Harlem River, New York, 19th Century
Lithograph entitled and captioned: View on the Harlem River, NY. The High Bridge in the distance. The Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. High Bridge was originally designed as a stone arch bridge, and had the appearance of a Roman aqueduct. Construction on the bridge was started in 1837, and completed in 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct, which carried water from the Croton River to supply the then burgeoning city of New York some 10 miles to the south. It has a length of well over 2, 000 feet. In 1928, in order to improve navigation in the Harlem River, all of the masonry arches of the central part of the bridge that spanned the river were demolished and replaced with a single steel arch of about 450 feet. Of the masonry arches of the original 1848 bridge, only one survives on the Manhattan side, while some ten survive on the Bronx side
