This view of the intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and 124th Street shows the convergence of new and old, the Acropolis apartment building on the left towering over the farmhouses clustered near a groundwater source known locally as Indian Spring. James Reuel Smith (1852–1935) photographed this corner in 1898 as part of his effort to document the city’s remaining natural springs. In the foreground, Amsterdam Avenue has stone pavers and streetcar tracks, and on the right, 124th Street has recently been graded. Smith noted that the “land immediately round about the spring is 30 feet below the present level of the street and Avenue but is being rapidly filled in and built upon.” The newly graded streets brought more residents to the neighborhood, and within 20 years these farmhouses were replaced by apartment buildings. CY