In the foreground of this 1906 photograph is Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The creek originally flowed around and to the north of the neighborhood known as Marble Hill. A narrow, somewhat meandering, but fast-flowing waterway, it was traversed by a few small bridges (such as the one seen here). The differences between high and low tide on this creek were so drastic that when low, one could wade through the creek, but when the water was at high tide a small ferry was needed to cross.

Because the strait was so shallow it was not an appropriate shipping lane. The Harlem Shipping Canal was dug from a section of the creek in 1895 and as such Marble Hill was a temporary island sitting between the shipping canal to the south and the remaining section of the creek to the north. In 1914 the remaining creek was filled in, using rocks from the excavation of Grand Central Terminal. Since 1914 Marble Hill has been geographically attached to the Bronx while politically it remains part of Manhattan.