Cloisters ca. 1915 Fort Tryon Park takes its name from the last British governor of New York, Major General Sir William Tryon. The area played a major role in the American Revolution, serving as a northern defense for Fort Washington. However, it was later lost to the British. After the war and during the nineteenth century the land went through many owners until John D. Rockefeller bought it in 1917 for the incredible amount of $35,000 an acre. After landscaping the property, he donated the land to the city for use as a public park. Fort Tryon Park opened to the public in 1935. Rockefeller also played a major part in the creation of the Cloisters, the medieval-looking structure visible in this photograph, which opened to the public in 1938. As you walk through the park and come upon this structure, you feel as if you've been transported out of one of the busiest cities in the world right into the past. In spite of the many changes that the neighborhood of Washington Heights has been through, the many people who have come and gone, the Cloisters and the park remain the same, there for all New Yorkers to enjoy.

Wadsworth Avenue, south from 193rd St. and St. Nicholas Avenue, 1927. Wadsworth Avenue is the only street in New York City named after a Civil War General: James S. Wadsworth. (A number of other generals—Sherman and Sheridan—got squares named after them.) Born in upstate New York, Wadsworth was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island is also named for the General.

Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan Margaret Cochran Corbin (1751-1800) was the first American woman to receive a military pension for her service during the Revolutionary War. When her husband, John Corbin, enlisted in the army to fight for the colonists, Margaret decided to go with him as a “camp follower” to cook, do laundry and nurse the wounded. On November 16, 1776, Corbin assisted her husband in operating a cannon during a Hessian attack on Fort Washington (today’s Fort Tryon). When John was fatally wounded, Margaret heroically took over his post and continued to fire at the enemy. Before the four-hour battle was through, she was severely wounded and nearly lost her left arm. In 1779, the Continental Congress awarded her a lifelong pension equivalent to half that of a male veteran. She died at age 49 and was buried in Highland Falls, NY, but in 1926, the Daughters of the American Revolution had her remains moved to the post cemetery at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, where she is the only Revolutionary War soldier buried on the academy grounds. Today, a plaque in Fort Tryon Park honors her bravery and both the park drive and circle are named for her.

Jewish Memorial Hospital, 1942. Constructed in the mid 1930s with funds from the Public Works Administration, this Art Deco hospital building commemorated the Jewish veterans of World War I. In the early 1970s the hospital made plans for an additional ten-story building. The new structure was never begun because the hospital entered bankruptcy proceedings in 1977. The hospital finally closed in 1983 and the building was demolished.

New York City covers a region of hills, rivers, and valleys making planning of subway routes complicated depending on location as routes had to rise and ascend gradually. In Northern Manhattan the topographical elevations were much higher than low lying neighborhood counterparts. The construction and design of the Dyckman Street Station as an embankment elevated station was for this sole reason. During the time of this construction image of the incomplete station the area was still underdeveloped in many parts. With the opening of new subway stations and greater transit options, the neighborhood grew vastly. The Dyckman Street Station opened March 12, 1906. In the background of the image you can make out the Kingsbridge Power Plant which provided the electricity to run the trolleys of the Third Avenue Railway Company

Tryon Hall, 1913. Although Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, a wealthy industrialist, already owned a home on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, he fell in love with northern Manhattan while visiting the Harlem River Speedway, a dirt, horse-racing track. Already retired at age 40, so as to devote himself to his passion for horses, Billings decided to construct a summer home in the area. He purchased 25 acres and built a 25,000 square foot horse stable and mansion. The mansion sat on the highest point of his property, just above the Hudson River on land that had once been Fort Tryon. Called Tryon Hall, the extravagant residence was designed in a Louis XIV chateau style and completed in 1907. It featured a heated indoor swimming pool, a two-story squash court, a bowling alley, and numerous formal gardens. The home was reached from Riverside Drive via a 1,600 feet long driveway that had a 6-degree grade. The Billings moved on to other (more exorbitant) living spaces in 1916 and sold Tryon Hall and its surrounding property to John D. Rockefeller Jr. Initially Rockefeller planned to demolish the buildings and donate the land to the city for a park. Architects protested the anticipated loss of the house and the city actually turned down the land. The mansion was then lived in for some years by the president of a large realty company, but burned to the ground in 1926 (no lives were lost but artwork valued at $1 million was destroyed). The ruins were removed and Rockefeller finally got the city to accept the land for a park. Fort Tryon Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Of the mansion, a few features remain, including the gatehouse, entrance pillars, and original S-shaped roadway.

Construction of the Jewish Memorial Hospital, 1934.

Erected by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society in 1909 (and still standing in its original location), this marker celebrates the defense of nearby Fort Tyron by Maryland and Virginia Regiment on November 16, 1776. The monument also notes the participation of Margaret Corbin, "the first American woman to take a soldier’s part in the War for Liberty." Corbin, a nurse, was allowed to accompany her husband into battle to help with the wounded. When he fell, she took over his position at the canon, firing until she too was seriously injured. The Fort Tyron marker was funded by Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings and originally placed on his estate (near to the location of the battle). When the Billings estate, Tryon Hall, buried in 1926, the land was finally accepted by the city for parkland. (The owner of the estate since 1917, John D. Rockefeller had been trying to donate it to the city for years at that point). When Fort Tryon Park was laid out the marker remained and two different roads in the park were named in honor of Margaret Corbin.

Before Olmstead sculpted Fort Tryon Park, the land was the grounds of a luxurious estate.