, and another road is the ancient Dash's Lane, along the base of the hill on a level with Tippett's Brook, till it joins the ancient post road at Mosholu, west of Van Cortlandt Park. A third choice of route is by keeping east over Tippett's Brook and so through the village of Kingsbridge. From the mouth of the brook eastward to the ancient bridge, Spuyten Duyvil Creek has been filled in.
Kingsbridge is a straggling village and the road was formerly lined with boathouses, feed-stores, etc. On October 26, 1903, a disastrous fire destroyed many of these buildings. The fire was started presum- ably by the rockets set off during a political torchlight procession pre- vious to the election of that year. Church Street passes north over the rocky core of the former island of Paparinemo and joins Broadway nearly a mile above. After passing the old bridge or near its site the traveler is on the Boston Road of 1673, though this has been graded from its former level. Nearby is the large stone mansion formerly oc- cupied by Joseph Godwin. Previous to his occupancy of it it had been the home of Mrs. Mary C. P. Macomb, the wife of Robert Macomb, whose ventures were no more successful than those of his father. Mrs. Macomb acquired the Paparinemo tract about 1830. It is believed that there was incorporated within the mansion the ancient stone tavern which was maintained by both Verveelen and the Philipses in accord- ance with their grants. If so, that would make one of the oldest relics, as it would date from 1669. Mrs. Macomb enlarged and modernized the old tavern, which became noted for its hospitality as her private home. Edgar Allan Poe was a frequent visitor, as his home in Fordham was a little more than a mile away.
In 1847 Mrs. Macomb had her property surveyed and cut up into building lots ; and the village of Kingsbridge had its beginning. Under the Broadway Bridge is the "wading place" of olden times. The bar in the middle of the stream was visible at low tide, and it was built up by Mr. Godwin, who erected a summer house upon it; it was known for many years in consequence as "Godwin's Island." Passing up Broadway the stroller comes to the flat meadowland through which Tippett's Brook finds its tortuous way. Overhead the elevated portion of the subway rattles on to its terminus at West 242d Street abreast of Van Cortlandt Park. On the right of the station are the Van Cort-
Bronx-21
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landt mansion and the lake. Just south of the mansion, a road connects the opposite sides of the valley; this is the old Albany Post Road. On the right as we go farther up Broadway is Van Cortlandt Park; and on the left are the hamlet of Mosholu and the heights of Riverdale, a rough broken country, full of short, knobby hills, separated by deep ravines and gullies. A part of the old Albany Road lies to the west of Broadway, a continuation of Dash's Lane. Upon the rocky heights to the west the remnant of the band of Stockbridge Indians found hiding places from their pursuers.
Instead of going up Broadway the stroller may cross to the eastern side of the valley by the ancient causeway (Macomb Street), over the construction of which Verveelen and Archer had a row; or he may cross to the station of the Putnam Railroad over Depot Street, and follow the Albany Road to the park, or the Boston Road to the top of the hill to Sedgwick Avenue and the new Jerome Park reservoir. The reservoir lies in the former townships of Kingsbridge and West Farms (Fordham), and occupies the site of the Jerome Park race- track. Work upon the reservoir began in August, 1895, and the con- tract called for its completion in August, 1902. The reservoir was to consist of two basins capable of holding two billions of gallons and covering with water two hundred and twelve acres out of the three hundred and nine bought by the city, thus making it the largest dis- tributing reservoir in the world. The western basin, holding 773,000,- 000 gallons, was finished in October, 1905. The millions of cubic yards of materials removed by excavation have been used in filling the valley of Cromwell's Creek and the meadows at Westchester, the refuse hav- ing been carried by rail across Bronx Park to the neighborhood of Westchester Creek and The Bronx and Pelham Bay Parkway. The reservoir is almost within a stone's throw of Fort Independence and Fort Number Five; so that when the excavations began the workmen turned up with their tools several cannon-balls, bayonets, swords, but- tons, and other military relics, one man throwing out a shovelful of earth which gave up an English sovereign. All through this section from time to time similar relics have been unearthed, including several skeletons, one of which by means of the regimental buttons and shreds of uniform that remained, was identified as that of a British officer.
Three years before the breaking out of the Revolutionary War Cap- tain Richard Montgomery purchased a farm of seventy-five acres lying north of the Boston Road. He had been an officer in the British army, but, despairing of advancement, resigned his commission and came to America, "where my pride and my poverty would be much more at their ease," as he himself declared, and where he could follow the pur- suit of farming. In 1773 he married Janet Livingston, the daughter of
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the lord of Livingston Manor and sister of the later celebrated Chancel- lor Livingston. The young Irishman threw in his lot with the patriots, and as a member of the Provincial Congress was selected with others to examine the Kingsbridge neighborhood with a view to its defensi- bility. Fort Independence was afterwards located on his farm by Colonel Rufus Putnam, the American engineer officer who first planned the defences of Fort Washington and its vicinity. Montgomery was appointed a brigadier-general by the Continental Congress, and a major- general after his capture of Montreal. Had all the appointments of former British officers been as wise as that of Montgomery we should not have had the record of the combined arrogance and inefficiency of Lee, Gates, Conway and others of like stamp. Montgomery had been with Wolfe in his memorable attack on Quebec, and it was probably on account of his knowledge of its approaches and defences that he was selected under Schuyler to command the American expedition against it. When he kissed his young wife good-bye at the home of General Schuyler near Saratoga, on his way to Ticonderoga, he said to her: "You shall never blush for your Montgomery." He led the forlorn rem- nant of his command at the assault on the citadel, and the large sign upon the precipice of Cape Diamond, below the fortress, "Here Mont- gomery fell, December 31, 1775," shows that he kept the pledge. The news of his gallantry and death called forth the praise of Burke, Fox, Barre, and others in the British Parliament, until Lord North was moved to exclaim : "Curse on his virtues; he has undone his country."
Among the papers found by Arnold in Montgomery's quarters at Quebec after his death was his will, by which he left the Kingsbridge farm to his sister Sarah, Viscountess Ranelagh. The Montgomery house on Fort Independence Street is known to the inhabitants of the vicinity, but there is doubt as to its genuineness. Edsall, the historian of Kingsbridge, states that the original house was burned and com- pletely destroyed by the British during the Revolution, while W. O. Giles, who bought the property many years ago, and erected his own house within the ramparts of Fort Independence, declared that it was the original Montgomery house, and called attention to the fact that its beams are of hewn oak, in most cases, a sure sign of antiquity.
The old and the new Croton aqueducts pass through the former town- ship and the Catskill aqueduct does likewise. In 1869 a portion of the Van Cortlandt estate, lying between Fort Independence and Van Cort- landt lake, was bought and laid out by the purchaser in building lots. The tract was called "Oloff Park," after Oloff Stevensen Van Cort- landt, the first of the name in the New World, and the ancestor of the Van Cortlandt families. Oloff Park, which contained about one hun- dred acres, has nearly all disappeared within the park and the reser-
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voir. Nearly all the rest of the former township is taken up by the public park and by Woodlawn Cemetery. In the northeast corner is the village of Woodlawn Heights; and in the southeast corner there is a small strip lying along the Glen Hill Road, between the cemetery and the Fordham Manor line, upon which are situated the athletic field and track belonging to Columbia University. Just east of it, but within the cemetery, is the old redoubt thrown up by the orders of General Heath in 1776. Inwood, Cedar Knolls, and Mount St. Vincent are in- cluded in this section.
In West Farms-The manor of Fordham never constituted a town- ship by itself, having first been incorporated in the township of West- chester by the act of 1788, and later, within the township of West Farms when it was formed in 1846. It lies moreover so close to Kings- bridge that it is difficult sometimes to differentiate in describing the two. On the Harlem River Fordham extends as far south as High- bridge, and on the Bronx it lies between West Farms and Williams- bridge. Within this area there grew up a number of villages, Fordham, South Fordham, Tremont, East Tremont; Belmont, South Belmont, Mount Hope, Mount Eden, Monterey, Fordham Heights, Jerome Park, and Williamsbridge. The Harlem Railroad traverses it to its northeast corner, and the Central Railroad passes along its western boundary, the Harlem River. Several trolley lines radiate from its dif- ferent bridges. From Kingsbridge the stroller may gain the top of the Fordham ridge by means of the Boston Road, which passed through the manor for the greater part of its length to Williamsbridge, or he may take Bailey Avenue running parallel to the railroad tracks, and ascend to Sedgwick Avenue by means of the Highbridge Road or by means of Bailey Avenue itself to Fordham Cemetery. Under the edge of Tetard's Hill, probably on the line of Bailey Avenue, is the site of the ancient village of Fordham. Along the ridge the traveler crosses the Kingsbridge Road, leading to Westchester by way of the Bronx- dale and the Bear Swamp. A short distance east of Sedgwick Avenue, and between it and Jerome Avenue, is the old Dutch Church of Ford- ham.
Fordham Cross Road comes down to the Harlem River through a break or valley; at the river is Fordham or Berrien's Landing, an old stopping place for boats plying on the river. The ridge south of Ford- ham Road has lately got the name of University Heights, owing to the presence of the New York University. Burnside Avenue winds its way down the steep hill towards the Harlem into Cedar Avenue, a continuation of Sedgwick Avenue on the lower level. Here is the Morris Heights station of the Central and Putnam railroads; and on the river bank a plant for the building of naphtha yachts and launches.
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From this point southward to Washington Bridge the ridge was for- merly occupied by a succession of fine residences and estates, many of which found their way into the hands of the real estate broker. There were no railroads in those days but access was had to this vicinity by private conveyance and by the boats that used to ply the Harlem River and connect at Harlem Bridge with the fast boats running to Peck Slip by way of the East River. The neighborhood of Highbridge is called Highbridgeville, though it extends along Devoe's Neck as far as Central Bridge. In the days of the river steamers Highbridge was a favorite resort, and hotels and restaurants did well. The view from the bridge on a moonlight night was a beautiful one-to see the river stretching away in both directions and glittering in the moonlight while the streets and avenues of northern Manhattan were marked out by the rows of glimmering gas lamps, reaching away for miles, to the upper end of Central Park and 110th Street, with few houses to break their continuity. Scattered through the manor were several public parks, St. James, Washington Bridge, Fordham, University, Poe, Echo, and the larger part of Bronx Park. South of the grounds of Fordham Uni- versity was formerly situated the farm of the Rev. William Powell, rector of St. Peter's, Westchester, from 1830 to 1849. South of the Powell farm, upon land formerly belonging to Jacob Lorillard, is sit- uated what was known before annexation as the village of Belmont; it took its name from that of the estate. To the east of Belmont were the Lorillard and Lydig estates, both of which were taken by the city for Bronx Park. The former contained the snuff mills of the Lorillards and the latter the dams and mill-ponds of the De Lancey mills, as well as the mills themselves.
In the northwest corner of Fordham Manor is the former village of Williamsbridge, though the name is more generally applied to the former village of Olinville on the east of The Bronx. There was a bridge here over the Bronx in early times, probably in 1670, when Governor Lovelace directed that Betts and Tippett should first assist in building the "causey" at Fordham before being assisted in their turn by Verveelen and Archer in building a bridge across the Bronx River. After the establishment of the post to Boston before 1660 the main- tenance of the bridge over the stream became necessary. In pre-Revo- lutionary days, the farm adjacent to the bridge was owned by John Williams, and so the bridge became popularly known by his name. The present iron structure occupies approximately the same site as former bridges. Gun Hill is an eminence to the west of the river now occupied by a distributing reservoir.
Seventy years or so ago Mount Hope was all country fields and from Tremont to West Farms it was all farm land. To the north, near 178th
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Street and Third Avenue, is Oakley Grove, one of the oldest landmarks of The Bronx. Miles Oakley, from whom the place derives its name, was a vestryman in St. Peter's Church, Westchester, in 1702, becom- ing in 1730 the second Mayor of Westchester. Following up Fordham Road, which is a continuation of Third Avenue, a short distance brings the traveler to the Old Quarry Road. It ascended Mount Hope Hill diagonally, taking a turn to the northwest, and lastly climbing the justly named "Snake Hill," reached Macomb's Road almost in front of Mount Fordham.
The original patent of West Farms comprised the territory between the Fordham line on the north, the Bronx River on the east, the Sound on the south, and Bungay Creek and Morrisania on the west. In 1846 it was made into a township, being formed from Westchester and in- cluding Morrisania and Fordham. Morrisania was taken from West Farms in 1856 and formed into a separate township. The intersection of Westchester Avenue and the Southern Boulevard was called Fox's Corners, and it is locally known as such. It received its name from William Fox, a wealthy Quaker merchant of New York, who married into the Leggett family and thus became possessed of the property, some of which continued to be owned by his descendants, the Tiffany family. South of the Corners, the Hunt's Point Road leads down to the East River. The point was a part of the West Farms patent of 1668, and received its name from Thomas Hunt, a son-in-law of Edward Jessup. The Indian name of the neck was Quinnahung; and it is also spoken of in the early deeds and grants as the "Great planting field, or neck." It lies between the Bronx River and the Sackwrahung Creek, which Lewis Morris says in a deed of 1740 to his father-in-law, James Graham, is falsely so-called but which should be called Wigwam Brook. But there was a strip of land here, called the "debateable land," in dis- pute between Morris and the heirs of the West Farms patentees, and that Morris would naturally not admit the slightest thing that would be of advantage to the other side. The more westerly portion of Plant- ing Neck came into possession of Gabriel Leggett in 1679, through his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of John Richardson, one of the original pat- entees ; this is the part known as Barretto's Point. Thomas Hunt and John Richardson both had houses on the point; for in a contract be- tween them of August 12, 1669, for the division of the cornfield neck, the houses are mentioned. As late as 1906 the point retained its rural character, with several houses of a couple of generations earlier still standing. At the end of the point there are many hundred feet of docks. Nearby is the mouth of the Bronx River, with the low shores of Cor- nell's Neck on the opposite side, and beyond that over the East River, the high hills of Long Island; to the southward lie Leggett's Point,
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Port Morris, the Brother Islands and Riker's Island. Near the old cemetery a road to the left takes us to Barretto's Point, which received its name from Francis Barretto, a merchant of New York, who settled there many years ago, and who represented Westchester County in the Assembly for several terms. The point was called Waddington's Point at the time of Mr. Barretto's purchase. The large stone man- sion and the estate of Mr. Barretto were called "Blythe Place ;" the man- sion was burned down years ago, and the remains of the house have been removed until the top of the foundations is even with the ground. On the neck there is located the old burying-ground of the slaves be- longing to the Hunt and Leggett families, and also an old oak upon which, according to tradition, the British used to hang the Whig foragers and spies who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Lafayette Avenue leads toward the southwest to Morrisania, and com- memorates the fact, so it is said, that General Lafayette passed over the lane on his way to Boston when he visited the United States in 1824. In a deed of May 3, 1804, mention is made of "Bocket's cot," or "land- ing place," on Barretto's Point, and it is also mentioned in later deeds. It is supposed the term "cot" used here means "cave."
Between Barretto's Point and Port Morris is Oak Point, until 1905 a pleasure resort for the residents of the borough who liked the kind of pleasure to be obtained there. It was formerly known as Leggett's Point, it being within the debateable land already referred to. The old tree-lined lane which used to lead to the point has disappeared, and its place has been taken by Leggett Avenue, an important thoroughfare for trucking purposes. In colonial days the point was called Jeaffard's Neck. The property between Bound and Wigwam brooks was granted by Judge Morris to his father-in-law, James Graham, Attorney-Gen- eral of the province, on April 2, 1740; Mr. Graham died there in his house on Jeaffard's Neck in 1767. The Leggett family retained pos- session of the property, which was called Rose Bank, until near the middle of the last century, when it was bought by Benjamin Whitlock, a well-to-do grocer of New York, who was also interested in the cotton business. The old Leggett mansion was completely renovated, a prom- inent feature being the subterranean vaults and cellars for the storage of wine. It is said that the house was almost rebuilt of stone imported from Caen, France. In the days before the Civil War, the mansion was the scene of a lavish hospitality, and the generation of bons vivants were frequent guests at its generous board. With the Civil War and the downfall of slavery, cotton ceased to be king, and the place was closed by its impoverished owner and given over to nature. The dilapi- dated appearance of the house, and the tangled masses of weeds in the extensive grounds which had been planted with fine trees and plants
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