Detail of typical milk keystone - Sheffield Farms Milk Plant, date unknown (post 1968).

Detail of typical terra cotta cowhead - Sheffield Farms Milk Plant, date unknown (post 1968).

Daughters of Jacob Home and Hospital, ca. 1920. Bronx architect Louis Allen Abramson designed the building of the Home and Hospital of the Daughters of Jacob with eight wings that radiated from the center, like the spokes of a wheel. Completed in 1916, the expansive building serviced as a Jewish nursing home, its unique layout providing the residential spaces with light and air access on three sides. In the late 1960s, the neighborhoods demographics had changed dramatically and the nursing home considered a move out of the city. Instead they elected to remain in their home and renovate and expand to continue their mission. Architect Abramson was hired once again (he was in his mid 80s by 1970) to design a modern senior apartment complex adjacent to the old home. Completed in late 1971, the new structure allowed the old building to be emptied, gutted, and brought up to code. The historic exterior of the old building was preserved and a second new building, to serve as a geriatric center, was completed later in the decade. Today both the 1971-built Abramson residence and the later Triboro Center are connected to the 1916 main building by pedestrian bridges.

"Webster Avenue, west side, north from East 165th Street, showing the pasteurization plant of the Sheffield Farms Company, 1938." The annex building at 1045 Webster Avenue (seen at left) that once housed part of the Sheffield Farms Company still stands and the company name is still visible on the front facade. Unfortunately the larger plant building at no. 1075 (in the background) and the massive bottle of milk that once topped the building are gone. The Sheffield Farms pasteurization plant was built in 1914 and was a state of the art facility, one of only two Class 1 gravity plants in the country. It had the largest processing capacity of any milk plant. In 1930 Sheffield Farms introduced the first paper-packaged milk container in the world. Designed by Frank A. Rooke, who designed four plants for the farm company, the original building featured decorative cows' head features on the facade, in addition to its oversized jug of milk. The milk processing functions ceased in the early 1970s, the building at no. 1075 was emptied of tenants in the late 1980s and demolished in the early 1990s.

The Daughters of Jacob Home and Hospital was built on land that had been the William E. Morris estate. The grounds included a large mansion and a smaller stone structure used supposedly as a schoolhouse. The stone building was said to have been constructed in 1792, while the mansion was erected in 1816 by James Morris. His son William was a Civil War major general. According to various sources, former President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, was a frequent visitor to the home following his release from prison in 1869, though the connection to the house or the Morris family (who fought on the side of the Union) is unclear.

3353 Third Avenue, ca. 1916. A James Butler grocery store, one of hundreds that dotted the five boroughs in the early decades of the 20th century.

Third Ave. at 166th St., looking north. Shoring used in reconstruction of Third Ave, 1914. The Third Avenue elevated line was original constructed in 1875-1878 by the New York Elevated Railway Company. The line traveled from South Ferry at the lower tip of Manhattan to 129th Street at the northern tip. The extension over the Harlem River came in 1886, with the construction of more northern Bronx stations between 1887 and 1920, when it reached its final terminus at Gun Hill Road. The railway line was merged and bought out a number of times before 1905. Manhattan Railway took over control of the New York Elevated Railroad in 1879. In 1891 they also took over the Suburban Rapid Transit Company, which operated the line that crossed the swing bridge over the Harlem River. In 1902 it all became a part of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, when Manhattan Railway leased the line for a period of 999 years! It was at this time the line was also electrified. In the 1910s, as part of the Dual Contracts that constructed a number of new subway lines, the Third Avenue line was triple-tracked (the work for that is depicted in this image). The third (center) track in the Bronx opened in 1916. The Third Avenue line in the Bronx outlived part of the elevated line that traveled through Manhattan. The Bronx section closed and was demolished in 1973.

1045-1073 Webster Avenue, date unknown (post 1968). This view shows both the original massive plant building and the smaller annex building. The large decorative milk jug has been removed.

Heinz 57 Warehouse, ca. 1910.