Looking for some entertainment? You’re in the right spot. New York has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world, but it hasn’t always been that way. Did you know that contaminated water was once a leading cause of death because it spread cholera and typhoid city-wide? Spend five minutes with us to see what New York was really like in the nineteenth century and how Croton helped change all that:
*And feel free to share your reactions and comments here:
…and see all that Croton has to offer! Spring is in full bloom and what better way to enjoy the sunshine than by walking along the Aqueduct Trail? Carl Oechsner tells a bit about guiding visitors:
This week’s dose of Carl Oechsner is up and running. Tune in for a few minutes to hear about hiking, teaching and how tours of the Waterworks differ from those at the Met.
Our oral history video was such a hit that we decided to post a second installment this week. Listen to Tatum Taylor’s interview with Captain Scott Craven of the Ossining Police Department. An Ossining native, Captain Craven tells what it was like growing up near the aqueduct and the challenges he faces enforcing the law in and around the waterworks system today.
Then sit down with Carl Oechsner for a chat. Carl is a long-time Croton resident, former social studies teacher and a Croton Waterworks guru. Grab a snack and spend a few minutes with Carl and our oral history expert, Tatum Taylor.
Visit Croton Conversations and join in this week’s discussion!
We met a lot of great infrastructure enthusiasts at Columbia’s GSAPP Alumni Weekend. So many, in fact, that we wanted to keep talking. That’s why we developed Croton Conversations.
Each week we’ll pose a new Croton question under “Current Topic” for everyone to weigh in on. And if you’d prefer to remain anonymous, feel free to email us: crotonaqueduct@gmail.com.
We’ve put together a video showing how, where, when and why the Croton Waterworks functions the way it does. Take a (short and sweet) peek into the system:
Odds are, you’re here because you saw a sign hanging from that funny little building on the corner of Amsterdam and 119th Street and thought to yourself “I’ve always wondered what that thing is!”
Well your days of wondering are over: the building is a gatehouse dating from 1894-95. It is part of the Croton Aqueduct- a 41-mile engineering and architectural masterpiece built in the 19th century to bring much-needed water to the city of New York and its surrounding areas. The 119th Street gatehouse served as the transition point between the inverted siphon at Manhattan Valley and the standard pipe that brought the water downtown. The one-story gatehouse has a square plan and seems to have been inspired by Romanesque Revival architectural design. The structure sits on a rough-cut granite base and contains a water table, exterior walls and cornice of rock-faced granite.
But what is it now you ask? The 119th Street Vermin Hotel owned by New York City. Slight exaggeration but the building was decommissioned years ago and has become home to a healthy community of rats.
So you’ve come this far and read all that history only to discover that the funny little building isn’t anything? Kind of anti-climactic, right? That’s where you come in.
Want to see the Gatehouse put to use? Then tell us how using this poll:
Want to read more about the 119th Street Gatehouse? Check it out here.
On February 17th, our group ventured to the far east edge of Manhattan–at the corner of FDR Drive and 38th Street–to visit the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) archives. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures because of security concerns, so this visit is documented in text only. The archives are housed in a warehouse/garage building that is not really set up for outside visitors, but once we signed ourselves in, the DEP archivists welcomed us to their huge room on the upper floor of the warehouse. The DEP archivists had set out about twenty drawings of various elements of both the old and the new Croton Aqueduct systems for us to study. Most of these drawings were of Manhattan aqueduct elements, with a few Bronx and Westchester structures included as well. Drawings were of structures such as the High Bridge, Highbridge Tower, several gatehouses, the Central Park reservoirs, the New Croton Dam, and the Jerome Park Reservoir. The drawings were beautiful to look at and also offered us further insight into the workings of the aqueduct systems. Things we learned from our visit to the DEP archives include: how the gates that regulated water flow operated in the 119th Street Gatehouse, construction details of the New Croton Dam, what the elements of the 135th Street Gatehouse’s spiral staircase looked like, the topography surrounding the two Central Park reservoirs, and the structure of the Highbridge Tower’s roof. After perusing the drawings for about an hour and a half, the entire group gathered to discuss our next steps for the aqueduct project. We decided that we will work to fill in any gaps in our collective time line and data spreadsheet, brainstorm about what kind of goals we want to set for ourselves for the remainder of the semester, and start to look at the existing interpretation of the Croton Aqueduct in more depth. After establishing these next steps, we exited to the accompaniment of the archive’s blaring door alarm–a fitting end to a security-conscious but fruitful visit.
The Croton Waterworks 