I just came across this striking black and white photo of the High Bridge Aqueduct over the Harlem River. It also includes the Speedway which passes under the High Bridge. The image was taken over 110 years ago, in 1915, just before World War I. The photographer took the shot, no doubt, from the Washington Bridge at 181st St., just to the North of the High Bridge by about seven blocks.
If you look really closely, you can see the smokestack on the pumping station above the bridge and to the right. You can also see steam from either a tug boat or a train over on the left side below the bridge. You will also note that by 1915, New York was fully electrified as noted by the numerous street lights and the building lights in lower Manhattan. Of course, all the columns located in the river are still there and wouldn't be removed until about 1927, when they started the construction of the steel span over the river to replace those columns to allow for navigation on the river by larger shipse

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