59th Street Bridge ~ Now and Then: 1909 ~ 2009

Here's a photo of the 59th Street Bridge from 1909 the year it opened.
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Below it are photos I took last week. I attempted to take the same scene, 59th Street looking east from Second Avenue to the water, but trees, cars and construction blocked a great deal.
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On the very bottom are two photos of buildings on the north side of East 73rd Street between York Avenue and the water. These tenements were built approx. 1920, before that, this area was the center of Jones Woods. During the 19th century Jones Woods was a major destination for picnics, rallies, horseback riding and all forms of recreation.




Below ~ a 1918 New York Times article about Yorkville and Jones Wood:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9902E7D7143EE433A2575BC2A9619C946996D6CFEE433A2575BC2A9619C946996D6CF


Below is part of an article from New York Nature on the consideration of Jones Wood for Manhattan's key new park:

http://www.newyorknature.net/Parks.html

The campaign to create a great public park began in 1844 with an editorial in the Evening Post by William Cullen Bryant, who proposed a wild tract of 160 acres between 68th and 77th streets and Third Avenue and the East River, known as Jones's Wood, which he described as "beautiful woodland...thickly covered with old trees."

Another New York Times article from 1921 that references Yorkville and Jones Wood:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D0DE7D8103FEE3ABC4852DFB266838A639EDE

I still smell Silvercup bread whenever I cross the 59th Street bridge.