Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I need to edit my reply #3282: I should have written “Van Cortlandt Park Ave. West”, not “Sedgwick Avenue”.
In the second picture entitled “Filling the swamp. Bway south of Van Cortlandt Park” there is a house partially hidden by the elevated station. To its left and to the right of the billboards is 242nd Street. Under the box shaped support suspended under the station, one block up, can be seen a car. Just to the right of that car is the location of 4652 Spuyten Duyvil Pkwy that was to be constructed in 1923. My parents, sister and I moved there in June of 1937. Further up that road would be the future home of Manhattan College. Just above the cab of the dump truck can be seen the repair barns for the subway cars.
I think that the view noted as “Inland Swamp. Bway & 240th st. New York City” might be a view looking eastward toward the N.Y. Central railroad tracks and Sedgwick Avenue, not westward. There appears to be a street to the right of the dike that would have been Putnam Avenue East that was lost to the construction of the Major Deegan Highway as were the railroad tracks. I could be wrong…
Judging from the photograph of the rear of Old Bridge Tavern, there must be about 35 feet of fill to the surface of Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The tavern itself lost two lower levels and then there must have been an additional 15 feet to the top of the creek. And then the creek must have been about 10 feet deep in the middle, I’m guessing. That is a lot of fill, spanning the distance from 230th Street to St.Stephen’s Methodist Episcopal Church, south of 228th Street. Wikipedia states that excavated material from the construction of Grand Central Terminal was used as fill. Additional excavated material was also transported to Croton-on-Hudson, 40 miles up-river to construct a station there.
The U-Haul building appears to be situated on the filled-in Creek. I wonder how deep the footings are for that building!I don’t know anything about the Old Bridge Tavern, but your description of its location doesn’t jibe with Google Maps that shows the playground being bordered by 230th street, Kingsbridge Ave., 228th street and the apartment buildings. Perhaps you meant the northeast corner of 228th street and Kingsbridge Ave, or the southeast corner of 230th street and Kingsbridge Ave.
It amazes me that any part of the filled-in Spuyten Duyvil Creek could be a good foundation for multi-story buildings.
