Genre: Information/Explanation

Tibbetts Brook , originally Tippett's Brook or Tibbitt's Brook , is a stream in the southern portion of mainland New York , flowing north to south from the city of Yonkers in Westchester County into the borough of the Bronx within New York City . Originally emptying into Spuyten Duyvil Creek as part of the Harlem River system , the stream is now partially subterranean , ending above ground at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake within Van Cortlandt Park . There it proceeds into city sewers , draining into either the northern end of the Harlem River or the Wards Island Water Pollution Control Plant . The brook provides significant watershed to both Van Cortlandt Park at its south end and Tibbetts Brook Park at its north end . There have been modern proposals to daylight the southern portion of the brook back onto the surface . Contents Top : The original course of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and its junction with Tibbetts Brook , and the island of Paparinemo ( now Kingsbridge , Bronx ) Bottom : An 1895 map of Van Cortlandt Park , showing the course of Tibbetts Brook through the park lake , and its original crossing point with Broadway . Tibbetts Brook originates at H.F. Redmond Junior Memorial Park just north of Yonkers Avenue in Dunwoodie , Yonkers . It proceeds south through two artificial lakes in Tibbetts Brook Park , on a course parallel and adjacent to the Saw Mill River Parkway and the former New York and Putnam Railroad ( now a park trail ) . South of the park the brook runs in a channel directly adjacent to the northbound side of the parkway , then crosses the Yonkers / Bronx border into Van Cortlandt Park . It runs through the center of the Van Cortlandt Golf Course , then empties into Van Cortlandt Lake , an artificial lake created in 1699 by damming the stream . The brook currently ends at the south edge of the lake , at approximately West 242nd Street . Several storm drains feed excess rainwater into the brook within Yonkers . At the brook's mouth , the water from the brook proceeds into a brick sewer tunnel , which later merges with the major city sewer underneath Broadway that carries rainwater , household wastewater , and industrial sewage . The tunnel primarily drains into the Wards Island Water Pollution Control Plant where city sewage is treated . During rainy conditions the sewer overflows into the north end of the Harlem River , via a drain pipe at about West 192nd Street ( Heath Avenue ) . Due to modern development , the brook runs through underpasses and culverts at various points along its course . As recently as the early 20th Century , Tibbets Brook had two northern tributaries which merged at the north end of modern Tibbets Brook Park . The easternmost began in Redmond Park , while the western stream extended as far as Runyon Heights . The two streams originally merged at Peckham's Lake , later converging at the lakes of Tibbets Brook Park following the completion of the park . The Saw Mill Parkway was built over the western stream in the late 1920s . Until the end of the 19th century , the brook extended past the south end of Van Cortlandt Park . It ran southwest through the site of the current Van Cortlandt Stadium , crossed Broadway at around West 240th Street , then continued southwest through the Kingsbridge neighborhood , running a twisty course along the right-of-way of modern Tibbett Avenue . At approximately West 230th Street , just north of the current site of John F. Kennedy High School , the brook drained into Spuyten Duyvil Creek , which at the time separated the Bronx from Marble Hill , Manhattan . Until the 1700s , Tibbets Brook split into two smaller streams at around West 237th Street , the westernmost and primary stream along modern Tibbett Avenue feeding into the Spuyten Duyvil , and the easternmost along the right-of-ways of the Putnam Railroad and current Major Deegan Expressway feeding into the Harlem River . The two streams formed a triangular island called Paparinemo that constitutes much of today's Kingsbridge neighborhood . The brook had numerous tributaries , including several within modern Van Cortlandt Park . The north end of the brook within Yonkers and the park is entirely fresh water , while south of the park it was a tidal estuary lined with salt marshes . The watershed from the brook created wetlands surrounding the stream , and formed a northern extension of the Harlem River valley . The original Spuyten Duyvil Creek course has since been filled in , replaced by the Harlem River Ship Canal . An 1867 map of Yonkers and Western Bronx , showing the course of Tibbetts Brook ( in red ) prior to modern development . Tibbetts Brook was originally referred to as Mosholu by local Lenape Native Americans , an Algonquin word meaning " smooth stones " or " small stones " . The Mosholu name was later given to Mosholu Parkway . The label Tibbetts Brook was applied by European settlers , named after George Tippett who held property between the Hudson River and Bronx River in the late 17th Century , with the brook running through the center . Although often considered a corruption of the name Tippett , the label may be a combination of the name of Tippett and that of his father-in-law William Betts , who owned the land along with him . The brook has also been referred to as the Yonkers River or Yonkers Creek in the past , previously written as Jonckers or Uncas . During at least three glacial periods , including the Wisconsin glaciation around 20,000 years ago , ice sheets advanced south across North America carving moraines , valleys , and hills across present-day Bronx and Westchester . As the glacial ice melted , rivers and creeks were formed within valleys , including Tibbetts Brook . Prior to European colonization , the local Lenape population utilized the brook for drinking water and fishing . Trout swam up the Harlem River in order to use the freshwater portion of the brook as a spawning site . The salt marshes along the stream housed fish and migratory birds , along with mussels , oysters , and crabs . In the 1690s , Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired property near Tibbetts Brook from his relative Frederick Philipse , located in modern Van Cortlandt Park . This area was called " George's Point " , where the brook turned west towards Broadway . In 1699 , Van Cortlandt dammed the stream in order to power a gristmill and sawmill , creating Van Cortlandt Lake as a mill pond in the process . By the 19th Century , the eastern stream was filled in , connecting Kingsbridge to the rest of the Bronx . From 1872 to 1880 , the New York and Putnam Railroad was built along the Tibbetts Brook valley . The construction of the railroad altered the natural drainage pattern of the brook , leading new marshes to develop around it . In 1888 , the New York City Parks Department acquired the land to create Van Cortlandt Park . The Parks Department began draining the brook wetlands for recreational areas , creating the park's parade ground in 1888 and the Van Cortlandt Golf Course in 1895 . The lake flows south into a drain pipe to the Broadway sewer Between the late 1890s and the early 1910s , around the time the original course of Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in and replaced by the Harlem River Ship Canal , the double-arched Broadway sewer was constructed , as was the tunnel at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake to funnel water from the brook into the sewer . The marshlands created by the brook and lake had drawn the ire of local residents and property owners , who believed them to be " unsightly and unsanitary " . Of particular concern was the threat of the wetlands serving as breeding grounds for malaria - borne mosquitoes . The Broadway Outlet Sewer was completed in 1907 . In conjunction with the sewer project , from 1903 to 1911 the Parks Department completed a cleaning and improvement project for the Van Cortlandt Lake . This involved removing the original earthen dam and emptying the lake in order to dredge the lake bed to a lower depth . A new dam was installed to reform the lake . The drain pipe between the lake and Broadway sewer was constructed from 1911 to 1912 . It was originally envisioned as cast-iron , but built using brick . Around this time , Tibbett Avenue was laid out and opened , while much of the marshland within the park and along the former river course was filled in . On June 25 , 1927 , Westchester County opened Tibbetts Brook Park near the northern end of the brook , on land previously confiscated from the Tippett estate . Much of the site had been a Yonkers city garbage dump located on the banks of the western brook tributary . The garbage and residential sewage seeped into the stream , which fed polluted water into Peckham's Lake . The lake had been used by residents as a swimming hole in spite of recommendations against it by health officials . The area immediately south of the lake had been a swamp which was a haven for mosquitoes . As part of the creation of the park , the original lake was filled in , while the swamp was dredged to form the current Tibbetts Lake . The brook , meanwhile , was diverted into a paved channel . The eastern tributary had been protected by fences and infrastructure from the nearby Old Croton Aqueduct . At the time the park was constructed , the southern portion of the Saw Mill River Parkway was built on top of the dump along the western tributary course . Between the 1930s and 1960s under the supervision of Robert Moses , several highways including the Henry Hudson , Saw Mill and Mosholu Parkways were constructed within Van Cortlandt Park , requiring Tibbetts Brook to be diverted into culverts under the roadways . The creation of the sewer at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake and the construction of the highways induced siltation of the stream , leading to further creation of marshes . In addition , pollution from upstream and the highways , and spillover of chemicals used in the golf course led to the death of fish inhabiting the lake . In 1978 , the fish population of the lake was restored . In 1979 , four storm sewers along Midland Avenue in Yonkers ( which forms the eastern boundary of Tibbetts Brook Park ) were found to be illegally connected to the brook , pumping raw sewage into it which proceeded to enter Van Cortlandt Lake downstream . That year , another storm drain located at approximately Lawton Street and McLean Avenue near the Saw Mill Parkway , 1,300 feet ( 400 m ) north of the Yonkers / Bronx border , was found to be leaking household sewage into the brook . In 1984 , sewage from Yonkers was again found to be contaminating Van Cortlandt Lake , due to the crossing of raw sewage pipes and storm sewers which feed into Tibbetts Brook . This included water from the Lawton Street drain pipe . The same sewage pipe was found to be the cause of pollution of the lake in 2016 . In the 21st century , it has been proposed to daylight the southern portion of Tibbetts Brook back onto the surface , and to restore and defragment the portions of the stream within Van Cortlandt Park . Proposals to daylight the stream have existed since the 1990s . Around 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 US gallons ( 15 , 000 , 000 to 19,000,000 l ; 3,300,000 to 4,200,000 imp gal ) of fresh water from the brook enter the sewer system on a daily basis , a total of 2,000,000,000 US gallons ( 7 . 6 × 10 9 l ; 1.7 × 10 9 imp gal ) annually . The additional water from the brook also contributes to the further overflowing of raw sewage into the Harlem River during rainy conditions . Meanwhile , the lack of natural drainage points within Van Cortlandt Park leads to the flooding of recreational areas within the park . The New York City Parks Department plans to daylight the brook as part of their " Van Cortlandt Park Master Plan : 2030 " . The plan also proposes further dredging the lake and stream within the park , and rerouting the stream away from the highways and pedestrian paths to minimize the use of culverts , as well as restoring the natural wetlands created by the brook . The primary route proposed for bringing the brook above ground is the former Putnam Railroad right-of-way , which is currently owned by CSX Transportation but is largely abandoned between the park and the Harlem River . This portion of the Putnam Railroad is directly adjacent to the southbound lanes of the Major Deegan Expressway . The routing would provide a more natural drainage path for the brook into the Harlem River , with none of the water entering the sewer system on a normal basis . ^ Cook , Lyman ( September 5 , 1820 ) . " By virtue of sandry writs of fieri facias ... " ( PDF ) . Westchester Herald . Retrieved January 7 , 2017 . southerly by said road leading to Kings bridge , thence along spitendevil creek to the mouth of Yonkers creek , thence up said creek till it comes to the land of August Van Cortlandt ...