1 6 The Story of The Bronx 



below the Fordham Ridge. Below High Bridge, this meadow 

 formerly constituted Crab, or "Crabbe, " Island of the ancient 

 records. Cromwell's Creek had its origin about East 178th 

 Street and Jerome Avenue and emptied into the Harlem River 

 south of Central Bridge, but the stream has been filled in. 

 Jerome Avenue follows the valley of the old stream for a 

 considerable distance. 



Mill Brook was an important watercourse in former days, 

 and it about equally divided the ancient manor of Morrisania. 

 It had its rise near East 170th Street, between Claremont and 

 Crotona parks, and emptied into the East River near the 

 manor-house. In the improvements in the decade before 

 1900, the stream disappeared within a great sewer under 

 Brook Avenue, which follows approximately the bed of the 

 old stream. 



Bungay Creek was composed of two branches rising in 

 Crotona Park and uniting at East 170th Street, whence it 

 flowed into the East River above Port Morris. Intervale 

 Avenue follows very closely the course of the old stream. 

 From its crossing at Westchester Avenue to the river, it formed 

 the boundary between the manor of Morrisania and the West 

 Farms patent of Richardson and Jessup. 



The next stream to the eastward is the longest and most 

 important of all — the Bronx, — which has given its name to 

 the Borough. It has its origin in the distant hills of North 

 Castle and flows into the East River after a course of more 

 than thirty miles. Its Indian name was Aquahung, "a high 

 bluff or bank"; but it derives its present name from the first 

 white owner of the soil, Jonas Bronk. It is navigable for 

 small vessels for about three miles from its mouth. It was a 

 very important stream during the Revolution as, during the 

 Westchester campaign of 1776, it constituted a barrier between 



