Grand Central's Bronx Roots

Photo via Sclafani's Flickr

The Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park contains many rail remnants (including an old passenger platform) from the New York Central Railroad's Putnam Division, which began construction there in the 1870s. Amongst the historical artifacts that remain in the overgrown trail are 13 stones that were placed there prior to 1903 by Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. He had quarries send him samples to help determine which weathered best, with the chosen one used as the building material for Grand Central Terminal. "In the end, the second southernmost stone, Indiana limestone, was chosen not for its durability but for its cheaper transportation cost across Vanderbilt's railways." Who knew we had our very own Stonehenge in the Bronx!

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By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on October 5, 2009 4:08 PM

Comments [rss]

Sisko24

Who needs dirty, wet, muddy trails? I say, BRING BACK THE NEW YORK CENTRAL (and the Putnam Division)!

Kevin Walsh

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Putnam%20Branch%20page/putnam.html

values_hehe

I go running by there all the time. It feels like your own hidden corner of the city. That trail goes all the way into Yonkers, passing streams, marshes and rivers and you can still see the old railroad ties.

Nearby is the vault where Augustus van Cortlandt hid the papers of the City of New York while it was occupied by the Brits.

Shh! Don't tell too many people.

HOTCUP

once again, gothamist proves its ignorance of the bronx and its inhabitants by reporting on it as if it were some foreign land.

it's not a spectacle for manhattanites and williamsburg hipsters. people actually live and work there.

Tench

Folk's crazy. They're bitter if you ignore the Bronx like you're too good for it, then they're bitter if you write about it.

I love this sort of stuff. I love anything that encourages people to visit the boroughs. And so you know, I live and work in the Bronx.