The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex

water distribution system A water distribution system is a part of water supply network with components that carry potable water from a Water treatment, centralized treatment plant or wells to consumers to satisfy residential, commercial, industrial and fire fighting requi ...

constructed for

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

between 1837 and 1842. The great

aqueducts Aqueduct may refer to: Structures *Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley *Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...

, which were among the first in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, carried water by

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

from the

Croton River The Croton River ( ) is a river in southern New York with a watershed area of , and three principal tributaries: the West Branch, Middle Branch, and East Branch. Their waters, all part of the New York City water supply system, join downstr ...

Westchester County Westchester County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The county is the seventh most populous cou ...

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. It was built because local water resources had become polluted and inadequate for the growing population of the city. Although the aqueduct was largely superseded by the

New Croton Aqueduct The New Croton Aqueduct is an aqueduct in the New York City water supply system, carrying the waters of the Croton Watershed from the New Croton Dam in Westchester County, New York, to the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx. Built roughly ...

, which was built in 1890, the Old Croton Aqueduct remained in service until 1955.

Background

The island of Manhattan, surrounded by

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

rivers, had a limited supply of freshwater available. It dwindled as the city grew rapidly after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, and freshwater sources became polluted by

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters, either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pol ...

. Before the aqueduct was constructed, residents of New York obtained water from

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s, wells, natural springs, and other bodies of water. Rapid population growth in the 19th century and encroachment on these areas as Manhattan moved further north of

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

, led to the pollution of many local fresh water sources. Below Grand Street, a small number of well-off customers of the

Manhattan Company The Manhattan Company was a New York bank and holding company established on September 1, 1799. The company merged with Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank. It is the oldest of the predecessor institutions that eventuall ...

had fresh water delivered to them, but that company was actually more focused on banking—it eventually became Chase Manhattan—and only paid as much attention to its water activities as it needed to avoid losing the state charter that allowed it to bank. The poor and the rest of the city were forced to rely on well water, often made palatable by adding alcoholic spirits, prompting temperance campaigners to call for the municipal provision of water. The unsanitary conditions caused an increase in disease. Epidemics of yellow fever ravaged the city. A polluted aquifer, overcrowded housing, the lack of sewers, public ignorance of basic sanitary conditions, and the existence of polluting industries near wells and residential areas contributed to an unprecedented mortality rate of 2.6% (1 death per 39 inhabitants) in 1830. Then in 1832

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

first reached New York in the deadliest epidemic to that date. The need for a new supply of fresh water was crucial.

Construction

In March 1833, Major

David Bates Douglass David Bates Douglass (March 21, 1790 – October 21, 1849) was a civil and military engineer, who worked on a broad set of projects throughout his career. For fifteen years he was a professor at the United States Military Academy, and after his r ...

, engineering professor at

West Point Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, was appointed to survey and estimate the proposed route. In 1837, construction began on a massive engineering project, to divert water from sources upstate, following a route surveyed by Douglass and supervised by Douglass' successor, Chief Engineer

John B. Jervis John Bloomfield Jervis (December 14, 1795 – January 12, 1885) was an American civil engineer. America's leading consulting engineer of the antebellum era (1820–60), Jervis designed and supervised the construction of five of America's earliest ...

. The

was dammed, aqueducts were built, tunnels dug, piping laid, and reservoirs created. The gravity-fed aqueduct dropped 13 inches per mile, 1/4" per 100' (~0.02%). An elliptical tube, 8.5 feet (2.6m) high by 7.5 feet (2.3m) wide, of iron piping encased in brick masonry was laid, sometimes in cuts, with conical ventilating towers every mile or so, to relieve pressure and keep the water fresh.

Hydraulic cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

was added where the aqueduct crossed rivers. It extended from the

Old Croton Dam The Old Croton Dam is a historic dam located in Yorktown, New York, Yorktown, Westchester County, New York, now lying submerged beneath the waters of the New Croton Reservoir. The dam was built on the Croton River between 1837 and 1842, and was t ...

in northern

to the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York City, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the United States mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvi ...

, where it continued over the High Bridge at 173rd Street and down the West Side of Manhattan and finally into a Receiving Reservoir located between 79th and 86th streets and Sixth and Seventh Avenues; the site is now the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond in Central Park. The Receiving Reservoir was a rectangular tank within fortress-like rusticated retaining walls, long and wide; it held up to of water. flowed into it daily from northern Westchester. Profile and Ground Plan of the Lower Part of Croton Aqueduct

Profile and Ground Plan of the Lower Part of Croton Aqueduct

From the Receiving Reservoir, water flowed down to the

Croton Distributing Reservoir The Croton Distributing Reservoir, also known as the Murray Hill Reservoir, was an above-ground reservoir at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Covering and holding , it supplied the city with drinking water ...

, better known simply as the Croton Reservoir, a similar fortified tank located on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

between 40th Street and

42nd Street 42nd Street most commonly refers to: *42nd Street (Manhattan), a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan It may also refer to: *42nd Street (film), ''42nd Street'' (film), a 1933 American Warner Bros. musical film with lyri ...

, where the

New York Public Library Main Branch The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as the Main Branch, the 42nd Street Library, or just the New York Public Library) is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown Manhattan, Midtown neighborhood ...

and

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a , privately managed public park in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and between 40th Street (Manhattan), 40th and 42 ...

are located today. This reservoir was built to resemble

ancient Egyptian architecture Spanning over three thousand years, ancient Egypt was not one stable civilization but in constant change and upheaval, commonly History of ancient Egypt, split into periods by historians. Likewise, ancient Egyptian architecture is not one style, ...

. New Yorkers came uptown for the fine view of the city obtained from atop its walls. The aqueduct opened to public use with great fanfare on October 14, 1842. The day-long celebration culminated in a fountain of water that spouted to a height of 50 feet (15 m) from the beautifully decorated cast iron Croton Fountain in

City Hall Park City Hall Park is a public park surrounding New York City Hall in the Civic Center of Manhattan. It was the town commons of the nascent city of New York. History 17th century David Provoost came to New Netherland as early as 1638, probab ...

Impact on the city

Water started flowing through the aqueduct on June 22, 1842, taking 22 hours for gravity to take the water the 41 miles (66 km) (at a velocity of ) to reach Manhattan. Even though only 6,175 houses had been connected to the system by 1844, the Croton water had already dramatically improved both domestic hygiene and interior design. Baths and running water were being built in the private homes of wealthy New Yorkers, and public bathing facilities were constructed for the masses. The water system had another inadvertent consequence. The decline in the number of residents drawing water from the city's wells resulted in a rise in the water table, which flooded many cellars. To address this problem, the city built sewers in many residential streets. By 1852, of sewers had already been constructed. About this time the

German cockroach The German cockroach (''Blattella germanica''), colloquially known as the croton bug, is a species of small cockroach, typically about long. In color it varies from tan to almost black, and it has two dark, roughly parallel, streaks on the pro ...

attracted attention and was called the "Croton bug" in the mistaken belief that the aqueduct brought the insects into the homes being connected to the new water supply system. Despite its size, the capacity of the Old Croton Aqueduct could not keep up with the growth of New York City, and construction on a

began in 1885 a few miles east. The new aqueduct, buried much deeper than the old one, went into service in 1890, with three times the capacity of the Old Croton Aqueduct. It currently supplies 10 percent of New York City's water. The Croton Receiving Reservoir continued to supply New York City with drinking water until 1940, when Commissioner of Parks and Recreation

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

ordered it drained and filled to create the

Great Lawn and Turtle Pond The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond are two connected features of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The lawn and pond are located on the site of a former reservoir for the Croton Aqueduct system which was infilled during the ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

. The old aqueduct remained in service until 1955. In 1987 the northernmost portion was reopened to provide water to Ossining.

Reused portions

Old Croton Trail

The Old Croton Trail extends for in

, providing public access along all but four segments — in the

Getty Square Getty Square is the name for downtown Yonkers, New York, Yonkers, New York (state), New York, centered on the town square, public square. Getty Square is the civic center, central business district, and Intermodal passenger transport, transit ...

neighborhood of downtown

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

Tarrytown Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on th ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and Ossining — along the route of the aqueduct. It crosses the lawn of Lyndhurst, following the aqueduct's easement. The trail enters New York City on the eastern side of

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a urban park, park located in the borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Al ...

and runs through the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

alongside Aqueduct Avenue, and the trail continues under the southern part of University Avenue. The Old and New Croton Aqueduct System 1887

Both the trail and the tunnel are part of the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, which was created in 1968 and encompasses the northernmost of the aqueduct and its

right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

, from

Croton Gorge Park Croton Gorge Park is a park in Cortlandt, New York owned and operated by Westchester County. It consists of at the base of New Croton Dam, which is one of the largest hand-hewn structures in the world (after the Great Pyramids and the Great Wal ...

to the Yonkers-New York City line. It lies wholly within Westchester County but is under the jurisdiction of the Taconic Region of the

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 3.03. "The office of parks, recreation and h ...

. The trail runs roughly parallel to Metro North's Hudson Line from northern

and is accessible from numerous stations on that line. The trail briefly parallels the

Rockefeller State Park Preserve Rockefeller State Park Preserve is a state park in Mount Pleasant, New York in the eastern foothills of the Hudson River in Westchester County. Common activities in the park include horse-riding, walking, jogging, running, bird-watching, and ...

and its trails. Access to the trail is easiest where it crosses Route 9, known variously as Albany Post Road, Broadway, or Highland Avenue. Heading southbound into downtown Yonkers, the trail goes on-street at Bishop William J. Walls Place and N. Broadway, where it follows the sidewalk on N. Broadway for one block, and then makes a left onto Ashburton Avenue going east. At Palisades Avenue, it makes a right and the trail bed restarts. Remnants of the aqueduct still exist and can be seen along the trail, including 21 stone ventilators, three stone weirs (chambers which were used to empty the aqueduct for maintenance), and one "Keeper's House" located in

Dobbs Ferry Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2021, its population rose to an estimated 11,456. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is ...

. The Keeper's House in Dobbs Ferry was built in 1857 and is the only remaining of four Keeper's Houses that is both on the aqueduct and open to the public. The only other remaining Keeper's House is located in Ossining, but it was moved off the aqueduct, is privately owned, and is not open to visitors. A portion of the Old Croton Aqueduct, running from the Croton River to Manhattan, was listed as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1992. and The Croton Water Supply System was also designated as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United Stat ...

by the

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

in 1975. The interior of the Old Croton Aqueduct has been documented by explorers including

Miru Kim Miru Kim is an artist, photographer, illustrator, and arts events coordinator, who has explored, documented, and photographed various urban settings such as abandoned subway stations, tunnels, the Croton aqueduct, Paris catacombs, factories, ho ...

and historian Steve Duncan.

Aqueduct Walk

Aqueduct Walk is a community park in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, New York City, running between Kingsbridge Road and

Tremont Avenue Tremont Avenue is a street in the Bronx, New York City. Its west end is at Matthewson Road at Roberto Clemente State Park in Morris Heights, which then becomes a step street after Cedar Avenue. At the top of the step street at Sedgwick Ave ...

. Aqueduct Walk is designated as an official

New York City scenic landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), which administers the city's Landmarks Preservation Law, has designated twelve scenic landmarks across three New York City boroughs . The scenic landmarks include public parks, plazas, ...

Gallery

File:HarpersWeeklyIllustrShuttingOffTheCroton11121881 crop.jpg, "Shutting off the Croton", from ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper (publisher), Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many su ...

'' (November 12, 1881) File:Weir chamber Sleepy Hollow.jpg, A weir in Sleepy Hollow. The weir chambers were used to empty the aqueduct for maintenance by diverting the waters to a nearby waterway. The line could be emptied in two hours.Descriptive display at the weir chamber in

Ossining, New York Ossining ( ) is a town located along the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York. The population was 40,061 at the time of the 2020 census. It contains two villages, the Village of Ossining and part of Briarcliff Manor, the rest of which ...

in the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park. Accessed: September 6, 2010 File:Crotonwalkfordjeh.JPG, Croton Walk, south of Kingsbridge Road,

File:Croton W119 Gatehouse jeh.JPG, 119th Street

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

, Manhattan File:Keeper's House.jpg, 1857 Keeper's House in

; open to the public. File:OldCrotonAqueductInside.jpg, Inside the Old Croton Aqueduct at the weir in Ossining File:Ossining Weir - aqueduct with hydraulic cement lining on the portion inside a viaduct.jpg, A section of aqueduct inside a viaduct with hydraulic cement lining File:Ossining Weir - brick walls and exposed ceiling.jpg, A section of aqueduct with brick walls and exposed ceiling File:Ossining Weir - gate to close off the aqueduct.jpg, A gate at Ossining Weir to close the aqueduct off for maintenance File:Ossining Weir - valve.jpg, A valve at Ossining Weir to redirect water out of the aqueduct File:Croton Aqueduct Tower 16 Irvington New York.jpg, Ventilator No. 16,

Irvington, New York Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson, is a suburban Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village of the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, Un ...

(May 2005) File:135th St Croton Aquaduct gatehouse.jpg, alt=135th St Croton Aqueduct Gatehouse in New York City has a brick two story octagonal tower with stone work at its base, 135th St Croton Aqueduct Gatehouse in New York City is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Notes

References

* * *

External links

NYC GOV Water System History
* NYC GOV New York City's Water Stor

"How a Massive Public Works Project Saved a Parched New York," by SAM ROBERTS, New York Times, December 4, 2017Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic ParkFriends of the Old Croton Aqueduct
* ttps://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/croton-water-supply-system ASCE History and Heritage of Civil Engineering - Croton Water Supply Systembr>"Croton Aqueduct"
in 1902 Encyclopedia

''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...