Harlem River

See also: Geography and environment of New York City

File:Wpdms terra harlem river.jpg

The combination of the Harlem River, Harlem River Ship Canal, and Spuyten Duyvil Creek, shown in red, form a single channel between the Bronx and Manhattan in New York City. Today, it's all considered the Harlem River.

The Harlem River is a navigable tidal estuary in New York City, United States that flows north from the East River towards the Hudson River. There it joins the Harlem River Ship Canal and Spuyten Duyvil Creek to form an 8 mile (13 km) strait separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Today, the confluence of the three is referred to simply as the Harlem River.

The construction of the ship canal in 1895 and its subsequent in-filling in 1914 caused a small portion of Manhattan, Marble Hill, to be isolated on the Bronx side of the river.

Geology and geography

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The Henry Hudson Bridge crosses the waterway at its west end.

The Harlem River forms a part of the Hudson estuary system, serving as a narrow strait that divides the island of Manhattan from the Bronx. Approximately 18,000 years ago the Laurentide ice sheet receded northward across the continent leaving behind a large escarpment creating the modern day Hudson River. About 6,000 years ago the Hudson River emptied into the ancient Atlantic Ocean, depositing sediments over the bedrock; this resulted in the formation of the Hudson River estuary, which is the water and land at the mouth the river that contains a mixture of salt and freshwater, including the Harlem River.

The descriptor "river" is technically incorrect, as the Harlem River has neither a mouth nor a source. It simply connects two larger bodies of water, stretching from the Hudson River, via the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, to the intersection of the East River (which is itself not a river, but a tidal estuary) at Randall’s Island, near 125th Street. The Harlem River is therefore affected by the actions of the ocean and neighboring waterways. The ebb and flow of the tides causes the Harlem River’s currents to fluctuate dramatically throughout the day. The effects of the tides have influenced the spread of silts, pollutants, and other particles in the water. The tides were also important in defining the usage of the Harlem River as they caused the currents to be particularly difficult to navigate in the northern portion of the waterway, allowing only smaller ships and experienced sailors.

Stretching approximately seven miles, the river originally meandered through its length, but the course of the river today is much straighter than it was in its natural state. Changes in the river’s route and shoreline character have reflected the designs of engineers, planners, politicians, and industrialists intent on subverting the limitations of the natural topography to facilitate the flow of commerce and real estate investment. Bulkheads, barriers, fills, and cuts all affected the river, changing and manipulating it into its current state. A systematic examination of the changes to the river’s function and access provides an understanding of its revamped role in the urban process.

Sherman Creek

For the stream in Pennsylvania, see Sherman Creek (Pennsylvania).

Sherman Creek is a small inlet off the Harlem River at 10th Avenue and Dyckman Street in Inwood (). Named for a family that settled there in 1807, it was once the site of a number of racing shell clubs' boathouses along "sculler's row". The last, belonging to Fordham University, was lost to suspected arson in 1978.

As a name for the several blocks around it, Sherman Creek is something of a historical relic, although many regard it as a part of Washington Heights. The Manhattan Institute held a forum, "Saving Sherman Creek," in January 2006 at the Harvard Club of New York. The Daily News has written about the project.

There has been an initiative among politicians over the last few years to re-zone this area for residential and commercial use, and to create public access to the waterfront. Currently, Con Ed and the City of New York own some of the property in this area.

Spuyten Duyvil Creek

Blue shows the original path of the creek, north around Marble Hill and then curving south around the tip of the Bronx

Marble Hill was cut off from Manhattan when the Harlem River Ship Canal straightened the creek out, and a small piece of the Bronx became part of Manhattan (not marked on this map)

Main article: Spuyten Duyvil Creek

Spuyten Duyvil Creek is a tidal estuary that begins at the Hudson River and flows south-eastward Originally it went up, over, and around a Manhattan neighborhood known as Marble Hill before joining the Harlem River at its northernmost extreme. The channel was difficult to navigate, resulting in the construction of the Harlem River Ship Canal in 1895. This turned the watercourse west approximately where 222nd Street would be in the Bronx, which had the effect of isolating Marble Hill.

Almost two decades later, the original creekbed was filled in, physically attaching Marble Hill to the Bronx, though it remains part of the borough of Manhattan.

Another channel was dug in 1937 to the west of the 1895 realignment straightening the Spuyten Duyvil towards the Hudson. It pared off a protruding tip of the Bronx, which was absorbed into Manhattan's Inwood Hill Park, home today to its Nature Center.

History

Early colonial developments

The landmass of Marble Hill once provided a fine location for Native American encampments, where fertile soil, shelter by hills to the west, and the abundance of fishing and “oystering” options nearby were found. By the end of the 17th century most land along the “Harlaem River” had come under the ownership of the Dutch families whose names are now commonly seen on street signs, area maps, and parks, including Jonas Dyckman, Jacob Nagle, etc. The British Colonial authorities, however, eventually wrested control of the island from the Dutch, and regulation of waterfront construction became the responsibility of the city; this preceded any formal attempts to standardize shoreline expansion by nearly a century.

It was in this era that the first crossing on the Harlem was built, at the Old Albany Road (north of Marble Hill) in 1693, beginning a long history of bridge construction and physical alterations to the river. This came to be called King’s Bridge, where a toll was assessed for access to the island and lands south. While this crossing was intended to replace the ferry service provided in the same area from approximately 1669 onward, the local population eventually bridled over the toll, and popular sentiment culminated in the construction of the “Farmers’ Free Bridge” further south along the Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1758. The shallow waters of the creek along this stretch were thus spanned.

19th century

Aerial view of the northern part of Harlem River, with the larger Hudson River close by in the background

River navigation

The issue of navigability became a topic of controversy early in the river’s history. In 1813, the Macomb family built a dam to power a mill; however it created a millpond and impeded the river’s flow and open navigation. While this condition was tolerated for several years, a vessel manned by principal landholders and politicians, including Gouverneur and Lewis Morris, formally challenged the obstruction in 1838. Legal battles over the legitimacy of the right to obstruct the waterway ensued. Ultimately, the testimony of numerous local residents, who used the river in transporting lumber, fuel, raw materials and produce to and from their estates, up and down the Harlem, helped persuade the courts to rule favorably for unimpeded access to the river’s navigable waters.

Consequently, bridge designs thereafter needed to factor in the rights of waterborne traffic to pass freely, an issue that instigated dissent in the future with regards to the efficiency of movable river crossings and the needs of the railroads. The issue of navigability gained urgency with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, spurring intense commercialization of the West Side waterfront on the Hudson River as well as interest in creating a faster route to the East River and the Long Island Sound beyond.

Croton Aqueduct and High Bridge

For the first half of the 19th century, the Harlem River basin had remained relatively unaffected by the commercial growth commonplace along the island’s distant southern waterfront. However, public health issues concerning access to water for the burgeoning population and firefighting needs spurred a public works project that would greatly impact the region. A plan for the Croton Aqueduct was finalized in the late 1830s. This was a monumental public works project on a scale previously unseen in the United States. The city's oldest bridge, the High Bridge, was erected between 1837 and 1848 to carry the Croton Aqueduct across the river. The bridge became the most prominent aspect of the aqueduct's course, excepting the fountains it supplied downtown. To accommodate the sloops and ferries sailing the river at the time, the bridge was required to meet certain minimum heights and widths for its supporting arches.

The construction of the Croton Aqueduct presaged the rapid subjugation of the natural landscape to accommodate the needs of economic and population growth in the New York metropolitan area. The Park Avenue Bridge for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was built concurrently, opening in 1841 and bringing rails to the Bronx east of the Hudson. The introduction of several rail lines near the Harlem in the following decades spurred growth of industrial and residential districts along the riverfront.

Further development

File:Spuyten Duyvil Creek November 2012.jpg

The Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line borders the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, considered to be the western terminus of the river, beside the Spuyten Duyvil station.

The construction of the Hudson railway line along the river’s edge, completed in 1851, changed access to the shore on the Bronx side of the Harlem. The construction of rails on trestles set in “rip-rap” foundations on the riverbed pushed the trains off the land’s edge in favor of an unobstructed course north. These trestles and rip-rap then provided the support for new fill between the rails and the shore. The negative impacts on the shoreline were manifest in the difficulty building new docks or piers, which would require at-grade crossings, as well as in restricted access to the riverfront, a resource that had benefited residents for generations.

During this period, anticipated growth in shipping commerce persuaded the city of New York to create the Department of Docks in 1870, as well as adopt a waterfront plan, known as the “McClellan Plan,” which envisioned a partially submerged masonry wall around the whole of the island. These new works were not implemented as rapidly along the Harlem River as they were along the shores of the East and Hudson Rivers, where the channels were deeper and wider, accommodating longer piers.

Development of the land around the Harlem River has long been linked to not only the area’s topography, but also its geology. The surrounding area was composed of three distinct layers of bedrock, as well as Manhattan schist, Fordham gneiss, and Inwood marble, all of which were found in outcroppings in the locality and were likely used by the earliest residents for building material as the marble was readily available and easy to tool. In the early 19th century, the stone had been quarried in Inwood and Marble Hill to produce both a building material as well as lime mortar. In 1819, the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was widened to provide additional power for the local marble industry. The excavation for the Harlem River Shipping Canal in 1895, directly through an old quarry site, also served to provide a large quantity of marble rubble, which was used as a building material throughout the area.

20th century

Canal

File:ON THE HARLEM RIVER SHOWING THE BRONX IN NEW YORK CITY. THE PROBLEM OF HOW TO MOVE PEOPLE AND GOODS IS ULTIMATELY... - NARA - 555750.jpg

Harlem River showing the Bronx, 1974

The increase of recreational and commercial traffic along the river at the turn of the 20th century required further manipulation of the shore. The river was dredged, formally surveyed, and demarcated by the beginning of the 20th century. The northern tip of the waterway, called Spuyten Duyvil Creek, went through massive changes leading up to the opening of the Harlem River Shipping Canal. This project deepened the river in this area 18 feet (5.5 m) and widened it 400 feet (120 m). As a result of this engineering project, a portion of Manhattan was severed from the landmass, geographically becoming a part of the Bronx. Today this area is known as Marble Hill, and the community there continues to struggle with political boundaries that are split between the boroughs.

While the canal helped shape the communities around it in a number of ways, its plan came too late to influence the development of port facilities further south, which were already committed to growth centered on the railroads. The industrial districts that formed around Mott Haven and Harlem responded most to the presence of the railroad, which developed both as a complement and competitor to waterborne trade. Movement of materials, goods and people along the axes of Manhattan and the Bronx provided a flexibility of transport with which shipping could not compete.

Bridges

Despite the movement away from using the waterway for shipping, its role as a transportation corridor continued to evolve. Through the late 19th century, New York City stretched into its outermost boundaries and sought ways to make use of available land, and to that end, built dozens of bridges across the city. The peak in bridge construction lasted from 1880 to 1910 and focused on the swing bridge as the most economical way to reconcile the land-wasteful approaches of tall bridges with the desire to keep the river navigable for taller vessels. Some of these bridges replaced predecessors unable to sustain increased traffic; others were erected at new sites to provide more access points. Yet another was recycled and moved to a new location further down the river. Almost all of these bridges from that era of expansion still exist. Most of them were for local traffic and pedestrians, and a few once accommodated trolley lines; in addition, two bridges were constructed for train lines, one prior to the advent of the subway.

The more recently built Harlem bridges only carry vehicular or train traffic, as the use of the river as waterway diminished by the late 1920s. The fixed-arch Henry Hudson (1936) and Alexander Hamilton (1964) Bridges were added in the later era of automobile highways. Both were intended to relieve traffic congestion in the area, but the amount of vehicles quickly increased to fill the temporary lag. Two swing bridges were torn down in the 1950s when their use as elevated train lines was no longer warranted. Two of the more recently constructed bridges (at Broadway and Park Avenue) are vertical lift replacements of swing spans, where the previous bridges had become obsolete for the subway and railroad that used them.

The evolution of the bridges across the Harlem River reflects its use as an urban transit corridor, while a few also conjure its fleeting pastoral reputation. Far more tame than the East or Hudson Rivers, the Harlem was not as daunting an obstruction as other rivers. It did not require bridges like the Brooklyn or George Washington that were marvels of long-span engineering. The river required those engineering feats of industrial practicality that would allow for large amounts of vehicles, people, and goods to efficiently cross over the river and on it. Truly urban in their response to the land they occupy, the Harlem River bridges each reflect the metropolis’ ambitions and needs of their time.

Usages

Navigation and transportation

Three of the bridges that cross the Harlem River are visible in this photo of the river: the High Bridge; the Alexander Hamilton Bridge (part of Interstate 95); and the Washington Bridge. In this photo, looking north, the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan is on the left and the Bronx is on the right

Fourteen bridges cross the Harlem River, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan. According to Harper’s Weekly in 1882, “One of the most striking proofs of the rapid growth of New York is furnished by the bridges of the Harlem.”

There are two general categories of bridges on the Harlem River: fixed arch and movable. Four of the bridges are fixed arch spans (Henry Hudson, Alexander Hamilton, Washington, and High Bridges) and are built at some of the highest points along the river, connecting the uplands while remaining high above the water. The other ten bridges are movable, being either swing or lift bridges (Spuyten Duyvil, Broadway, University Heights, Macombs Dam, 145th Street, Madison Avenue, Park Avenue, Third Avenue, Willis Avenue, Triborough (Harlem Lift) Bridges) and Wards Island, and are located at lower grades. At the heart of their construction was the issue of keeping the Harlem River navigable for water traffic and yet sufficiently serving the needs of land bound traffic crossing the river.

The waterway is navigable to any boat with less than 55 feet (17 m) of air draft. However, any boat requiring more than 5 feet (1.5 m) of clearance will require the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge to swing open. All other movable bridges on the Harlem River provide at least 24 feet (7.3 m) of clearance while closed, so boats and ships requiring between 5 to 24 feet (1.5 to 7.3 m) of clearance only require the opening of the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge. These bridges replaced fixed bridges or lower-elevation bridges in the late 19th century to improve navigation. In the 2000s, openings of the movable bridges on the Harlem River for test purposes have outnumbered openings for navigation. There are no fees for navigation of the river.

The New York City Department of Transportation advises that while they make every effort to ensure that all bridges are operating, many of them are under repair at any time, and outside contractors are responsible for opening of bridges under repair. As well, sometimes on hot summer days, many of the bridge decks seize due to thermal expansion, and cannot open or close. Since the city will not allow more than one bridge open at a time, a bridge seizing in the open position can potentially leave a mariner stranded in a small section of the river.

Harlem River Drive and Harlem River Greenway run along the right bank of the river, and the Hudson Line of the Metro-North Railroad and the Major Deegan Expressway along the left.

Crossings

Crossing	Carries	Location	Coordinates
Triborough Bridge (Harlem Lift Bridge)		Manhattan and Randalls and Wards Islands
Willis Avenue Bridge	Northbound auto traffic; Pedestrian/bicycle	Manhattan and the Bronx
Third Avenue Bridge	Southbound auto traffic; Pedestrian/bicycle	Manhattan and the Bronx
Lexington Avenue Tunnel	IRT Lexington Avenue Line (   trains)	Manhattan and the Bronx
Park Avenue Bridge	Metro-North Railroad	Manhattan and the Bronx
Madison Avenue Bridge		Manhattan and the Bronx
149th Street Tunnel	IRT White Plains Road Line ( trains)	Manhattan and the Bronx
145th Street Bridge		Manhattan and the Bronx
Macombs Dam Bridge		Manhattan and the Bronx
Putnam Bridge (1881-1960)	Ninth Avenue El	Manhattan and the Bronx
Concourse Tunnel	IND Concourse Line (  trains)	Manhattan and the Bronx
High Bridge	Pedestrian	Manhattan and the Bronx
Alexander Hamilton Bridge	Interstate 95 U.S. Route 1	Manhattan and the Bronx
Washington Bridge		Manhattan and the Bronx
University Heights Bridge		Manhattan and the Bronx
Broadway Bridge	US 9 IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line ( trains)	Manhattan Island and Marble Hill, Manhattan
Henry Hudson Bridge	NY 9A Henry Hudson Parkway	Manhattan and the Bronx
Spuyten Duyvil Bridge	Amtrak Empire Connection	Manhattan and the Bronx

Recreational uses

A southern meander of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek off the main channel, now a bay in Inwood Park, the Henry Hudson Bridge in background

The Harlem River "speedway" in the early 20th century

File:Harlem River Park 142 St jeh.jpg

Harlem River Park

Despite commercial developments, the Harlem River has been used by many as a major source of recreation. In 1902, over a thousand rowers made use of the Harlem River. A number of boat clubs were located along its shores, and remained until 1978, when the last boathouse at Sherman Creek burned down. The Harlem River is the traditional rowing course for New York, analogous to the Charles River in Boston and the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. On the river's banks is the boathouse for the Columbia University crew, and the river is the home course for the university's crew. "Columbia Rock" refers to a large Columbia varsity "C" painted on a rock face along the tracks used by the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line.

While there is much commercial use of the waterway, there have also been recreational facilities that line its shore. The steep cliffs that line much of the area were locations that became parkland. The High Bridge shore was developed as a park and “speedway,” on which the well-trained steeds of Manhattan’s elite could race without pedestrian interference. This is an example of the manner in which the shoreline was sculpted, as the rugged edge was united with existing islands to create a landscape in a resort atmosphere from which one could comfortably observe the horse races on land and the sculling in the water. Magnificent arches, stairwells, and footpaths were constructed to facilitate the leisurely usage of the waterfront.

Also on the river are the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse and Harlem River Community Rowing, two community rowing facilities. Community rowing at the Sharp boathouse is run primarily by Row New York, a non-profit specializing in youth development through rowing. The organization took over boathouse operations in the spring of 2012 and has since expanded free rowing activities directed at residents of the local Inwood, Washington Heights, and Bronx neighborhoods. Both youth and adult programs are in operation. The boathouse is also used by crews from Fordham University and Manhattan College, and the river also hosts crews from Columbia University.

In addition to recreation in the water, a new Harlem River Park has been added to the Manhattan shoreline from 132nd to 145th streets. This park includes an eco-friendly waterfront edge that provides flora and fauna habitat while cleansing toxins from the water. It also contains several large scale public art murals and 15 etched steel heritage plaques depicting the history and culture of East and Central Harlem communities. The Harlem River Park will eventually connect two portions of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway around all of Manhattan.

See also

• Geography of New York Harbor
• List of New York rivers

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons