Ferries and Bridges 193 



In 1790, Lewis Morris obtained from the State Legislature 

 a franchise to build a dam bridge from Harlem to Morrisania. 

 This franchise he assigned to John B. Coles, who, in 1795, 

 received from the Legislature an extension of the privileges 

 already granted, which allowed him to build a stone dam 

 across the river as a foundation for his bridge, which should 

 hold back the waters of the Harlem and furnish power for 

 mills to be established along its banks. The navigation of 

 the stream was not to be interrupted, however, and a suitable 

 opening, attended by a lock-keeper, was to be left for the 

 passage of vessels. The bridge was to be constructed within 

 four years, and Coles and his assigns were to collect the tolls 

 £or sixty years, provided they kept the bridge in repair; at 

 the expiration of that period the bridge was to vest in the 

 State. 



By the act of 1790, Lewis Morris was authorized to appoint 

 three commissioners to act as a highway commission to lay 

 out a road from the proposed bridge through Morrisania, 

 West Farms, and Eastchester, and at the last named place 

 to connect with the main road to Boston. Morris was to 

 pay the commissioners, but the cost of the condemnation pro- 

 ceedings and of the road was to be paid by the towns through 

 which it was to pass. The highway commission of the city of 

 New York was also authorized to lay out a road on Manhattan 

 Island to the Harlem end of the bridge. The road through 

 Westchester County was to be four rods wide, a width which, 

 before the Revolution, would have given it the name of the 

 "King's highway," that being the legal width of a post-road 

 in England or the colonies. The route selected by the com- 

 mission led from the bridge via the present Third Avenue to 

 about East 163d Street, thence eastwardly down a hill across 

 Mill Brook (Brook Avenue), and thence northerly through 



13" 



