The Borough of the Bronx of the City of New York comprises a land mass of 57.43 sq. miles (148.7 km) is bound on the south and southwest by the Harlem River, on the west by the Hudson River, on the north by Westchester County and the east by the most westerly reaches of the Long Island Sound and on the south by the East River. The Borough of the Bronx is home to many famous institutions such as the Bronx Zoo, Fordham University (opened in 1841), Manhattan College, Woodlawn Cemetery (resting place for Duke Ellington, Herman Melville, Joseph Pulitzer), Bronx Community College home of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans and the New York Botanical Garden founded in 1891 as well as several Colonial houses and farms that were part of George Washington’s campaign and battle at White Plains. In 1898 the Bronx, formerly a part of Westchester County, was incorporated into the City of New York along with the other four boroughs (all islands) comprising the City of New York and in 1914 the Borough also becomes the Bronx County. It is the only New York City borough on the mainland, however, as a result of reducing navigation hazards on the Harlem River near Spuyten Duyvil, the river’s course was straightened in 1895 and the Marble Hill area of Manhattan was separated from the island with the Marble Hill cut (see photo (005-04-60 of the cut). Physically, Marble Hill is 21 acres of Manhattan, now located north of the Harlem River which is considered the border between Manhattan and the Bronx. The former river bed was filled in with the excavation debris from digging the foundation for the Grand Central Terminal. In 1848 a physical connection was made between the island of Manhattan and the Bronx with the opening of the High Bridge built to carry an aqueduct to transporting water from the Croton Reservoir in Westchester County as the first reliable and plentiful source of water for Manhattan island. The dangerously crowded and unsanitary conditions of the tenements in lower Manhattan pressed in on the island population as New York developed as a commercial and shipping center attracting immigrants from around the world. In 1904 the subway was pushed north opening up the Bronx for development especially with the building of apartment buildings, however in the late 19th century the Bronx borough fathers had arranged that one quarter of the land, previously a bucolic landscape of farms and woods, be deliberately preserved as urban development progressed northward. This arrangement is evident in the existing Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay-Split Rock parks, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Zoo, Riverdale Park pictured in this collection of construction photographs. The migration to the northern suburbs commenced in full force encouraging the building of apartment houses and residences in the rural landscape of the Bronx necessitating the establishment of public works such as sewers, parks and roads to accommodate the burgeoning population. This collection of 696 photographs records in detail the construction of the sewers and parkways in the Bronx during the formative years of the rapid expansion of the City of New York as a world city. Many still existing sites, streets, railroad lines, parks and bridges are recorded in this collection of construction photographs in the developmental stages of their construction.