Freshwater spring at the Tiemann & Company Paint & Dye Works, 1897.

In the early decades of the 19th century Manhattanville, in West Harlem, was a sleepy area of farms and a few out-of-the-city mansions. In 1832 a freshwater spring was discovered near Broadway and 125th Street (then called Manhattan Street). With plentiful water for production operations businessman, Anthony Tiemann, moved his Tiemann & Company Paint & Dye Works uptown, settling on a large plot at 560 Riverside Drive. The company, founded in 1804, was one of the earliest color works in America.

This move began the slow but steady industrialization of Manhattanville. Tiemann retired a few years after the move uptown and his son Daniel F. (who was later Mayor of New York 1858-1860) took over control of the business. About 50 German men and their families had moved to Manhattanville to work in the factory when it was established here. Within the first decade, the factory grew to cover 40 lots with more than 120 workers. These Germans helped to create a prominent German community uptown. Following a number of fires in the 19th century (dye making materials + a spark= bad news), the factory was sold in 1902.

The young boy in the photo is playfully shooting water out of Tiemann's spring situated on the factory property.