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🏘️ Croton Local History
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artists such as Van Gogh and Goya—available for free download on their website . Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in
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The first page of Cartwright’s notebook. For the second time in a month we are pleased to have helped the Westchester County Historical Society acquire an important piece of Croton-related history. Last month WCHS purchased an 1804 bible owned by
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Abraham I. Underhill, one of the three Underhill brothers who started the flour mill on the Croton River. Today the organization purchased something that may prove to be more significant—a 22-page notebook kept by surveyor George W. Cartwright when
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he conducted a detailed survey of Van Cortlandt Manor in 1837–1838. 1 Historic Hudson Valley (the organization which manages Van Cortlandt Manor, Philipsburg Manor, Kykuit and other historic sites) has in its collection a Cartwright survey which we
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believe was made from these notes. By comparing the notebook and map we may be able to glean new information about the area, which Cartwright called “Van Cortlandt Manor Farm” in the first entry. Detail of the lower Croton River from Cartwright’s
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survey map, likely based on his 1837–1838 notebook. Van Cortlandt Manor is in the C-shaped area in the top left. The yellow road running diagonally above it is what we know today as South Riverside Avenue. George W. Cartwright was a civil engineer
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whose maps and surveys are a treasure-trove of information about the Croton and Ossining area in the early to mid 1800s. Records show that he made a map of the “Villages of Sing Sing and Sparta” as early as 1820. In the 1820s he also surveyed and
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gauged the entire Croton River and his data—particularly his calculation that twenty million gallons of water a day flowed in the river near Pines Bridge—was later used in planning the Croton Aqueduct. 2 The Westchester County Clerk Historical Maps
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collection has several by Cartwright maps online, including this map showing downtown Sing Sing in 1835. Pages recording the survey of the creeks in the marsh on Croton Point—now the capped Westchester County dump. Click the image to enlarge it. We
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hope to have additional details about this exciting discovery soon. In the meantime, if you missed our previous posts about the Underhill bible, click the links below. Underhill Bible—on eBay! The Mystery of the Underhill Bible The notes begin on
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October 2, 1837 and the last entry is dated October 1, 1838. ↩ See Water for Gotham: A History by Gerard T. Koeppe, page 151. ↩ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook
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W. Cartwright Published January 22, 2014 January 22, 2014
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Spillway of the New Croton Dam, from the George P. Hall & Son Photograph Collection at the New-York Historical Society. Click the image to enlarge it. This photograph of the nearly completed New Croton Dam gives us a look at the spillway without the
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usual cascade of water. Below are details from the image, showing the immense scale of the structure—made entirely of hand-hewn stone which was cut, moved and placed without the aid of modern construction equipment. The image comes from the George P.
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Hall & Son Photograph Collection at the New-York Historical Society. According to NYHS, “the commercial photography firm . . . operated in Manhattan from 1886 through 1914. Working out of several studios, the firm documented the changing face of New
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York City at the turn of the 20th century. Hall & Son’s photographs were available for general sale, were published in their own calendars and souvenir viewbooks, and appeared as illustrations in such publications as King’s Views of New York ,
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Staley’s Views of New York , and Harper’s Weekly .” This is just one of the many treasures you can find at the New York Heritage Digital Collections website. The ladder in the lower right corner of this detail gives an idea of the immense scale of
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the spillway. Click the image to enlarge it. Click the image to enlarge it. Click the image to enlarge it. Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
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Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged George P. Hall & Son
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Photograph Collection New-York Historical Society Published February 8, 2014
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Here’s a tasty bit of Harmon history, currently being offered on eBay. This vintage menu from the Mikado Inn features two Spring Lamb Chops for $1.50, Filet Mignon Mikado for $3.00 and a Porterhouse Steak for two for $5.00. Just between us, I
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recommend the house specialty, Chicken or Beef Sukiyaki , “seasoned with Soyu Sauce served in a chafing dish with rice.” Many thanks to the eBay seller who gave us permission to share this treasure. You can bid on it here . Want to know more about
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what was cooking in the Mikado kitchen? See this previous post . Oscar Levant, the quick-witted pianist, composer, actor, author and quiz-show panelist was there, sharing “sleeping quarters with twenty or thirty Japanese waiters in the cellar.” Click
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the image to enlarge it. Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
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Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Mikado Inn speakeasies Published February 17, 2014 August 12, 2014
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Click the image to enlarge it. Here’s a real treat, courtesy of the Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon at the Library of Congress. Click the image to enlarge it. In 1910 Windsor McKay’s innovative comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland ,
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featured a sequence in which Little Nemo and his companions accidentally land in Sing Sing Prison. After a trip to Mars, Little Nemo, the dwarf Flip and the cannibal Impy fly back to New York in their dirigible spaceship, but they’re intercepted in
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the air by customs agents and decide to land at West Point instead. They fly up the Hudson River—awed by the Palisades—and set down in the Sing Sing Prison by mistake. As usual, in the last panel Little Nemo awakens in the morning in his own bed.