Reply To: 1 Riverdale Avenue

#1412
Peter Ostrander
Participant

    Thanks Alan – great photo new to me.  While it  show 1 Riverdale building , even better it shows both the original Kings Bridge location and the historic plaque.  Spuyten Duyvil creek was filled in from the excavation dirt when they were building Grand Central. So the photo dates from 1911/1912.  The author and Bronx historian Stephen Jenkins tried to save the bridge and have it moved and erected next to the Van Cortlandt mansion unfortunately  he was unsuccessful in his effort for historic preservation.

    The metal bridge over Spuyten Duyvil creek was used from 1899 to 1931.  When the bridge was removed the historic plaque was installed on the Marble Hill Housing apartment at the SW corner of 230th St and Bway on Spetember 24, 1932.  It was lost to most until the Kiingsbridge Historical Society and Dr Tieck ‘rediscovered’ it and had it clearned and reinstalled with a  rededication on June 25, 1955 where the plaque can still be seen today.  KB plaque rededicated 1955

    A good source for the above can be found in the book Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil NYC (the red book) by Rev. Dr. William Tieck.