106th St/McGown's Pass

A very wide stream ran into the East River between 106th Street and 107th Street, according to Viele's Water Map. One source of the stream came from the west side of Manhattan, and the water flowed to the east side near McGowan's (or McGowns) Pass, which was the pass used by the Kingsbridge Road to cross the low rocky cliffs that rose above 106th St at the time.

The images below show the stream as it was in 1776, as seen by the British. The first image is the whole map for context, and then the next is just a small cropped section to see the detail of the stream itself. The bottom of the map is at about 110th Street. (This was an area of Manhattan that saw a great deal of fighting during the first part of the Revolutionary War; the official title of this map is "A map of part of New-York Island showing a plan of Fort Washington, now call'd Ft. Kniphausen with the rebels lines on the south part, from which they were driven on the 16th of November 1776 by the troupes under the orders of the Earl of Percy. Survey'd the same day by order of His Lordship by C. J. Sauthier.")

Near the bottom of the map, "McGowan's Pass" is marked. This was a key passageway for Revolutionary War troops, and George Washington's men kept a lookout for the British from the higher ground north of 106th Street. The Parks Department has more information on McGowan's Pass on one of their excellent historical signs.

I am having a hard time corrolating the British views with Viele's Water Map of the same area; is the watercourse shown on the British map merely the northern extension of what is shown on the Viele map? If so, then it must have hooked East just past the bottom of the British map. The southern extension of the stream, which connects to other sources and flows to the East River, will be for a seperate post.

I have seen no traces of these streams on the surface of the modern city. There is also little trace of the challenging McGowan's Pass Road, which was described as late as 1893 as "wild and precipitous." However, there is a 5-foot diameter sewer underneath 106th Street east of Central Park, and there is an 8-foot by 12-foot sewer underneath East 110th St, both of which were built in the 1870s; was the stream re-routed through one of these sewers?

Comments

[Marnie Hall]

You write, "There is also little trace of the challenging McGowan's Pass Road, which was described as late as 1893 as "wild and precipitous."
The highest point is behind the Conservatory North Garden, where the old Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul building stood. It burned in 1848, but remnants of walls and steps are still there. It was on the old Kingsbridge Road, and there is a picture of it on a slab in the Park as you ascend the hill south of Fort Clinton. My guess was that this was McGowan's Pass, but another "slab" in the park near 110th and Fifth Ave. has a picture of McGowan's pass that shows it to be between Fort Clinton and Nutter's Battery.

[petey]

i want that map!

[margot sheehan]

McGowan's Pass is essentially the same as the part of East Drive that descends by the cliffs in a deep s-shaped curve near Harlem Meer. It led to the west, not to the north as in your map. It went by the 1814 blockhouse which is still standing in the North Woods. The Convent buildings were an infirmary in the Civil War, a tavern again afterwards, burned in the 1880s, then rebuilt as a tavern till about 1917.

[margot sheehan]

1) Here's a lightning bolt. That British map is a military map from 1776. The clearly delineated Kingsbridge Road leading off north and east is clearly wrong and intended to deceive. The terrain may be largely accurate. But maps and drawings from the early 19th century clearly show a switchback leading to west and south and north again after leaving the tavern.

2) The bottom of the map is not around 110th st but about 102nd St.