Photos courtesy the Museum of the City of New York
Harlem Bespoke: Most uptowners probably do not know that there used to be a massive amusement park in the Heights on Amsterdam by 190th Street that was built about the same time as the famous Coney Island in Brooklyn. The
Museum of the City of New York has the full story up on how trolleys in the 1890's spurred the development of these entertainment meccas that were at the outskirts of the city. Everything was profitable for over a decade but then business ended up souring a bit which did not help out the local economy.
Neighbors then wanted no part of the establishments which ended up just bringing in random drunk revelers and noise but a mysterious fire in 1913 would shut things down permanently. All of the land involved in the grand venture would eventually be absorbed into High Bridge Park and uptowners would eventually have to go to Brooklyn to seek such adventures. More photos and history on High Bridge Park can be found on the MCNY site:
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HarlemBespoke.com 2017
Is that the arch still visible on Upper Broadway, in the black-and-white photo?
ReplyDeleteI think Cellogramma is thinking of the Seaman Arch, which is still visible on Broadway behind a couple of auto body shops. The photo above is of Amsterdam Ave around 192nd Street. Everything visible was replaced by George Washington High School. There's nothing left.
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