Croton Aqueduct
Coordinates: 40 ° 45 ′ 11 " N , 73 ° 58 ′ 55" W.
The Croton Aqueduct is an aqueduct for the water supply of New York City that was completed in 1842 and operated until 1965. The water was taken from a reservoir on the Croton River and led to Manhattan through a 66-kilometer canal .
The Croton Aqueduct is considered the first major water supply structure in New York and was therefore included in the National Register of Historic Places in December 1974 . In April 1992, the remains of the structure were declared a National Historic Landmark .
The service route that runs along the free mirror tunnel was already a popular walk for the local population during operating hours and is now used as a cycling and walking route in the recreational area of New York City. Much of the land used by the aqueduct and its facilities is now part of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park .
Description of the structure
The water for supplying the aqueduct was taken from the Croton River. The (old) Croton Dam, located in Westchester County , was dammed several kilometers long Croton Lake for water intake. The aqueduct ran roughly parallel to the Hudson River towards Manhattan . Most of the water pipe was designed as a masonry gravity channel with a barrel-shaped cross-section, 110 cm wide and 130 cm high. The only work of art in the northern section is the Sing Sing Kill Bridge , which is bricked and lined with cast iron plates, near Ossining .
The greatest challenge was crossing the Harlem River , which was accomplished with a culvert on the 440 meter long High Bridge . The Manhattan Valley was charged with four parallel cast iron pressure pipes under extended and the Clendening Valley crossed with a brick dam that had passages for the roads. In Central Park at 85th Street was the run-off and sedimentation basin, which held 680 million liters. From there, a further line led under the Fifth Avenue to Verteilreservoir Murray Hill , Cronton reservoir called in Bryant Park on the site today at the New York Public Library is.
The water in the aqueduct flowed solely through gravity and took 22 hours from Croton Lake to the city.
history
Although Manhattan is on an island, the water from the Hudson River and the East River cannot be used as drinking water because both bodies of water are salty. The few wells and cisterns on the island were no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the growing city at the beginning of the 19th century. Often sewage seeped into the wells. There were repeated epidemics of yellow fever , cholera and typhus , which resulted in numerous deaths. This also severely affected trade and had a negative impact on the economy. The city council therefore decided to set up a public water supply system, construction of which began in 1837. In the following years the aqueduct was built under the direction of John B. Jervis . The water supply system was inaugurated on October 14, 1842 in the presence of the then incumbent US President John Tyler , the former Presidents John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren , and the Governor of New York William H. Seward .
Effects of public water supplies
Public baths were built and baths with running water were built into the homes of wealthy citizens. However, there were also side effects at the beginning: The wells, which had previously been heavily frequented, were used less and less, which led to a rise in the groundwater level and flooding of the basement. This was counteracted with the construction of sewers. In 1852 these had a total length of 238 km.
New Croton Aqueduct
The old Croton aqueduct was soon no longer able to cope with the strong growth of the city, so that in 1895 the construction of a second aqueduct began. The New Croton Dam and the New Croton Aqueduct were put into operation in 1906. Its capacity was three times that of its predecessor and still provides 10% of New York's water supply today.
Others
- The reservoir in Central Park was used until 1940 and then demolished. Today there is a meadow (The Great Lawn).
- The Croton Reservoir in Midtown Manhattan was demolished in the late 19th century. The New York Public Library is located in the same place today .
- The High Bridge is still standing and was reopened as a pedestrian bridge in the summer of 2015.
Web links
- M. Hunter: Croton Water and the architectural monuments in Manhattan , script of a lecture on Monument Day 2004, Berlin (PDF file; 117 kB)
- Old Croton Aqueduct Trail , map of an educational trail along the course of the former aqueduct in Manhattan
- Hydrographic Map, New York, Westchester, and Putnam, Cronton Aqueduct , Historical Map of the Croton Aqueduct
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c New York State Parks: Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park , accessed January 28, 2012
- ↑ Old Croton Aqueduct on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 19, 2019.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed August 19, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d J. Kroessler, Hudson River Museum: The Old Croton Aqueduct: rural resources meet urban needs
- ↑ Final Cross-Section of Masonry Conduit, adopted by Jervis, 1837 in Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, Section Old Croton Aqueduct, New York, New York County, NY ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ John B. Jervis: Croton Aqueduct, (Westchester Co., New York). Pipe chamber, Manhattan Valley. Elevation, sections, and details. Rendering
- ^ Hydrographic Map, New York, Westchester, and Putnam, Cronton Aqueduct in Theoph Schramke, Description of the New York Croton Aqueduct, New York, 1843.
