HISTORY & MYSTERIES
By any measure, the New Croton Dam is an engineering marvel. For 14 years (from 1892 to 1906) 1,500 men used more than 500 pieces of heavy machinery, 745,000 barrels of cement, 100,000 tons of coal and an incalculable quantity of locally quarried stone to build the dam. How did they do it? These images … Continue reading New Croton Dam Construction Plan, 1898
This is a detail of the Croton area from the map The Route of the New Aqueduct from Central Park to Croton Dam . . . prepared by the Aqueduct Commission in 1884. The route of the new aqueduct tunnel is the dark straight line, running diagonally across the bottom from Croton Dam. One of … Continue reading New Croton Aqueduct Map, 1884
Post card of the Introduction of the Croton Water float in the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration parade in New York City.
Will's Cigarettes card of the New Croton Dam. (ca. 1902-1917) Another card from the same company is here.
An informative graphic from the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, October 7, 1911.
A detail from Watson's New Map of New-York and Adjacent Cities. Published by Gaylord Watson, 16 Beekman St., 1874. Another detail showing the distributing reservoir at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue (where the New York Public Library is today) is below. The entire map is available online at David Rumsey.
A detail from an early New York City regional transit map, made between 1887 and the 1890s. What's particularly interesting about this map is that it shows the "Quaker Bridge Dam," one of the possible locations for what became the New Croton Dam. In the late 19th century, when New York City was rapidly outgrowing … Continue reading Croton Area in an Early NYC Transit Map, 1887-1890s
Detail from the Town of Cortlandt map from Atlas of New York and vicinity ... by F.W. Beers, published by Beers, Ellis & Soule, New York, 1868. The entire atlas is available online at David Rumsey.
The Croton Reservoir was opened in 1842 as the distribution reservoir for the Croton water system. The reservoir covered four acres and could hold 20,000,000 gallons of water. It was constructed in an Egyptian style which, in common with other civic buildings, made explicit reference to great civilizations of the past and suggested that New … Continue reading Croton Reservoir, 1879
"New York from Latting Observatory" by William Wellstood, 1855. This spectacular view of lower Manhattan in 1855 shows the Croton Reservoir and Crystal Palace on what is now the site of the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. Across the street from the reservoir was Croton Cottage, a tavern that served ice cream and … Continue reading Croton Reservoir, 1855
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