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Vol. LXXXVIII





AUGUST 12, 1911





No. 2265





IN. THE   FARTHEST   CORNER   OF   MANHATTAN.

The Dyckman Tract Has Been a Seat of Recurrent Lot Booms, Which Are
Now   Giving   Way to Public Improvements and Private Building Enterprises.





THROUGH a numlier of sales ihis
week and last in the Dyckman sec¬
tion attention has again heen called to a
part of Manhattan that for a good many
years has seldom remained long out of
puhJic notice. When the Dyckman tract
is not furnishing diversion as the seat of
a lot Ijoom, it is quite apt to produce a
sensation in the way of some historic flnd.
One would hardly expect to come upon
unchanted monuments in the horou^h
of Manhattan within a few minutes' ride
of populous residence nelghhorhoods. Yet
the Dyckman tract Is as primitive as any
remote suburban corner of the city. Be¬
cause of its accessibility it is a place of
golden prospects to real estate operators
and because its soil has heen scarcely dis¬
turbed below the surface it is a fruitful
fleld of exploration for prospectoi's after
historic antiquities. Some of the most
important recent discoveries of Indian
remains have been made there.

The chain of title hy wliich the tract
has descended from Colonial times helps
to explain why this quarter of Manhattan
remained farm land, while elsewhere vil¬
lages grew up and were amalgamated
with   the  expanding  city.    The   first   mcn-





until lyuy, when the Dyckman heirs of¬
fered a part of the property at auction.
The bidding was slow and the lots
brought only a few hundred dollars
apiece. Two other auction sales were
held in 1S70, and a fourth during the fol¬
lowing year. At the time of the la.st sale
the market was somewhat better, a few
of the lots bringing as high as .f;2.0il()
each.

As fhis Tjart of the island possessed no
transit facilities of any kind, there was
no further activity until about lSi)l>, at
which time transit expectations ran high.
During the building of the subway a deal
of trading took place, but no boom oc¬
curred unlil about 1004, when the rapid
transit line was in operation. From then
until now there lias been a more or let^s
steady increase in value, couisled with in¬
termittent booms. However, until recently,
there was almost no building activity.
This is accounted for by the fact that the
liigher land of Washington Heights was
IDreferred by builders and all of their
efforts were concentrated in the building
up of that district. In the last few years
several apartment houses have been crect-





aljly with the good stores of the middle
West Side. A cross-town trolley runs on
:^07th street, from Broadway, over the
Harlem River bridge, to the Bronx, and
many of the residents of that borough
are now coming to shop at these stores.
As the district along the east bank of the
Harlem is not very well supplied with
good shops, it is likely that in time a con¬
siderable amount of Bronx business will
come across the river, and this wil! un¬
doubtedly create in the future a shop¬
ping district around the 207th street sta¬
tion, which will be similar to the one at
St, Nicholas avenue and ISlst street. This
car line also affords an easy way for
residents of the West Bronx to reach the
subway, and quite a number of those
whose business calls them downtown use
this means nf travel.

The rentals of 2.5-foot stores average
^1,.")II0 to $1,000 each. Apartments in
walk-up houses rent for .$0 to ijlfi.riO a
room. The Hensle Construction Com¬
pany, which has been the leading flrm of
builders in the neighborhood, has recent¬
ly completed a row of six-story elevator
houses on 207th street, between Post and







CORNER   OF   RIVERSIDE   DRIVE   AND    DYCKMAX   STREET.





A.\    OLD    DYCKMAX    HOMESTEAD,





tion of a white man in connection with
the ownership of the tract was recorded
in 1640, when Tobias Teunissen, a Dutch
squatter who had lived among the In¬
dians, claimed title to the north half of
it. After his death at the hands of the
Indians, two other Dutchmen, Jansen
and Aertsen, acquired the entire tract,
holding it from 1647 to 1677.

In the latter yea.r, Jan Dyckman and
Jan Nagel obtained title to the land and
settled on it. The tract was divided into
two farms, the dividing line being about
where 211th street now is. In course of
time the two families intermarried, and
the entire property passed into the pos¬
session   of   the   Dyckman   family.

The holdings of the members Of this
family comprised at one time about 4fiO
acres and, including a part of Fort
George Hill, ran northward to Spuyten
Duyvil Creek. The ridge along the Hud¬
son River was the western boundary; the
Harlem River formed the easterly line.
The original Dyckman and Nagel homes
stood on either side of the boundary line
and near the Harlem River. Dui-ing the
Revolution, the British were encamped
there and on the heights above Broad¬
way, Fort Tryon was built. After the
war   no   change   of   ownership   occurred





ed and at the present time there are
about seventeen such operations under
way. Several radical and excellent im¬
provements have been piade in the last
years, and apparently the time is about
ripe for an e.xtensive building movement
throughout the district.

As was to be expected, the present de¬
velopments are taking place along the
subway and near the various stations.
The subway emerges from the ground on
the northerly side of Fort George hill and
from there on the line is an elevated
road. The first station is at Dyckman
street, which corresponds to 201st street.
Around this station some houses have
been built, but the principal activity is to
be found at the next station, 207th street.
This localUy seems destined to become
the center of the Dyckman district. For
several blocks on either side of the sta¬
tion. Tenth avenue, is quite solidly built
up wilh flve-story walk-up apartments,
and these houses are well tenanted. The
ground floors of the buildings are taken
up with large stores, averaging in size
about 25X.S0 feet. Most of them arc rent¬
ed and the tenants are a good class ol
merchants. There are several grocery
and   butcher   shops   that   compare   favor-





Sherman avenues. These houses are well
built and equipped, and contain apart¬
ments with suites of two to six rooms.
Rents in the elevator hotises average
about $7.50 a room.

On Tenth avenue, near the station, in¬
side lots to-day are worth about $lo,OI)0
each and corners are held at over $20,-
000. A lot on Tenth avenue, between
206th and 207th streets, sold in 1004 for
$1,100. Last year the price paid for it
was i?12,G0O. The corner of Post avenue
and 207th street, a plot 100x100, sold In
1800 Inr .'«4,{i00. It was resold in 190.5
for $4T,rj00, and is now held at $75,000.
On 207th street the present price of lots
is close to $10,000. A plot of six lots on
this street was sold a few weeks ago at
the rate of $0,000 a lot. In 100.5 the same
plot brought $1,600 a lot.

Along Tenth avenue the improvements
of the future will probably take the form
of flve-story apartments, but on the ad¬
joining streets to the west it is likely
that a considerable number of elevator
houses will appear. Some few houses
have already been erected near the Dyck¬
man street station, and desirable 'ots in
this vicinity are worth about $10,000
each     A  plot on  Nagel avenue near the