James Reuel Smith, Inwood Hill and the Milkman’s Spring, seen from West 204th Street near Broadway, December 1899

Those who traveled to the upper reaches of Manhattan often described Inwood Hill as one the most picturesque areas of the city. Located on the island’s northwest corner and rising as high as 230 feet, the area offered views of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Hudson River. James Reuel Smith’s photograph captures the few houses speckled on the hill’s southeast border in 1899. Despite pressure from real estate interests, the city never opened streets on Inwood Hill north of this avenue as the terrain was difficult to regulate. At the turn of the 20th century, citizens’ groups lobbied to preserve the hill’s natural landscape. The city purchased the area in two sections, in 1917 and 1923, and opened Inwood Hill Park as the northern cap of a system of public green spaces that extended up the northern end of the island. AR