The Building of the Harlem River Ship Canal

In New York City, the Harlem River Ship Canal runs around the extreme northern end of Manhattan island. Built in stages between 1893 and 1938, it allowed boat traffic to travel directly in between the Hudson and the Harlem rivers.

[@williamruss8157]

Thank you for your careful research and for taking the time to produce and post this expert documentary. Your efforts are appreciated!

[@NoNORADon911]

The Govt took that steel mill out of business then let their property sit there for 10 freaking years unoccupied, what BS, that's a a lot of jobs and money for the economy lost. Old news now and the least of our problems...

[@jayski9410]

I love that overhead fade-away shot from modern to old landscape at the end of your presentation. As a teenager I used to take the trains thru Spuyten Duyvil on my way to Grand Central from Poughkeepsie and Rhinecliff up in the mid Hudson Valley and never knew how much of that landscape was man made. Now as an old man watching this from Los Angeles, you took me right back to those dirty old noisy smelly trains (New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail and later Metro North). I can remember the train had to switch to a diesel engine from electric one at the Croton Harmon locomotive shops for the second half of the trip. And sometimes when the passenger count was light, you left the full size train altogether and transferred to a Bee Liner car which was prone to mechanical difficulties for the final leg. Thanks for the memories...

[@jonka1]

Brilliant, and thank you for not adding music to the soundtrack.

[@carloberg8772]

yes indeed

[@MARKWHITE007]

I wish it was like that everywhere on here.

[@charleskdaus1735]

l

[@timrohrbach1801]

You did better than anything I have seen. History Channel and Discovery need to learn from you!

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

Thanks!

[@andyyale5939]

Excellent, thoughtful and expert!! Your narration was superb.

[@johnscanlan9335]

WOW!!! This is an amazing documentary of the history of my "homeland." I grew up in Riverdale and I had heard some of this history but I never knew this level of historical details. Thank you so much for this valuable education!

[@deezynar]

I have never been to New York city, but I have studied it a little via Google Earth. I had no idea that the waterway was not natural. It's great to learn.

[@SpandauJerry]

Same ☺

[@jediknight38]

I have lived in the Marble Hill area nearly all my life from 1971 to today. God bless you for presenting this history lesson of my home neighborhood way before I was even born.

[@cnosprandt5155]

Well done! I've been over the Henry Hudson Parkway Bridge countless times and never knew all of the effort that went into developing the land below.

[@musicforaarre]

Extremely interesting !!!! I could just eat this stuff up. I was riveted with this, and love urban geography/history, especially of New York City. Completely fascinating ! Aarre Peltomaa

[@seanledden4397]

Wonderful video! I live just a 5 minute walk away from the Broadway Bridge, and it's great to learn the particulars of the local river history.

[@iraqilemonade]

This improved my life significantly. Thanks.

[@marbleman52]

This was very enjoyable and a great history lesson; thank you..!!!

[@wrlord]

6:14 - not just the 1980s, but the '70s through the 90s. I used to walk all along those overgrown tracks. You'd see some amazing and scary things there.

[@jed-henrywitkowski6470]

Please share some of the amazing and scary things you've seen.

[@joermnyc]

I know the unused west side tracks go into a tunnel around 123rd street and that became the “Freedom Tunnel” a homeless encampment that was pretty much lawless. When Amtrak wanted to start using the line again, they had to remove all the people down there.

[@frequentlycynical642]

"Hey, I know! Let's move a bridge! Twice!" Great video, thanks.

[@SuperIliad]

I just discovered this on June 17, 2019, the 124th anniversary of the opening of the Harlem River ship canal. WELL DONE!

[@kilomike4380]

Love Historical roadway,railway and industrial documentaries.Thank you sir 🤗

[@smfield]

That was without a doubt an outstanding short documentary. Thank you.

[@RellyOhBoy]

I grew up in the Kingsbridge/Riverdale section of the Bronx and always had a fascination with the history of that area. I used to go to JFK H.S. which sits in what used to be the west side of the old creek bed. I also heard that the old Kingsbridge was never actually dismantled but was eventually covered over and the remains are under what is now Marble Hill Ave between 230st and 228st adjacent to the Uhaul storage and Marble Hill playground. There is a plaque commemorating the bridge's location and history, its mounted on the side of the building at 210w 230th street on the corner or Broadway.

[@dogwish8996]

Can you take a picture of that and post it for me

[@firesurfer]

@@dogwish8996 The only thing visible is an ordinary city street. Turn on aerial view. Maybe I'll try to find the plaque. I see what might be a plaque on google maps. V3GV+M33 New York There are some reviews that talk about the plaque in maps. Search for King's Bridge Redoubt. V3GV+M8 New York. There is a blog, Hidden Waters Blog, ''King’s Bridge, Bronx'' that has some pictures.

[@williamchristian8389]

As a Midwesterner who loves New York, I really enjoyed your film. Would love to se more historic films coming from you. Thank you so much!!

[@Andrew-ep4kw]

Fantastic documentary on the Harlem River. I've crossed the Henry Hudson bridge many times (though I avoid it now because of the ridiculously high toll, $14 round trip), and never realized how much that section of the river had been engineered.

[@Blippity_Bloop64]

Awesome! Great footage and explanation of the progression of events.

[@kentgordis7922]

Really well done and very interesting, a fascinating piece of New York City history. Thank you!

[@Dan-oj4iq]

The narrator's voice reminds me of Shelby Foote. You can never go wrong if you want to tell a story and sound like Shelby Foote while doing it.

[@2012crmc]

I was born in Manhattan, grew up and played in Inwood Hill Park, even went swimming off the Spyte and Duyvil bridge. thank you so very much for the history AND some good memories. Well done!

[@inwoodliver]

Spuyten Spuyten Duyvil /ˈspaɪtən ˈdaɪvəl/ is an upper middle class neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is bounded on the north by Riverdale, on the east by Kingsbridge, on the south by the Harlem River, and on the west by the Hudson River, although some consider it to be the southernmost part of Riverdale.

[@tomtulloch5786]

Thanks for posting this. I've lived in Marble Hill for over 20 years. I knew the history of the Ship Canal (in part because I knew that Marble Hill is part of Manhattan.) You filled in some gaps for me though. Your presentation is informative and concise. Thanks for putting here!

[@Peasmouldia]

Very nice upload. Shame that the KZbin algorithm had not seen fit to suggest this till now, especially considering I'd watched your excellent railway offerings. Thank you sir.

[@MegaSnow121]

I live on the west coast, and have only visited New York a few times. Yet this video was interesting because it shows how much waterways can be changed by municipalities. I appreciated the last few seconds of the overhead view and the old waterways overlaid. Very interesting, and a nicely done presentation.

[@awizardalso]

Thank you for this. I was born in Manhattan in 1954 at St. Elizabeths Hospital that was in the area of Hudson Hgts. It was closed back in the 70's, I believe and converted to co-op apartments sometime later. It's located at 689 Fort Washington Ave. My parents moved to Cleveland in 1957 after we were caught in the middle of a gang fight in a park. Apparently, gangs back then had a code of conduct and we were left unharmed. From watching shows like NYPD Blue and Law and Order, I am somewhat thankful my parents moved away from NYC. I do have an interest in history, historical events and the history of the city where I was born. Again, thanks for uploading this video. My real name is Michael. I'm not a real wizard that just a nickname I was given as I'm quite adept at designing, building and fixing things and sometimes fixing things that are considered unfixable.

[@richardgerlach5156]

I've been by there many times on Metro-North commuter trains. I had no idea of this waterway's history! I thought it always was as it is now! Actually, I truly never gave it a thought at all! Glad I found this posting! Very interesting!

[@VMA225]

WOW !!! Well Done; from a former Marble Hill resident !!!

[@khalifahmuhammad1574]

Which is where my mother grew up and my parents originally met. Beautiful documentary.

[@tedt1065]

grew up their in the 60s and 70s used to jump from C-ROCK as a kid and go to inwood park

[@martinhalpin3455]

@@tedt1065 I jumped from " The Cut " aka " C Rock " in the late 1950's.

[@dannyjones3840]

Thank you again for the history of home!

[@anita-di2fb]

Thank you for your wonderful and most informative video. My family and I lived at 210 W. 230 St. from 1952 until July, 1962 when we moved to a new house in the suburbs. I remember the plaque on the east side of the apartment building but I did not know about the other bridge crossing at 230th St. and the intersection of Kingsbridge and Marble Hill Roads.We were not taught about the history of marble Hill and Kingsbridge at P.S. 7 (but I am not at all complaining-The elementary school educationwas superior . I remember the Cities Service gas station across the street from our building! I often wondered about what the ground underneath the Marble Hill houses looked like. I can see from that one photo that it was filled in quite successfull Were extensive piling s used to support the enormous weight of the apartment buildings or was the fill just so extensive and successful? I remember my friend finding a (I'll call it a Delaware Indigenous tribe ) grooved stone axe head under a bush in Ewen Park! He wouldn't give it to me! I found it amazing that noone had noticed it before he found it. Not the public or the park workers! I understand why it was there -It was perfect for indigenous habitation next to the wandering Sputen Duyvil creek and the Tibbetts Brook creeks flowing from the north. Also why indigenous remains were found along what is now Broadway in Kingsbridge and where the Kingsbridge Library was built! Also I didn't know ther e were marshes with fresh water clams (mussels?) in the Van Cortlandt Park area. I saw the current Broadway bridge floated in. We only had the one room library down the street from St. Johns until the Kingsbridge library was built You quite possibly would never learn about certain things then-unless someone had deigned to write a book about the subject=or, the book might be"out"-or (hopefully!) available from some other branch. In closing, let me say that the iInternet is at once the best and worst thing that has ever been created! duct

[@TWOCOWS1]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting this lost portion of NYC history. I just wished you had shown more maps and stats on the old harlem river/creek. FANTASTIC. thank you

[@kevindowney7983]

everybody who grew up in the area should watch this !!! really great thank you

[@olivei2484]

The last set of frames was amazing. Thanks for the wonderful narration.

[@terryallen9546]

Nice work! I've never even been there, yet I watched the whole video.

[@mzxeternal]

Great piece of New York History! Thank you for the terrific video.

[@januarioqueiroz3122]

...and to make this video more beautiful besides its historical importance, is the narrator voice, which is very pleasant and calm!

[@kklock9057]

I live half a block from Inwood Hill Park and visit every day. It is my public place, in the pandemic, to take off my mask and show my face. I appreciate this history of all the surroundings, including the river and bridges. Thank you.

[@jeffreygluck6732]

Fascinating video. Commuted to Fordham in the 1970s and know the area well.

[@countrypaul]

What a great presentation - thoughtful, precise, factual, enough time on each photo to allow the viewer to "get inside" it - and no gratuitous soundtrack music. Thank you!

[@jackmorrison7379]

Interesting report. Thanks for all the effort that went into this. I have a brief, long ago connection to Marble Hill and that's as much as I'll disclose. So long ago it maybe before the newer Broadway bridge was opened up.

[@davidziff2591]

Grew up with a view from my bedroom of the Columbia C and Henry Hudson bridge. What a treat this video is for me. Thanks!

[@Ricky40369]

That was interesting as hell. Thanks!

[@garagekeys]

Excellent, thank you!

[@JimAllen-Persona]

Fascinating history. I’m going to take the Circle Line in the spring up around northern Manhattan.. haven’t taken that trip in over 30 years.

[@richardmaier28]

you broke down the changes like no other,I've got a friend on Seaman Ave who said everyone jumped over the C into the water as kids.I'm 66 and don't know anyone else who has except for my friend who's74

[@tedt1065]

I grew up their in the 60s and 70s used to jump off C-Rock as a kid , i lived Jacobus and w225 st, we used to wait for the circle line then jump memories😁

[@geosutube]

Great history. The visual aids are critical. Thanks for including them.

[@jeffg.8964]

Wonderful, informative video. I’ve been on the water there many times and never knew the full history.

[@williamgarcia210]

Growing up in NYC and I never knew of this history. It’s amazing to see some of the photos from 100 years ago and to see the absolute transformation from then until now! It’s time to replace all of those bridges once again. Great work. Very informative.

[@christopherbuckley94]

A few of your videos have been popping up in my "algorithm" and I have been enjoying them immensely. I grew up in the 1960's in central NJ, but my father was a merchant marine in NY Harbor, so I knew about and saw a lot of these areas around NYC. When I got a bit older, I was interested in trains a did quite a bit of railfanning in the region. Great job!

[@bubblehead78]

Outstanding documentary and superb narration.

[@kjmcwig6882]

As a boy growing up in this part of New York in the 1950's, I roamed far and wide from about 181st Street up to 207th and beyond. Played Little League ball games in Inwood Hill overlooking the canal described here, roamed Fort Tryon and the Cloisters Museum, played and even swam in the shadow of the Henry Hudson Bridge. There were burnt down boat houses and the old ferry pier at the foot of Dyckman Street that offered my friends and me plenty of adventures. We quite frequently discovered the remains of one or another of the estates that once graced Inwood Hill; not knowing the real history we concocted some pretty inventive stories for ourselves. Amazing place to grow up

[@iusetano]

Bravo!!!! Excellent video.

[@benm5221]

Fascinating and well-done. Lived in the area for 40 years, and had taken the cruise around it, but didn't know the origin and history. Thank you.

[@realhwddet9197]

Thank you very much. As a child, I lived at 238th st and Bailey Ave. I went to Good Shephard when the 225th St bridge was being replaced and swam in the Harlem at the mountain (for a young Bronx boy) with the C on the front. I had to watch out for condoms and floating turds. My father told me there was a velodrome east of the bridge and it burned down. A major fire in the day. Again thank you for the great presentation and for explaining the history of the Harlem River Ship Canal.

[@kozmickarmakoala3526]

Brilliant !! Thank you for this . I am a native (b.1964) of Morningside Heights and only recently began to discover and rediscover my island. Northern Manhattan is fascinating with this history and its hills, bridges and parks. *~;)

[@ronaldhowell7427]

I remembered when the new 225th bridge was put in. It was the big news back then. You are bringing back so many good memories. Thank you very much. What High School did you go to? I went to Dewitt Clinton.

[@horseshoedreams]

Thanks Gary for sharing our history.

[@bishop7534]

Definitely worth to know a little history about the little town I grew up in. Thanks.

[@jerrywoodland]

Fantastic history and pictures!

[@PeterT1981]

Very well done. Great detail and video editing. You must be a teacher?

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

Thank you. I am not a teacher. I just enjoy doing this kind of research and making videos.

[@willsieh7389]

Thank you for the sharing. Great documentary video

[@samhouston1673]

Excellent narration from one who had a direct connection with this local history. Bravo! Your enthusiasm and due diligence of research is to be commended. This is the types of history presentations that I cherish.

[@paulsmyers203]

That was really good! Last year I took an architecture tour riverboat ride around Manhattan and the guide talked a little about the bridges and waterways, but mostly the waterfront buildings. This video was more what I had hoped for the boat tour :D

[@JackKellyUSA]

A former Riverdale resident, I hung attentive and spellbound on your every word Richard.

[@koos48]

Spuyten Duyvil is very close to the Dutch spuitende duivel, meaning spouting devil. In 1972 on a boat trip I was told it meant in spite of the devil, which I believed. Luckily I looked it up in Wikipedia, sparing me the the embarrassment of incorrectly correcting you. Great video!

[@stan.rarick8556]

Nice. Especially the closing crossfade

[@jumperlaugher8839]

Fantastic video. Thanks.

[@ProfSimonHolland]

Wonderful film...beautiful, precise, makes me want to visit the canal...

[@tommypetraglia4688]

Take the Circle line. Manhattan and its environs is fascinating to tour via the water. It was a tugboat deckhand in NYC for nearly a dozen years mostly towing fuel oil and for me NY harbor was the most compelling harbor and waterway which includes the Hudson River, the East River w/its Hell Gate (Google that), Flushing Bay to the Long Island Sound and the Kill van Kull and Arthur Kill between New Jersey and Staten and of course the Harlem River. If you have the mind and the time may I suggest taking a NYC holiday for a week where everyday take a different waterway tour. However you might find that one Circle Line tour is not enough.

[@homeone4054]

Fantastic video and narration.

[@davehughesfarm7983]

Good job on this Doc. Coming from a Heartland person whom knows nothing of this here area..

[@SpeedGraphicFilmVideo]

Thanks!

[@BruceK10032]

Fantastic! Rich in local history. I've lived in the neighborhood for 68 years now, and there are a lot of things here that I did not know.

[@nicksflicks9592]

Wow! Simply amazing! I grew up in the area and spent lots of time there. Thank you for the history lesson!

[@nitramretep]

Great video and narration, thanks!

[@timburrows8043]

Great little video, thanks very much for this! I know the area well and it is fun to learn about its history and see the old photos.

[@kaicanoll9685]

Expertly done!

[@stevenj2380]

Great thanks. 1960s PS 152 and JHS 52. Took years after I was kid to find out how NY Manhattan was barely separate from the Bronx, originally. There is a small plaque at the Marble Hill House approx. where Kings Bridge was.

[@donaldleider7382]

Fascinating piece of history, thanks for the effort!!!

[@wenzwenzel2529]

Fantastic. Great history to think about when you're on the train into the City.

[@markwiss]

Thank you.

[@dennissweeney6774]

Thanks for a job well done. very interesting.

[@lasermodeler]

Great stuff. Well narrated and informative. Good editing and and a great way to present 100 otherwise meaningless photos for an Australian viewer to enjoy.

[@SheriffofYouTube]

real nice narration . great photos

[@patrickmcdonough7696]

Great Job! I grew up in Kingsbridge and lived on W 230th St for years. I learned about the old creek bed there and why the houses had elevated walks into the homes over the lower area were a front lawn would be. That was the old creek bed. The photo of Kingsbridge Ave from Marble Hill showed the area before all the WWII apartment buildings were built.

[@tapalmer99]

Thank you for the video Over the years I've tried to explain to various people about Marble Hill, Spuyten Duyval,... and what it looked like a hundred years ago before the canal, and have even walked a couple of people around where the projects are were they filled in the creek

[@CerveloR5]

Wow. Great video sir. Thank you for sharing.

[@tallismaryward]

That was beautifully explained. As a Brit never knew. We have a seing bridge in Newcastle but not at that size. Thank you.

[@williampawson5476]

WONDERFUL... thank you

[@jhonwask]

I love the topography changes. Rivers don't like to move, but they did here.

[@graham2631]

thank you,really enjoyed that.

[@chrisc4088]

Very cool fade from photo to map at the end. Thanks

[@Impact204]

Phenomenal work I've lived in Inwood all my life & I'm a proud Inwoodknight for life. BTW that is'nt a gang just been using that name for the pass 10 yrs. once again amazing work & thank you for your work & effort. ;)

[@kennj321]

Excellent video. narration was great too.

[@radiomoabit-afreeBerlinvoice]

I have learned a lot from this! Wonderful old pictures and a fine description. Thanks for sharing!

[@dwiproductions]

great job-tremendous work!

[@outie-pm8nr]

Great video sir thanks 👍

[@lavrentichudakoff2519]

I liked the video. Went to Manhattan College and am quite familiar with the area.

[@Dang...]

Excellent thank you!