View of Washington Bridge with High Bridge in the foreground, viewed from the Bronx side, 1913.

Opened in 1842, High Bridge is New York city's oldest surviving bridge. A preeminent example of yankee ingenuity in conquering tremendous technological obstacles, it was designed by and its construction overseen by John Bloomfield Jervis, chief engineer of the Erie Canal. Jervis, for whom Port Jervis, New York was named, created a Roman-style aqueduct to carry water from the Croton Aqueduct pipes over the Harlem River from The Bronx to Manhattan, overcoming problems of varying land levels and difficult rock formations on both sides. Its beauty and innovative technology made the bridge an instant attraction for visitors, especially engineers from the United States and abroad, and a popular subject for painters and printmakers. The Croton enterprise introduced water from an upstate source to a rapidly growing New York City. Having crossed High Bridge, the Croton pipes continued down through Manhattan the the distributing reservoir at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. In 1927, when neighbors of High Bridge on both the Bronx and the Manhattan sides protested the proposed demolition of the bridge to enable movement of large naval vessels through the Harlem River, the compromise was the removal of five arches. This modification altered the appearance of the graceful structure, but saved it as a walkway. In a sense, High Bridge is a very early example of preservation. Although the bridge was designated a landmark by the New York Landmarks Commission in 1970, today it is fenced off.

Hip Hop is a culture rife with soul and artistry; its rich history is integral to that of New York City out of which it was born. The urban changes of the 1970s and 80s- including urban renewal, "white flight," urban disinvestment, and the "burning of The Bronx"- saw the emergence of the revolutionary DJ'ing, MC'ing, breakdancing, graffiti, and culture that would become known as Hip Hop. Despite this close relationship, Hip Hop does not get the respect or attention it deserves from the city of its birth. In this collection of walks, I will address how Hip Hop emerged from the NYC of the 1970s and 80s, showcasing some key historical monuments and figures of Hip Hop, as well as critiquing how Hip Hop has been or has not been, received, appreciated and celebrated by the city in which it was born.

Washington Bridge, ca. 1940. As pre-consolidation New York City grew, it gradually absorbed the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem, Yorkville, Manhattanville, and Carmansville. This expansion and the 1870s development of housing in newly-laid-out Washington Heights promoted the idea for a vehicular traffic link between upper Manhattan and The Bronx, where population growth was still minimal. Washington Bridge (originally called the Harlem River and then the Manhattan Bridge) opened in 1889, setting a record completion time of just under two years, and making the relatively rural Bronx approachable for development. Although still part of Westchester, a status that changed with consolidation, The Bronx was newly accessible to Manhattan by light rail surface transit. Eventually, with the opening of the George Washington Bridge, the Washington Bridge became part of the interstate system carrying U.S. Route 1 from Maine to Florida. Period guidebooks recommended the center of the bridge, 155 feet above the river, as a site from which to enjoy a superb view that encompassed the Harlem River, Long Island Sound, Fort George, Spuyten Duyvil, and Kingsbridge. Fifteen-foot-wide walkways on either side of the roadway provided amply for those who chose to enjoy the view on foot.

View of Washington Bridge, from the Manhattan side of the High Bridge, 1926. The Harlem River Speedway is visible along the water's edge.

High bridge, viewed from the Bronx side, 1892. Built between 1837 and 1848, the original stone arch bridge was designed to carry fresh water, via the Croton Aqueduct without impeding shipping traffic on the Harlem River below. In 1864, a pedestrian walkway was added to the bridge. In 1929, five of the masonry arches above the river were replaced with a single steel arch, simplifying navigation. The bridge continued to carry Manhattan-bound drinking water until 1949. After water supply use was discontinued, the promenade was closed due to safety and vandalism concerns in the 1970s. A refurbished walkway reopened in June 2015.

Fort Washington Branch, NYPL, May 11, 1929. One of eight libraries designed by Babb, Cook & Welch, the Fort Washington Branch was the 26th and final Carnegie constructed in Manhattan. Completed in 1914, the building was renovated in the early 1950s following a fire in the basement. The library has been an important resource for the local community and its users have included Jacob Javits, Henry Kissinger, Ralph Ellison, and Lou Gehring.

With the Grammy Awards back in New York, we began thinking about all the places here that are important to the history of music. From the days when jazz musicians dubbed New York “the Big Apple,” the City has been the place to make it big. A lot of the most famous music venues have been lost over the years to development and changing tastes, but many more always pop up, seemingly weekly in Brooklyn and Queens.

High Bridge Water Tower, ca. 1912. This 200-feet-tall stone tower was designed in the Romanesque Revival and neo-Grecian styles by John B. Jervis, who designed the Erie Canal and supervised the construction of the High Bridge Aqueduct. Though this tower resembles the watchtower of a medieval fortification, it once served a unique purpose in New York City's first reliable and uninterrupted water system. The High Bridge Water Tower was built between 1866 and 1872 to provide water and pressure to New York's ever-growing population. The height of the tower helped generate enough pressure to power the flushable toilets which were entering use for the first time. The tower's tank held 47,000 gallons of water, which were lifted from the reservoir that was already one-hundred feet above the ground. The interior of the structure included an elegantly designed iron spiral stair, with paired windows overlooking various vistas. After the building of the New Croton Aqueduct, the use of the High Bridge Tower diminished. Fears of threats to the city's water system during World War I ultimately closed the structure. In 1934, it was acquired by the Parks Department. The Parks Department largely left the tower alone, though the reservoir that once fed it was turned into a swimming pool. An arson set the timber framing of the roof on fire in 1984. This was replaced from 1989 to 1990, at the time New York Times columnist Christopher Gray wrote of it: "Its rock-faced granite gives the tower a chunky, fortified appearance as if it were a lookout for a much larger cast complex that was never built... The granite is competently handled, but the details are not very inspired or elegant. The tower is more picturesque than beautiful." The High Bridge Water Tower was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967.

First navigated by the Lenape, and then owned by the Dutch, the "Harlaem" River has long been a waterway important to the history of New York. This story highlights some of the structures built over the Harlem to connect Manhattan to the broader world.

1520 Sedgwick Avenue, ca. 1985. 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is an unremarkable apartment building in the South Bronx, like many others, but in 1973 something magical happened here. Cindy Campbell rented out the building’s small rec room for a party on August 11, 1973. Her brother Clive, DJ Kool Herc, showed his new technique of mixing the beats from two copies of the same record to extend the break for the dancers. His friend Coke La Rock rapped over the beats. It was the birth of a new type of music that would become known as hip hop, and inspired Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One, Afrika Bambaataa and many other kids in attendance to run home and imitate the new sound. On a visit ten years ago, the rec room was sadly filled with snow blowers and maintenance equipment, but in 2017 Mayor de Blasio renamed the street Hip Hop Boulevard.