CHAPTER IX 

 OAK POINT 



The "Cradle of Cuban Liberty" — Wreck of the British Frigate Hussar. 



F the future prosperity of Bronx Park depends 

 upon the productive and commercial activities of 

 its people, its success is assured, for no city in the 

 world has such natural or economic advantages. 

 What has been done in the way of improvements 

 is small compared to what is projected for the near fu- 

 ture. New arteries of travel are to connect every section of the 

 Borough with Manhattan. With the tri-borough subway under 

 construction, and other local facilities for transportation extended, 

 an efficient municipal and borough administration to push the 

 work ahead, The Bronx has indeed a bright and glorious future. 

 So fast have events crowded one upon another since the days 

 of Jonas Bronck, that the Borough's historic surroundings are 

 rapidly being lost sight of. 



One of the most conspicuous landmarks that was swept away 

 Toy the 1906 land boom was the Casanova mansion, known as the 

 "Cradle of Cuban Liberty." For years this famous structure had 

 been standing a quaint, gray spectre at Oak Point, neglected and 

 untenanted, and without a sign of life about, save the New Haven 

 and Hartford freight station a quarter of a mile away. 



The mansion was built in 1859 by Benjamin M. Whitlock, a 

 wealthy grocer of New York, on a property consisting of fifty 

 acres. The building cost $350,000 when completed, and was the 

 most imposing residence above the Harlem at that time. It is 

 said that the door knobs were made of solid gold. As a carriage 

 approached the gates of the estate the horses stepped on a hidden 

 spring causing the gates to fly open; and the house had secret 

 underground passages. The house contained one hundred rooms 

 and the beauty in the decoration of these rooms has not been sur- 

 passed to this day. 



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