Frame houses on the north side of Dyckman Street between Staff and Henshaw Streets, 1927. In 1922, the city took over ownership of the land that would later become Inwood Hill Park. They entered into an agreement with the homeowners of the home visible in this photograph to remain in place until more concrete plan for the park was developed. Officially the park opened in 1926 but the final homes would not be removed until the beginning of the 1930s. The reason for the parade of people in this photograph is unknown.

Old Public School 52, undated postcard. The first school in the neighborhood now known as Inwood was founded in 1858. The area was very sparsely populated when the three-story brick schoolhouse rose up at the corner of Broadway and Academy Street. The large modern building (with 14 chimneys) was incongruous with the needs of the neighborhood, which had few children, and those who lived nearby often spent their days working on the family land. For the first few decades, only the lower floor was used. The "Tubby Hook" school (named for the early moniker of the area) was originally Ward School 52 before becoming P.S. 52 by the end of the 19th century. The old schoolhouse survived almost a century, eventually occupying the whole building, with an addition completed in 1903. For its last few decades, it stood side by side with the new P.S. 52 before being demolished in 1956 for a new addition to the 20th-century building.

In the 1920s the City of New York put forth a plan for municipal subway relief and expansion, under the plan the first to be constructed was the Eighth Avenue Line (today’s A train) which would terminate at 207th Street in the Inwood neighborhood. This photograph looking towards Dyckman Street shows the Art Moderne styled Broadyke Apartments (on the left) which opened in 1928. On the building application for the certificate of occupancy in 1927, it was stated that a subway connection would be located on the cellar level.

Apartment Building on Broadway, 1923.

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.

Flitner House, now used as a Reading Room, and called the Dyckman Library, ca. 1923. By the start of the 20th century one of the Flitner children, Clara, a teacher at the local public school, was maintaining a library and reading room in the house. The neighborhood had no other library at that point. In the 1920s, a description of the library said, “a favorite resort of the children of the neighborhood…its beautiful location on the hillside, commanding a very charming view of the Hudson River, and its cheerful accommodations rendering it very attractive. Of its 2,000 volumes, as many as 1,000 have been taken out by its patrons in a single month.” Clara Flinter passed away in 1932, but her childhood home and library space had been destroyed by fire two years earlier in 1930.

This survey photograph was originally taken to document street conditions prior to construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line and shows a street view of Dyckman Street near Henshaw Street. The white building to the right has Sheffield Farms Co. Inc. painted on the front. The Sheffield Farms Company was one of the largest dairy distributing companies in the early 20th century.

Libbey Castle, Fort Washington Park, unknown date. The Libbey Castle was built in 1856 by merchant Augustus C. Richards (the property was named for a later owner) in present-day Fort Tryon Park. A 1930 history of Fort Tryon properties published in the New York Times referred to Richards's castle as "the most pretentious structure in the section at that time." The castle and the surrounding properties had several 19th century owners — including the infamous William "Boss" Tweed — before it passed to William Libbey in 1880 via the widow of a business partner, the department store magnate A.T. Stewart. The castle served as the Libbey family summer home until 1904, when it was purchased by former New York City Mayor Hugh J. Grant (no relation). In 1919, John D. Rockefeller acquired the property from C.K.G. Billings. Rockefeller would later donate the former Libbey tract to the city along with his other Washington Heights holdings. Libbey Castle was razed in 1931.

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.

Inwood is located at the top of Manhattan Island, at the point where the Hudson and Harlem Rivers meet at the Spuyten Duyvil. It begins as a valley to the south, roughly at Dyckman Street and Riverside Drive along the base of the Fort Tryon Park hill. The area is historically, architecturally and environmentally unique—almost half of the land is public park space that preserves the natural terrain and geological features of the island, as opposed to the designed landscapes of many parks in New York City. Inwood is distinctive in that its pattern of development and architecture was created in relation to the original landscape of Manhattan Island. In 1906, the extension of the IRT transit lines to Dyckman Street, where the first mass-transit station in the area opened, resulted in the rapid development of six- and seven-story apartment houses on land purchased from existing farms and private estates.Working-class immigrants of varied cultural origins, seeking better living conditions than those of cramped tenements downtown, moved to Inwood to reside in new, spacious and more affordable apartments in buildings designed in the Neo-Classical, Italianate and Tudor Revival styles. As the pace of development continued, steps were taken to create city parkland that would preserve the natural beauty of the landscape and provide open space for new residents. In 1911, Julia Isham Taylor donated land from her family’s estate to create Isham Park. Spurred by her gift in 1916, the city finalized the purchase of adjacent land to the west for Inwood Hill Park. New apartment houses were designed, named and advertised in reference to the new parks. Around the time of the construction of the IND transit lines along Broadway in Inwood during the 1920s, a group of distinctive Art Deco style apartments were built in the blocks around that historic transportation corridor. Today, Inwood remains characterized by early-20th-century apartment residences built in relation to the preserved landscape of its public parks to the west and south. An industrial area, serving the transportation, sanitation and utility infrastructure of New York City, occupies a large portion of its eastern edge. Four historic bridges span the rivers along the surrounding waterfront. And, although resident populations have often changed in Inwood, from migrating Native Americans to the immigrant populations of the 20th and 21st centuries, the built environment has changed little since the period of rapid development after the turn of the 20th century, yielding surprisingly rich architectural discoveries.

Southeast corner of Dyckman and Broadway, 1945. This photograph depicts a commercial intersection occupied by a cigar shop, flower shop and a well-loved local restaurant called Bickford's. The restaurant was a popular hang out spot pre- or post- movie or a night at the nearby bowling alley. The large billboard advertises kosher meat products. Nearby Washington Heights was home to a German Jewish community that was, by in large, recently immigrated (most arrived in the 1930s) and Orthodox.

"Unemployed squatters of "Camp Dyckman"; at the Hudson River Fill, north of Dyckman Street, June 3, 1934" During the Great Depression, all across the country, shantytowns popped up, filled with homeless and unemployed Americans. These areas were nicknamed "Hoovervilles," calling attention to the name of the president under whom the Depression begun (Herbert Hoover) and his indifference to the plight of these citizens. New York City saw a number of these squatter's communities develop, including ones in Central Park, the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side and even a series of houseboats, a sort of floating Hooverville, near 207th Street. The one seen here was called Camp Dyckman, and was largely populated by World War I veterans. Though it is unknown exactly when this camp was established, by the time this picture was taken in 1934, many of the camp's inhabitants had moved downtown to a different area in the 70s on the Hudson River.

690 Academy Street, 1932. In 1932 no. 690 was a two and half story wood-frame home, dwarfed by its new recent neighbors. Six years after this photograph was taken, the wood-frame house was gone and replaced by a six-story Art Deco apartment building.

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

Construction of the Jewish Memorial Hospital, 1934.

The original Mount Washington Presbyterian Church was founded in 1844 on the property of Samuel Thomson. Mr. Thomson was a deeply religious man, and upon realizing the closest church to him was 4 miles from home, he decided to build a wooden Gothic church with a steeple at the intersection of modern-day Dyckman Street and Broadway. Upon the expansion of the subway system that would be built underneath the church, it was relocated to its current day home at Vermilia Avenue and 204th Street. The original church was torn down in 1929. The church was named after the site of Fort Washington (current day Bennet Park) where a Revolutionary Battle took place on November 16, 1776. Ultimately the battle was lost by the Continental Army as they faced a three-sided assault by the British Army. At the end of the battle, Americans suffered 59 casualties, 96 wounded and 2,837 prisoners of war.

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.

Originally known as Ward School 52, Inwood’s first school was constructed and opened in 1858 at the intersection of modern-day Academy Street and Broadway. It was a three-floor red brick structure and at the time of its construction stood out among the farmland that made up the neighborhood at the time. The school building was demolished in 1956, nearly a century after its initial construction, as a new building was constructed along Academy Street, present-day Harold O. Levy School 52.

Mt. Washington Presbyterian Church, 1928. The congregation of Mt. Washington was founded in Inwood in 1844. In the same year the church constructed a Gothic style, wood-frame structure on land owned by Samuel Thomson, the parish's founder. The bucolic setting of the church included a large front lawn and two massive willow trees framing the building. Enlarged in the 1850s the church building ultimately was brought down by technological advancements coming to the neighborhood. Plans for a subway line through northern Manhattan resulted in the condemnation of the old church building in 1927. The last services in the church were held on June 16, 1929 and the congregation moved into their new home on Vermilyea Avenue and 204th Street in September.

Wood-frame two story building with candy shop storefront, 1932. Despite some drastic (and unfortunate) alterations and facade coverings, this small wood-frame structure still stands. The wooden diamond-shaped details at the roofline have survived, as well as the unusual second story side porch.