374 The Story of The Bronx 



Louis J. Hcintz, the Commissioner of Street Improvements 

 to whom the Concourse is due. A bronze statue of Fame is 

 writing the name and deeds of the commissioner upon 

 the granite pedestal; but after looking at the statue above, 

 one comes to the conclusion that modern dress does not lend 

 itself readily to artistic expression or reproduction. 



Below 161st Street and close to Jerome Avenue is the bulk- 

 headed tidal basin of Cromwell's Creek. The former street 

 crosses it on a causeway through which a couple of large iron 

 pipes permit the ebb and flow of the tide in the part of the 

 stream which has not yet been filled in. 



A short distance above 165th Street, on the west side of 

 Jerome Avenue, is the site of the famous road-house of a gener- 

 ation ago, "Judge Smith's." When Central Avenue was the 

 great driveway — this was before the Speedway — the road- 

 house did a rushing business. A standing offer of the house 

 was a magnum of champagne to the first sleigh that came up 

 from Macomb's Dam Bridge on its own runners when there 

 was a snowfall at the beginning of winter. Almost in front of 

 the road-house, in the valley of the brook on the east side, is the 

 old Cromwell house, a dilapidated structure built of stone and 

 rapidly going to decay. It was occupied by market gardeners 

 for a long time; and it seems to be the fate of all the old houses 

 in the Borough to fall into the hands of German gardeners. 



Most of the families of Cromwells in America are descended 

 from Colonel John Cromwell, a brother of the Lord Protector 

 Oliver. John Cromwell, son of the colonel, emigrated first 

 to Holland, probably at the time of the Restoration, whence 

 he came to New Netherland. He settled at Westchester; 

 for under date of 1685, we find him exchanging six acres of 

 meadow land with Thomas Hunt for eight acres of upland on 

 Castle Hill Neck, which, in consequence, was called Cromwell's 



