THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 



49 



the Harlem Bridge Company, which was incorporated in 1808, 

 loathe to relinquish so rich a pudding, made efforts to procure an 

 extension of its franchise; but the State Legislature turned it over 

 to the counties of New York and Westchester, who converted it 

 into a free thorofare. 



For almost seventy years the Harlem Bridge did noble service 

 across the Harlem River, when, owing to the increased traffic 

 between Harlem and Morrisania, it was found necessary to replace 

 it with an iron structure. This second Third Avenue, or Harlem, 



Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of New York 



Macomb's Dam Bridge over Harlem River, 1838 



Bridge was in turn removed to make room for a more modern 

 steel and iron bridge with a draw of 300 feet. The third Harlem 

 Bridge was opened to the public on August 1st, 1898, at a cost to 

 the City of $2,357,742.51. 



In 1800 Alexander Macomb, a wealthy merchant of New York 

 City, who had come into possession of the forfeited Philipse prop- 

 erty, obtained from the city authorities a water grant extending 

 across Spuyten Duyvil Creek just east of the King's Bridge. His 

 son Robert obtained, in 1813, a grant to erect a dam across the 

 Harlem from Bussing's Point on the Manhattan side to Devoe's 

 Point on the Westchester shore, thus practically forming a mill 



