# Attention NYC history buffs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504 "2000-11-09T18:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/1 "2000-11-09T18:36:19Z")
In the book Beneath the City, which I think was written sometime in the 1970’s, the author says that there is a narrow footbridge which connects a point near the north tip of Manhattan to the mainland. I’m not sure what the name of the borough is, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t go over the Hudson, so it must be on the other side. The thing is, I was always fascinated that this bridge could have been built in 1840-something and still be there today. Is it still there now, or has it been removed over the past couple of decades? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/2 "2000-11-09T18:45:21Z")
It’s been almost thirty years since I took the Circle Line tour around Manhatten, but I think i remember such a bridge. It probably crossed the Harlem river which flows between the Bronx and Manhatten. The Harlem river connects the Hudson and East rivers. ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/3 "2000-11-09T19:49:36Z")
I don’t remember ever seeing a foot bridge in that section of town. As far as I can tell the only crossings that far north are the Henry Hudson Parkway, Broadway and a RailRoad bridge. Gary is right, It is the Harlem River. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/4 "2000-11-09T20:01:22Z")
There are still a few really cool old things in New York (besides Ukulele Ike and I, of course). One of my favorites is the I. Miller Shoe Building (“Shoes For Show Folks”) at Broadway and 46th. Along the second story of the building, in niches, are 3-foot bronze statues of Ethel Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Rosa Ponselle and Mary Pickford. Hardly anyone knows they’re there or looks up to notice 'em. If they ever demolish the building, I plan to be the only gal on my block with an Ethel Barrymore lawn ornament! ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/5 "2000-11-09T20:07:07Z")
You called? It’s High Bridge, the oldest of NYC’s bridges – built in the 1840’s/1850’s. It’s currently closed to regular pedestrian traffic. It also holds the Croton Aquaduct pipleine, which is, I think, currently in disuse (replaced by a tunnel under the harlem river – I think… more to come). ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/6 "2000-11-09T20:15:34Z")
Damn you, **stuyguy!** Now I have no reason to post. Oh, well, guess I’ll twit **Eve.** So, thouse four statues up there above the SBARRO’S sign actually honor the four performers (Broadway, Musical Comedy, Opera, and Film) in the name of four different _characters_…and for the life of me, I can only remember one; fill in the blanks for me, wouldja? Ethel Barrymore as Marilyn Miller as Rosa Ponselle as Mary Pickford as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Here’s another one for y’all…as everyone knows, the huge bronze ornamental doors of the gallant ill-fated ocean liner _Normandie_ ended up on the Croatian Church on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights. For two hundred dollars and a chance to go on to our next level, what happened to the gallant ill-fated ocean liner _Normandie’s_ URINALS? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/7 "2000-11-09T20:27:02Z")
Stuyguy and Ukelele Ike, what’s the job market like for information tech people in NYC? Elsewhere in America we always hear how expensive it is to live there, but are salaries higher too, at least in some professions? ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/8 "2000-11-09T20:32:26Z")
So we meet again, **Ukelele Ike!** Hey, screw these Ethel Barrymore et al hijacks! More about High Bridge, this time from the NYC Encyclopedia. It was built between 1837 - 1848. In the 1920’s, to facilitate navigation, a single-span steel arch replaced some (but not all) of the narrowly-spaced stone arches that hold the bridge up above the Harlem River. The NYCE confirms my statement that the bridge is closed to all traffic – pedestrian and cars. It also confirms that the bridge held the Croton Aqueduct, though it does not mention if the bridge pipe carries water to this day; I don’t believe it does… IIRC from a lecture I attended a few months back, I believe an underground pipe replaced the bridge connection. You can always spot High Bridge by the cool stone water tower that stands on the bluffs near where the bridge joins Manhattan Island. (I can play your game, **Ukulele Eve.** Who are the lifesize statues of historical men that crown the Surrogate’s Court Building, aka the Municipal Archives Bldg., on Chambers Street?) ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/9 "2000-11-09T21:08:26Z")
**Java** – sorry, but I have no idea about the NYC job market for info tech people. It’s not my field at all. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-nyc-history-buffs/40504/10 "2000-11-09T21:18:15Z")
Dammit, Ike, you gonna make me walk all the way back to Times Square after my shuttle trauma?