While strolling through busy Soho, it’s easy to overlook tiny Jersey Street, a little trafficked side road that takes us back in time. And on this street, it’s even easier to miss a small artifact that embodies a vital part of New York City history and its growth: at the southern end of the Puck Building—which was a printing plant for more than a century and turned out publications such as New York Press, Spy Monthly, and Puck Magazine—almost hidden under modern asphalt, is New York City’s oldest manhole.
The manhole cover reads “Croton Aqueduct” and “1866” – that’s not the serial number, but the year – which was before boroughs were created. After the introduction of the five boroughs in 1898, manholes in Manhattan were imprinted with “MANHATTANBOR,” and a few of those can still be spotted as well.
Today we think of manholes as leading to our sewage system, but this one has the word “aqueduct.” In fact, it led to New York City’s fresh water supply. After the Collect Pond was drained in 1810, a new source of water was needed, so the Croton Aqueduct was built. Completed in 1842, it supplied New Yorkers with drinking water from the Croton River, 41 miles to the north. The aqueduct brought water into a reservoir on 42nd Street, through which it was distributed to the city. The reservoir was surrounded by 50-foot (15-meter) walls that were 25 feet (7.6 meters) thick. These walls offered space for public promenades on the top, and Edgar Allen Poe was one of many city residents who could frequently be seen strolling along them.
In the 1840s, New York City’s population was just over 312,000. Within just 50 years, the city had ballooned to more than a million people, outgrowing the reservoir. A dam was built on the Croton River, making the reservoir obsolete. It was torn down in the 1890s, and in its place now stands the research branch of New York Public Library and Bryant Park.
It’s fascinating to think about the change, the people and the ideas that shaped New York in these brief 200 years. In a city of extreme impermanence, as we experience it today with its inhabitants rushing and shoving, it’s comforting to know that some ideas persisted. Not only did the ideas persist but the actual work, objects, sculptures, and buildings are still here today to tell us the stories of the past.
| 1842 | Water starts flowing into New York from Croton River |
| 1899 | Croton reservoir demolished |
| wiki | Croton Distributing Reservoir |
| link | Book: Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow |
| internal | Oldest New York Manhole |
| internal | Forgotten NY - Jersey Street |
| internal | The Waterworks - Wiki |
| internal | gDoc |