Manhattan College, 1924.

Van Cortlandt House Museum, ca. 1900. The three-story Van Cortlandt House was built in 1748 by Jacobus Van Cortlandt's son, Frederick (1699-1749), at the south side of the park. The oldest existing building in the Bronx, it is now a National Historic Landmark. The Georgian mansion played an important role during the American Revolution: In 1776 Augustus Van Cortlandt (1728-1823), Frederick's son, who had been appointed by the British as city clerk, took the city records out of Manhattan, fearing that they might be destroyed during an evacuation. He first hid them in the mansion and later placed them in one of the family's burial vaults on Vault Hill. When the war ended, Augustus turned the records over to the new government. During 1874, the same year the area west of the Bronx River was annexed by New York City, talks began about turning the land into a park. The city of New York finally acquired the title to the Van Cortlandt property on December 12, 1888. The house comprises a number of attractive historic rooms, including a "Dutch chamber" created in 1918 by the Colonial Dames of New York (which runs the museum) to represent what was considered a "typical" 17th-century New Amsterdam room. This room includes a beautiful cupboard (was) and a children's sled (pricker-sledge.) The house also contains many heirlooms donated by descendants of the Van Cortlandts.

Van Cortlandt Manor An excellent example of how the landed gentry lived in the eighteenth century in and about New York is this ample stone house with its wood shutters and unpretentious exterior, contrasting strangely with its rich Georgian interior. It is interesting to note that stone was widely use for country houses but rarely in the city, where brick predominated.

This sprawling Mediterranean Revival House was built for Elisa T. Galban by architect Dwight James Baum in 1928. Baum had built over forty Mediterranean Revival Houses during his career in New York and Florida. The house is nestled on a terraced lot, bound by stucco-covered perimeter walls and posts flanking its entrance. The house is notably set back from the road, affording it the aesthetic of a Spanish House on a hillside. The house featured clay-tile covered hipped, and gable-on-hip roofs. Its chimneys were hooded, and the entire facade was coated in stucco, with historic battened wood shutters and ornate wrought-iron balconies. Upon entry to the villa-like home, guests would pass through the front door framed with ceramic tile. At the time it was built, the house followed the guidelines of the Fieldston Property Owners Association, who developed the entire neighborhood. The house was sold to Victor House, of the law firm House, Holthusen & Pinkham of Manhattan, in 1936.

Horace Mann School, undated postcard. The elite prep school, Horace Mann was first established in 1887 as an experimental co-educational institution of Teachers College at Columbia. Originally located in Greenwich Village, the school moved to the Columbia Campus in Morningside Heights in 1894, sharing a building with Teachers College. In 1901, they moved into their own building nearby. Horace Mann became independent of the university in the 1940s. The education of male and female students separated in the early 20th century, with the all-boys facility moving to the Bronx in 1914. (The girls' school remained at Teachers College, merging with a new school before closing in 1946). The new campus in the Bronx, seen here, overlooked Van Cortlandt Park. Over the second half of the 20th century a number of new buildings were added to the campus and in 1975 the school once again became co-educational. Famous alumni of Horace Man include Seymour Durst, real estate developer; Beat writer Jack Kerouac; illustrator Rockwell Kent; and Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times among other well-known artists, actors, scientists, and politicians.

Survey photograph looking south at the 242nd Street Station on the IRT West Side / Seventh Avenue Line, two months after the opening of the station. The photograph shows a carnival, including a ferris wheel and carousel, being either put up or taken down, October 8, 1908."

The area of Fieldston in the Bronx is a privately owned neighborhood that was largely developed in the 1920s. The area was managed by the Fieldston Property Owners Association. Buyers of land in the area followed strict requirements: first, they were required to buy a minimum of three lots which each averaged $5,000; second, their home was to be designed by an association-approved architect; third, the drafted plans of their design were to be approved by the Architectural Committee of the Fieldston Property Owners Association. Lots were by design varied in terrain in order to discourage "flat uninteresting rows of suburban houses" according to engineer Albert Wheeler, who finalized the plan of the area in 1914. Houses of the area exemplified various styles of American Revival Style Architecture. This story provides a look at some of the picturesque homes in Fieldston designed by architect Dwight J. Baum, many of which have remained almost completely untouched. Baum was chosen by the Property Owners Association for his work in Revival Architecture. Recognizing the opportunity that this presented, Baum moved his office to a lot across the street from the Fieldston sales office after building his own house in Fieldston in 1915.

My grandpa Ray Sr. was a shutterbug, and this is my Dad's neighborhood team. They hailed mostly from the Fordham Road area. It's Grandpa's writing and my Dad, Ray Jr., is the black-haired boy in the second row holding a glove. \--Carolyn Crapo

Van Cortlandt Park elevated station, September 12, 1913.

Old Albany Post Road (221 West 251st Street is the apartment at left), 1935. The buildings at left front Post Road, but their back (seen here) line an old dirt road that was once a vital intrastate thoroughfare. This dirt road (which still looks much the same today) is a remnant of the Old Albany Post Road, one of the oldest routes in New York State. Following a well-worn Native American trail, the early Dutch settlers of the city used this path to traverse the island of Manhattan from their settlement at the south to the island's northern tip. In the mid 17th century the city's government designated a postal route between the city and Albany, given the need for communication between the the area's two most populated communities. Though not much more than a narrow, wooded path (often following Native trails) at the beginning, by the start of the 18th century, the road was widened to a "breadth of 4 rods" (whatever that means). During the next century the road was more properly surveyed, laid out, and marked with milestones. The road provided for important early mail service and, in times of war, the movement of troops and supplies between the city and the eventual state capital (so named in 1797). By the middle of the 19th century, with the introduction of train service, the stage coach path was less necessary. The Old Albany Post Road was straightened and became the thoroughfare known today as Route 9 (and all its various local designations).

Van Cortlandt Grist Mill, ca. 1900. The Van Cortlandt saw and gristmill was situated at the southernmost tip of Van Cortlandt Lake. The lake itself was created 1699 when Tibbetts Brook was dammed to power the Van Cortlandt family’s grist mill. The mill survived )perhaps just barely) into the 20th century. It was depicted in various mediums by a number of artists, perhaps inspired by its historic significance and quaint rural look. Sources agree that the grist mill burned down after being struck by lightening, though the year it occurred is variously given as 1900, 1901, or 1911.

Van Cortlandt House is the centerpiece of a 1,000-acre urban park that encompasses what was once the Van Cortlandt family’s estate.

Sugar House Prison Window, just east of the Van Cortlandt House, undated postcard. In 18th century New York City a number of sugar houses—constructed for the storage of imported sugar and molasses— were commandeered during the Revolutionary War. The five-story brick sugar house at Rose (now William) Street and Duane Street was constructed in 1763. According to local lore, this sugar house was used by the British army as a prison during the war. Recent scholarship, thought, suggests that perhaps this specific sugar house was not, in fact, used as a prison. Regardless of this evidence, for more than two centuries the building was considered part of Revolutionary War history. The Duane Street building fell into serious disrepair in the late 19th century and was demolished in 1892. Given the history of the building, two of its "prison" wall sections with windows were saved. One was installed in the Rhinelander Building, and later One Police Plaza when it replaced the Rhinelander Building in 1973. A second wall section with single window was moved to Van Cortlandt Park, where it remains next to the Van Cortlandt House.