Some local history

515 Edgecombe Avenue is locat­ed in a neigh­bor­hood steeped in his­to­ry. The “combe” in Edgecombe is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word mean­ing “hill”.

Morris-Jumel Mansion

Just two blocks north of our build­ing is the his­toric Morris-Jumel Mansion. General Washington used Morris-Jumel Mansion (MJM) as his head­quar­ters dur­ing the fall of 1776. It was dur­ing this peri­od that the General’s troops forced a British retreat at the Revolutionary War Battle of Harlem Heights.

The house was built eleven years before the rev­o­lu­tion, in 1765, by British Colonel Roger Morris and his American wife, Mary Philipse. The breezy hill­top loca­tion proved an ide­al loca­tion for the family’s sum­mer home. Known as Mount Morris, this north­ern Manhattan estate stretched from the Harlem to the Hudson Rivers and cov­ered more than 130 acres. Because they were loy­al to the crown, the Morrises were even­tu­al­ly forced to return to England.

During the war, the hill­top loca­tion of the Mansion was val­ued for more than its cool sum­mer breezes. With views of the Harlem River, the Bronx, and Long Island Sound to the east, New York City and the har­bor to the south, and the Hudson River and Jersey Palisades to the west, Mount Morris proved to be a strate­gic mil­i­tary head­quar­ters. Shortly after the Battle of Harlem Heights, Washington and his troops left the Mansion and, for a time, it was occu­pied by British and Hessian forces.

The Mansion is built in the Palladian style, with a sec­ond sto­ry bal­cony and a two-sto­ry front por­ti­co sup­port­ed by clas­si­cal columns. The two-sto­ry octa­gon at the rear of the house is believed to be the first of its kind any­where in the colonies. The first floor of the 8,500 square foot house fea­tures rooms for fam­i­ly and social gath­er­ings, and includes the par­lor in which Madame Eliza Jumel mar­ried Aaron Burr in 1833. Across the hall stands the din­ing room where Washington like­ly enter­tained his guests in 1790. At the far end of the hall, the octag­o­nal draw­ing room, or with­draw­ing room as it is prop­er­ly known, pro­vid­ed a grand set­ting for social gath­er­ings. Bedrooms on the sec­ond floor include those of George Washington, Eliza Jumel, and Aaron Burr. The base­ment hous­es the colo­nial-era kitchen and tells the sto­ry of domes­tic servi­tude at the Mansion. The room fea­tures the orig­i­nal hearth and a bee-hive oven as well as a col­lec­tion of ear­ly American cook­ing uten­sils. Through archi­tec­ture and a diverse col­lec­tion of dec­o­ra­tive arts objects, each room of the Morris-Jumel Mansion reveals a spe­cif­ic aspect of its col­or­ful his­to­ry from the 18th through the 19th cen­turies.¹

Coogan’s Bluff

Coogan’s Bluff, a large cliff extend­ing north­ward from 155th Street in Manhattan, once was the site of the fabled Polo Grounds, the home of the New York Giants (base­ball) for over 5 decades, and the first home of the New York Mets. 

To the north of Highbridge park is a wood­ed area with­in which lies a land­mark schist rock that pokes through the dirt called Coogan’s Bluff.  It is named after James Coogan, Manhattan Borough President, who sold the land to New York Giants own­er John T. Brush, who moved the Giants to the sec­ond Polo Grounds in 1891.

It sits atop a steep escarp­ment that descends 175 feet to the Harlem River Valley below.  In 1891, John T. Brush (1845–1912), the Giants’ own­er, bought the land for the sta­di­um from James J. Coogan (1845–1915), a real estate mer­chant and Manhattan Borough President (1899–1901). The Giants orig­i­nal­ly played in a polo field on 111th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Brush kept the name, Polo Grounds, when he moved the team to Coogan’s Bluff in 1891. In April 1911, the Polo Grounds, an elab­o­rate wood­en struc­ture, burned to the ground. By October, the Giants were host­ing the Philadelphia Athletics for the 1911 World Series in a rebuilt sta­di­um of con­crete and steel. The new Polo Grounds boast­ed box seats of Italian mar­ble, orna­men­tal American eagles on the balustrade, and blue and gold ban­ners, 30 feet apart, fly­ing from a can­tilever roof. At the time, it was the pre­mier Major League Baseball stadium.

Baseball soon estab­lished itself as the quin­tes­sen­tial American game, and the New York Giants made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to 20th cen­tu­ry base­ball lore. Mel Ott (1909–1958) and Willie Mays (b.1931) are thought to be among the finest play­ers of all time; and the names of Christy Mathewson (1878–1925) and Carl Hubbell (1903–1988) are still men­tioned when­ev­er great pitch­ers are dis­cussed. The Giants also pro­vid­ed base­ball with one of its most dra­mat­ic moments: “the shot heard round the world.” In 1951, the Giants and their arch-rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers were in the ninth inning of the decid­ing game in a play-off to deter­mine the National League pen­nant win­ner. With two outs left in the game, the Dodgers were ahead 4–2 when Bobby Thomson came to bat for the Giants and hit a 3‑run home run win­ning the game for the Giants, and mak­ing base­ball history.

In 1957, the own­er of the Giants, Horace Stoneham (1903–1990) broke many New York hearts when he announced that he was mov­ing the Giants to San Francisco. The Polo Grounds remained for sev­en more years, serv­ing as home to the New York Mets for the 1962 and 1963 sea­sons. In 1964 the sta­di­um was demol­ished and now the Polo Grounds Towers, a hous­ing project, occu­pies the site. All that is left of the orig­i­nal Polo Grounds is an old stair­case on the side of the cliff that once led to the tick­et booth.

Today, Coogan’s Bluff is part of Highbridge Park, which was assem­bled piece­meal between 1867 and the 1960s, with the bulk being acquired through con­dem­na­tion from 1895 to 1901. The cliff­side area from West 181st Street to Dyckman Street was acquired in 1902, and the par­cel includ­ing Fort George Hill was acquired in 1928. The park extends from 155th Street in North Harlem to Dyckman Street in Washington Heights/Inwood. The Friends of Highbridge Park are involved in pre­serv­ing the park’s his­to­ry and the New York Restoration Project has cleaned the park and restored its trails.²

Paul Robeson Residence

The Paul Robeson Residence, a National Historic Landmark, is locat­ed at 555 Edgecombe Avenue in New York City.

Paul Robeson (1898–1976) — actor, singer, civ­il rights advo­cate — lived in an apart­ment in this 13 sto­ry apart­ment build­ing from 1939–1941, upon his return from liv­ing and per­form­ing in Europe.

Paul Robeson was a gift­ed stu­dent and ath­lete while attend­ing Rutgers University in New Jersey. He was a bril­liant Phi Beta Kappa stu­dent, two time All American foot­ball play­er (1917–1918), and won hon­ors in debat­ing and ora­to­ry. He grad­u­at­ed from Columbia Law School but gave up law to pur­sue a career in singing and act­ing. Robeson per­formed on Broadway, and is not­ed for his lead­ing roles in Othello and Eugene O’Neill’s play, Emperor Jones, and his stun­ning ren­di­tion of the song “Ole Man River” in the musi­cal Showboat. In 1934, he vis­it­ed the Soviet Union, where he felt ful­ly accept­ed as a black artist. During World War II, he enter­tained troops at the front and sang bat­tle songs on the radio. 

Despite his war efforts, he was labeled “sub­ver­sive” by McCarthyites, who were wary of his ear­li­er trip to the Soviet Union, his sup­port of the 1947 St. Louis pick­et­ing against seg­re­ga­tion of black actors and a Panama effort to orga­nize the most­ly-black Panamanian work­ers. Robeson began receiv­ing death threats from the Ku Klux Klan while cam­paign­ing for the Progressive Party can­di­date in the 1948 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. When he pub­licly opposed the Cold War, even the nation­al sec­re­tary of the NAACP ques­tioned his loy­al­ty as an American. Connecticut state offi­cials also went to court to pre­vent him from vis­it­ing his fam­i­ly home in Enfield. Undaunted, Robeson for­mal­ly denounced the action and on August 27, 1949, trav­eled to Peekskill, New York, to sing before a group of African American and Jewish trade union­ists. A KKK-led riot can­celed the con­cert but Robeson returned the fol­low­ing week with 25,000 sup­port­ers. A “human wall” pro­tect­ed Robeson while he sang, though after­wards many of the con­cert goers were ambushed and beat­en while local police and state troop­ers stood by.

In March 1950, NBC barred Robeson from appear­ing on a tele­vi­sion show with Eleanor Roosevelt. Concert halls closed their doors to him, and his records began to dis­ap­pear from stores. After eight years, an inter­na­tion­al out­cry, and the Supreme Court’s rever­sal of the same sit­u­a­tion for the artist Rockwell Kent in 1958, Robeson won.

The High Bridge

The High Bridge was built in the mid-19th cen­tu­ry as part of the Croton Aqueduct sys­tem, which car­ried water from the Croton River in Westchester down to Manhattan. When you cross the bridge, you will be walk­ing above the aqueduct’s orig­i­nal pipes, which still lie beneath the walk­way of the bridge.

When the bridge first opened in 1848, 35 years before the Brooklyn Bridge, it was hailed as a mar­vel of civ­il engi­neer­ing. Designed by engi­neer John B. Jervis, who worked on the Erie Canal, the bridge ris­es 138-feet tall and stretch­es 1,450-feet long, mak­ing it the longest bridge in the United States when it was completed.

Modeled after a Roman aque­duct, the bridge cost $950,000 to build, and it was part of the Old Croton Aqueduct System, built to pro­vide the grow­ing metrop­o­lis with a vital sup­ply of fresh water from Westchester’s Croton River. Concern about the spread of dis­ease, notably the repeat­ed cholera epi­demics, and mem­o­ries of the Great Fire of 1835, which ruined most of low­er Manhattan, also served as moti­vat­ing fac­tors for its construction.

The bridge opened to car­ry the aque­duct across the Harlem River in 1848, and its walk­way was com­plet­ed in 1864, mak­ing it a pop­u­lar spot to prom­e­nade on a nice day. The bridge achieved fame as an attrac­tion for New Yorkers and tourists and a favorite sub­ject for artists and pho­tog­ra­phers, a sort of 19^th cen­tu­ry High Line. The walkway’s pop­u­lar­i­ty led to the build­ing of hotels, restau­rants and amuse­ment parks in the vicinity.

Equally pop­u­lar were boat cruis­es up and down the riv­er, and rac­ing com­pe­ti­tions for crew boats. Later, once the Harlem River Speedway was opened in 1898, sight­seers strolled along the new water­front esplanade in the cool breezes and watched hors­es and bug­gies fly by.

After con­struc­tion of the Major Deegan Expressway in 1956 and the Harlem River Drive in 1964, pub­lic use of the water­front fad­ed. The riv­er became pol­lut­ed, paths were blocked, and the pull of the parks on the water’s edge van­ished. In the 1970s, pub­lic access to the bridge was discontinued.

Local pres­sure to reopen the bridge began soon after, and even­tu­al­ly, groups such as The High Bridge Coalition were able to coa­lesce that sup­port into a cit­i­zen-led cam­paign to restore the High Bridge and its neigh­bor­ing parks. In 2012, work began to reha­bil­i­tate the bridge, and it was reopened in June 2015.

Read more about The High Bridge here.

1. This text is tak­en from the Morris-Jumel Mansion web­site. ↩

2. This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found post­ed with­in the park. ↩