Croton Aqueduct at Harlem River
After Fayette Bartholomew Tower American
Engraver Joseph Napoleon Gimbrede American
Publisher Wiley & Putnam American
Not on view
This 1843 print shows the Harlem Aqueduct (or High Bridge) spanning the Harlem River. From 1850 through today, it has operated as part of a system built to deliver water to Manhattan from the Croton River in Westchester. When this image was published, the bridge was actually still under construction and the system relied on a pipe that passed under the Harlem River slightly upstream (see 54.90.1603 for the jet that could be created from that pressurized flow). A civil engineer who supervised the project made the drawing reproduced here.
