The sun., 1909-01-03
IN THB DYCKMAN VALLEY.
WHERE THE NEXT APARTMENT
HOUSE BOOM WILL OCCUR.
Speculative Builders Anticipate the
Early Development Of th> Northern
End Of Manhattan 40 . Residential
section like Washington Heights.

opcCulnUVo uuIuofb anticipate uIt
Early Development Of th> Northern
End Of Manhattan as . Residential
Section like washington Heights
The passenger who chances to be gazinp
out Of the window OF Broadway subway
train as It emerges from the tunnel and
mounts the incline TO the elevated struo-
ture at the Dyokman street station will
see spread out before him a little valley
sloping gently down TO the shore Of the
Harlem River at the point where II curves
to the westward. rounds the northern
end Of Manhattan Island and merges with
the broad expanse Of the Hudson. On
the right hand winding road zigzags up
the face OF the steep hill above the brow
OF which rise in a jumbled mass the skele-
ton framework Of a roller coaster and the
roofs Of motley collection Of amusement
resorts that unite to form Fort George.
On the left hand are the wooded hills OF
Inwood, hiding from view the Hudson
River and the Palisades and shielding
from cold north winds the little hollow
at their base.
This Is the Dyckman Valley, part Of
the city that shrewd builders and real
estate speoulators say will be the scene
Of the next great bui lding boom on Man
haitian Island. The boom may not come
within three months or six months. pos
sibly not for a year or more, but IL 10
bound to arrive sooner or later. Three
or four years ago, before the subway had
brought 200th street as near Wall street
as Fourteenth street used to be the Dyck-
man tract was an out Of the way corner
Of Manhattan, little nown and seldom
visited. Commuters on the New York
Central trains whirling southwark along
the east bank of the Harlem River would
often gaze across the narrow strip Of
water at its sunny fields and grassy undu-
lations, hemmed in on three sides by
woods and hills, and would be led TO Won
der that the north and south ends Of the
same island could be 30 widely different,
To-day the countIified aspect Of the
Dyokman tract is fast disappearing.
City streets that previously existed only
on paper are being cut through the fields,
hollows are being filed in and graded.
gas and water mains are being laid be-
meath the surface. and cement sidewalks
constructed beside the paved roadway5.
Several fats and apartment houses have
already appeared in Dyckman street
minutes walk OF the subway statisn.
More will follow In the near future. In
a few years the Dyckman Valley will be
populous apartment house district,
with schools and churches and with
business streets lined with Offices and
stores
The explanation of the long delay in
the development Of the Dyckman traot
has been its lack until recently of ade-
quate means of rapid transit. The real
growth OF Brooklyn began only when the
Brooklyn Bridge had established physi-
cal connection with New York the real
development Of The Bronx followed the
completion Of the Third avenue elevated
road. II is true that the Broadway
branch Of the subway has been in opera
ton for over two years and that during
that period there have been only few
pioneer structures erected north OF Dyck-
man street. But IL is also true that the
opening Of the rapid transit road gave
rise TO a building boom on Washington
Heights that transformed the rocky
hills and open fields Of that section OF the
city into solid blocks Of fats and tene-
ments and big elevator apartment houses
IL was purely logical, real estate men
argue. that the Dyckman Valley should
have remained quiescent until the SEQ
ton to the south Of IL had developed from
a suburban to an urban-district. Now that
Washington Heights has thus developed
it is equally logical, 80 shrewd speculR-
tors maintain. that the Dyckinan tract.
a vacant area Immediately beyond the
Heights and served by the same rapid
transit line, should develop likewise.