What's Left of New York's Lost Reservoir?

[@ITSHISTORY]

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[@LimeMehu]

Ok.

[@M0A0R0k00W0Y0L0D0E]

hey dude can you please do a video about the round building at the bottom left in 1:40 and at 2:06 , I'm not from the US by the way and so I was always curios about that round structure since I discovered it in books?

[@bunnywarren]

@@M0A0R0k00W0Y0L0D0E I think that's Castle Clinton.

[@M0A0R0k00W0Y0L0D0E]

@@bunnywarren thanks a ton! 👍

[@F4Insight-uq6nt]

Hydro Turbine Power.

[@rustjockey]

The Old Croton Aqueduct runs right through my yard, and one of the stone vent towers is maybe 200 yards down the path. It's just something I've grown up with for over 40 years. This sparked my interest in it's history again. Pretty cool!

[@stevelacombe5291]

Impressive engineering for 1838. One of my ancestors was the contractor for a section of aqueduct near Sing Sing. John Jervis was the main engineer.

[@joegordon5117]

I love that parts of the original structure are down there towards the lower sections, still visible. Bit like going through the Louvre in Paris and coming across a few sections of the medieval walls, still there, the past still echoing into the present.

[@JeffinBville]

NYC has the world's largest unfiltered water supply and its engineering story is more than remarkable. Using nothing but gravity, 90% of the 1 billion gallons a day that feeds near 11 million people in and around NYC, comes nearly 90 miles from the Catskill Mountains while another 10% comes from the old Croton system in Westchester, Putnam and even Dutchess counties.

[@colasil326]

Not to mention, Power from Niagara Falls

[@togowack]

We didn't build it, its all very old, well over 1000 years

[@bradcrosier1332]

…and it’s still a shit-hole.

[@kenetickups6146]

@@togowack ?

[@Donna-P]

Need I mention that this is the very reason you CANNOT get good pizza in ANY other state. Serious pizzerias out west actually have THAT water shipped to them. Urban myth? I think not!

[@timbrown9535]

Ive got a story just like this from my little podunk home town, only its different. Years ago we had a Safeway grocery store that moved. The old building sat empty for many years. The county bought the property and made the justice center there in its place. To this day, you can go down into the jail, away from public eye, enter the pipe chase off the main hallway, and find the original exterior wall of the old Safeway store. Pretty cool.

[@jetsons101]

Great narration, great information. It looks like parts of the old Croton Reservoir were used for foundations for the new library. So much history --- so little time.....

[@ToyInsanity]

The base of liberty is is old Fort Wood built in 1807. It was already decommissioned on bedloe's Island when Bartholdi got the go-ahead for liberty in 1871.

[@christinecollins6648]

All between the Lions

[@004Black]

I am astonished at the amount of detail you’re able to dredge up on your subject matter. Thanks for this deep dive into the reservoir (pun intended).

[@alittleofeverything4190]

I'll give you a pass for using 'deep dive'...lol. There was a time that it was the most overused two-word phrase in existence and I grew to hate it....haha

[@stevenhoffman6187]

You should try to get into the book depository under Bryant park. On the stairs down you can also see the original granite with depth markers left over from the reservoir.

[@JohnnyArtPavlou]

Cool!

[@kostas6621]

Incredible! I was born and raised in Manhattan and I'm just discovering all this wonderful history!

[@charlesclager6808]

As I watched this excellent video I recalled the old saying that "necessity is the mother of invention". And this is so true in that the necessity of more water led to new innovative ways to fill that need.

[@roopjm]

Your history of New York series is FASCINATING!! It's such a huge city that has gone through such gargantuan changes, that keeping track of it all is mind boggling.

[@j.b.3825]

The pond you referenced as the city’s first fresh water source was actually called “The Collect Pond”, not the “collection” pond as you stated. Hence the namesake “Collect Pond Park” at Leonard and Lafayette Streets. The uneven pavement is the result of the original problematic landfill and draining of the pond location.

[@jamesdean8427]

@@j.b.3825 I know. Every time he said it I cringed.

[@dannyjones3840]

Another great history lesson. Growing up in the Bronx, I love NYC history.

[@kevinforeman4485]

They have a book on where all the streets in the Bronx got their names. Alot of Generals in my area. Sheridan,Sherman, McClellan. That's where I learned where Tremont got its name. Tremont means 3 mountains. Mount Hope, Mount Eden & Mount Claremont.Growing up in the BX riding your bike as a child you got plenty of exercise pedaling up hills.

[@gorfulator]

They mention the reservoir in "The Alienist" book. I've been intrigued ever since!

[@DEEAD666]

Same here!

[@maru4361]

Also by EL Doctorow in Waterworks

[@0fficialdregs]

heck yeah, i didnt know the reservoir is where the library stands! i learn something new today

[@newtagwhodis4535]

Such a great show! Thank you for exploring and sharing.

[@jesmalar]

The wall at the north end of the fields north of the Great Lawn that can be seen behind the police precinct from the 86th St Transverse is the remains of the Croton Reservoir in Central Park that is mentioned in the vid

[@CB-py1xh]

Thats one main difference between American and European culture: in America they seem to demolish perfectly fine structures all the time, while in Europe they are preserved as long as they work and than they are preserved as historical sites and put to another use. That includes houses from the 17th century as well as hotels build in the 1960s and 1970s: in most cases they will be preserved and refurbished and repurposed as long as they are safe to operate.

[@General_Eisenhower1945]

America still does a really good job at saving historical artifacts and buildings and have definitely gotten better as days go by. Just around the Mid-Atlantic we have coastal defense WW2 era bases, old Dupont powder mills, the USS New Jersey, various colonial churches houses and even historical sections of whole towns that have been preserved. It's not crazy in the days of this old reservoir once it out lived its usefulness and demolished before it had any significant historical significance.

[@dfiler2]

Napoleon might disagree with you

[@jmd1743]

Very pretty structure.

[@stephankyle6460]

The fact that the world's fair burned down right next to all that water is crazy

[@Troyboy23]

More NYC history please

[@Joedirt3349]

Indeed!

[@usatourpros]

Fantastic job, thanks for the historical look back.

[@dzl6848]

It's amazing seeing nyc clean. That was a quick 15 min. I could listen to your history all day.

[@TonysMusic1974]

9:25 "Tombs of prisons." It's a city jail given the nickname "The Tombs." it's still in operation.

[@1867Phoenix]

I'd like to see an episode about the Miller Highway (Elevated West Side Highway).

[@BubbaBear6969]

Your dedication to the detail of what you present is astonishing. I thank you sir, for actual history. You know, instead of the braindead sensationalistic fluff KZbin is famous for. Well done!

[@lukasparo5125]

I helped revitalized the new system that feeds water from the upstate region of new york. Its an incredible system the uses reservoirs and gravity to feed water 200+ miles down to the city.

[@kw2519]

I’ve been eyeballing machinist jobs with the nyc water dept. Did you work along side anyone in that role? If so, do you remember what kind of stuff they actually did?

[@lukasparo194]

@@kw2519 I would say its a great career, The guys i worked around were all super happy and laid back , Seems like a job that required very little other than observation of the systems it was a pretty laid back enviornment. The boss lifted wieghts all day in the office.

[@tr1ppyh1ppy]

i love that the bricks r still there

[@JohnnyArtPavlou]

Excellent presentation!

[@ryanjofre]

Outstanding work dude👌

[@AaronOBryan60]

Wow..How interesting…Thank You

[@jjlpinct]

7:32 It's so sad how everyone has to edit themselves

[@FreeFly69-um5ln]

That's exactly what I was thinking when I read the newspaper type.

[@gy2gy246]

He didn't have to. He's reading an old document, and I think it would have been fine.

[@jjlpinct]

@@gy2gy246 he had to if he didn't want to be demonetized

[@kw2519]

What would anyone have gained by hearing that terminology? It has no place in modern language and he provided the article. Sounds like y’all just want to say it and you’re pissed you can’t. I knew what he meant and why he didn’t say it.

[@jjlpinct]

Hard r

[@nuyorican91st]

Never knew the library is where that aqueduct once stood Crazy! I love that library when I was a kid in the 90s

[@stegowolf]

Thank you for the history of this Resivoir! As a native New Yorker, its Fascinating to now know about the NYPLs relation with it and the Worlds Fair! Can you please also do a history of the Ridgewood Resivoir in Queens, along with its Force Tube pump and the Comduit that supplied it?

[@jimc5096]

The history of NYC is one of my favorite subjects. Great job and thanks!!!!!!

[@robertdufour2456]

Fascinating! Thank you so much!

[@tarahill2193]

This was fascinating, thankyou😊. There is no such thing as wasted knowledge it's just information you haven't used yet.❤

[@modenasolone]

great reporting

[@vivianwukmir4799]

Engineering on a massive scale is very interesting . Sorting and grading for watershed is important.

[@Jpkjr52]

Thanks again John in Chicago

[@Coillcara]

Great programme! But the background thumping music is distracting.

[@gy2gy246]

There is no music.

[@johnmiranda2307]

Outstanding!!

[@theparrotrescuer3042]

Awesome video... thanks 👍

[@sincerelyyours7538]

Interesting. I'd heard of the old Croton Reservoir but was not aware that the site is now the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. The Library is one of my favorite NYC buildings. I hope it lasts for many years longer than the reservoir did.

[@SwimmingintheDeep]

Executive summary: People in NYC were thirsty, built a big cistern, later tore it down when it became outdated.

[@drpepperr]

Fascinating

[@mrmagoo.3678]

well.. that's the first time I've ever heard of that!.. shame we loose so much interesting old architecture, but we HAVE to keep changing I suppose.

[@mariekatherine5238]

One thing I love about New York is how little fragments of historical places get incorporated into the modern city. The Highline is an example of this.

[@gy2gy246]

I love the Highline.

[@kw2519]

Everything old is new again

[@RigletDad]

I've never heard of an above ground reservoir.

[@incredingo]

i never knew about this before, thanks for a great video

[@Prxblm]

keep making these dope videos you keep me so intrigued and interested every time! 💯

[@rturney6376]

Great 👍 video!! 😊❤🎉

[@stellijer]

I see on the map there were apparently tombs where the collection pond park now stands? Yet there is no mention of a graveyard, today. I'm also a little confused at the photo about the moved graveyard which was cited as moved for Croton Res - the caption says it was on 20th st and 1st and 2nd aves? How was that needed to be moved, since the res was on 5th and 40th?

[@bold810]

My favorite song by the Ramones- "Croton Hop" 🎉

[@dolsiemercado3140]

Very beautiful.

[@mohammedcohen]

IIRC the 'collection Pond was the location of the infamous Five Points...for a good history of Manhattan read Herbert Asbury's "The Gangs on New Youk'...I used that book as a basis for numerous college (1967 - 1971) papers

[@christiansmith-of7dt]

The media is alot better now than it was in the 80's when i started this project

[@mohammedcohen]

....I remember read that the Library replaced the Croton Reservoir in Asbury's book...

[@NeWx89]

So there were two croton reservoirs, one where the library of bryant park is and another in the middle of central park? Also what's that huge building seen next to the reservoir at the start of the video?

[@mikeokeeffe4692]

That was the Crystal Palace, which I dont know the actual name of specifically for New York but they had these structures in Paris London, St. Louis, anywhere there was a World Fair too. Many times in a cities' story, these buildings set on fire in some way during a catastrophic city fire or mishap. Good eye though, it is huge.

[@johndudley5761]

The elfin tower sits there today !

[@justinhobart8747]

Curious if you could or have done anything on the Philadelphia Pennsylvania's Fairmont water works and reservoir along with the art museum that's now there... I just had a lot of headaches and issues with another supposed History Channel trying to start a bunch of conspiracy theories over what the art museum was built over... I subscribe to their channel because I like history as I like yours but yeah not quite what I was looking for so just thought I'd ask if you could maybe do a video on that sometime, I research to quite a lot of it myself.

[@brealistic3542]

Great info. 😎

[@shaskaone]

At 1:29 1:39 and 2:05 what going on with that round building now in the water ?

[@positivefandom9066]

Hello :) Got to see an amazing CGI version of the reservoir in The Alienist tv show, that’s how I knew about it. Thanks for the video 😊💎

[@ItzMiKeKirbY]

The collection pond sounds like the very same situation that the New Town Creek, also in NY, is currently experiencing; albeit not a reservoir at all.

[@georgejetson1025]

Good documentary but you forgot to say the dimensions. You can use the American standard measuring unit. Football fields .

[@Mr10usdad]

Very informative video

[@ArolzStreams]

I remember a reservoir in riverdale in the Bronx.

[@MichaelBradley1967]

Architecturally, that reservoir would have fit in perfectly on the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS.

[@firebox_zh]

is the engine sfx playing all the way from start to end?

[@jadesea562]

Intro music stills scares the heck out of me. Lol.

[@ValerieBottenus]

It was called the Collect Pond----not the Collection Pond. The park is Collect Pond Park.

[@TheBigChill1]

My city, Lisbon in Portugal have a much greater water works build 2 centuries earlier than the New York system... ;)

[@andrews527]

It was known in the city as the Collect Pond.

[@nightrunner1456]

Great video.

[@nightrunner1456]

Beautiful.

[@SlapShotRegatta22]

Wow, nice segue 🤣😂

[@elizabradley4797]

Collect Pond was the area of The Five Points ?

[@DOUBLEDEFENSE]

And today you can’t go a block with out Indu uffin hitting you with a hammer 🔨 😂

[@michaellawrence588]

The Bank of America Tower at 42nd Street and Sixth Ave glass exterior is partly inspired by the old Crystal Palace.

[@lucasrem]

Surf Sharks protect the West River now.

[@jamesn.economou9922]

The construction of all the canals, sea walls and stone structures, are ALWAYS understated. Lets here about the men who actually laid the stones. Who were these people? What company, back in the day, had the wherewithal, to source, transport, cut, and assemble the stones? It doesn't matter, because we believe ALL chroniclers of history, to point, of believing, both conflicting historical narratives. New York had hundreds of millions of tons, of stone and brick laid, in about 20 years. Who were the men who actually did that?

[@empressmeowmeow9581]

Excellent work, but the pond you referred to was called The Collect Pond, not Collection.

[@Josie2013]

I find it very odd that a video with 102,000+ views (2/28/23) has only 82 comments. Are they being deleted?

[@alittleofeverything4190]

Due to all the negative comments that are here, I don't think so. It's like if they did delete comments then they deleted the positive ones.

[@DevynCairns]

It looks kind of similar to old Japanese walls

[@thrumylenns2207]

Does anyone know if that is the library that John Jacob Astor had built after he died?

[@stuartmckenzie7543]

History is his story..

[@frankjones5770]

I bet it would be a nightmare tryna build under it with the subway if it were still there

[@dianadelahaye7660]

Very interesting

[@MeowTheCheesepuff]

Great video but not enough reference to the dutch!

[@julianshepherd2038]

I couldn't lose a whole reservoir and I can't find fk all

[@Joedirt3349]

IKR!!?

[@Imnotyourdoormat]

Nicolas Cage and Ed Norton at 5:49.....

[@blitztim6416]

I wonder if the water was treated in some way with the surfaces being exposed like that. And why was the Hudson not a water source? Not currently, but then.

[@kw2519]

Brackish water near the city. Plus the Hudson is kind of a chute of trash and sediment.

[@rucksackzen]

Love this piece, but when reading directly from a newspaper source and quoting it for a historic retelling like this, you cannot change any of the language, no matter how offensive. I an a genealogist and know all too well that many things I uncover are not PC today.

[@ericjohnson6105]

Does this reservior have a twin in Vahalla, NY?

[@thetooginator153]

I don’t know about other people, but the moving background is very distracting to me. It makes it hard for me to focus on the central image. I am very interested in this topic (old New York), but I can only visually focus on one thing at a time.

[@0the0ambient0]

Good video But it's called "Collect Pond" not "Collection Pond"

[@mattkaustickomments]

iirc…The reservoir was featured in the serial killer thriller “The Alienist”.

[@neondragonplayz542]

Tartaric..?

[@LimeMehu]

Cool

[@daveh9551]

Nothing is "fresh" in NYC. Im sure that water was full of wholesome goodness

[@rupe53]

he said "unfiltered" but it's not untreated.

[@daveh9551]

@@rupe53 I guess for turn of the century water it was good enough. Had to drink something back then I suppose.

[@rupe53]

@@daveh9551 ... you have to remember that the lower Hudson River was basically an open sewer in those days and people took steamboats almost 100 miles north just to get fresh air.... in the Catskills.

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

Yo that was awesome! I'll sub :)