🏘️ Croton Local History

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Accident on the Van Cortlandt Bridge, 1911. Photograph courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society. In the summer of 1911 the rear wheels of a heavy truck broke through the wooden planks of the Van Cortlandt Bridge—the bridge that once carried the

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Albany Post Road across the Croton River. The accident took place on the Croton side of the bridge and you can see Van Cortlandt Manor through the trees on the right of this wonderful photograph, which comes to us courtesy of our friends at the

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Ossining Historical Society. According to OHS president Norm MacDonald, the occupants of the truck can be seen on the left—David Miller (who appears to be looking at the person who took the photo) and with her back to us on his right, Aimee Marie

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Dyckman, the local woman he would marry six years later. Miss Dyckman lived just north of Croton in Oscawana and she was related to the Dyckmans who once owned the magnificent Boscobel estate. (For those who don’t know this bittersweet part of local

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history, Boscobel was originally located where the FDR Veterans Administration Hospital is today—before it was slated for demolition, partially torn down, rescued, and moved and rebuilt at great expense where it is today.) 1 The Van Cortlandt Bridge

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had a long history, dating back to 1860 when the Board of Supervisors of Westchester County was authorized “to construct a bridge at or near the mouth of Croton river.” Like all bridges on the Croton River during the 19th and early 20th centuries the

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Van Cortlandt Bridge suffered regular damage from storms, ice and spring freshets and it was repeatedly repaired and rebuilt. 2 The invention of the automobile and truck presented new challenges for bridges which were not originally designed to carry

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such heavy loads. The truck shown in the photo appears to be a 2- to 3-ton model built by the American Locomotive Company of Providence, Rhode Island. The company manufactured one of the highest quality trucks during the period of 1909 to 1913. 3

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It’s not surprising that such a heavy truck would break through weathered wooden planks of a bridge built for lighter vehicles. Detail showing David Miller and Aimee Marie Dyckman on the left and the repair crew using a fulcrum in an attempt to raise

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the rear tire of the 2- to 3-ton vehicle. By the end of the summer of 1911 the Westchester County Board of Supervisors took action to fix the bridge and noted two incidents—one doubtlessly recorded by this photograph—when “the flooring of this bridge

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gave way.” “It was ordered that bids for building a new floor and supports on the Van Cortlandt Bridge over the Croton River be advertised to be opened on September 11th next. The flooring of this bridge gave way on two occasions recently when the

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heavy auto vans tried to cross with extra heavy loads on.” 4 Take a drive across the Van Cortlandt Bridge and learn more in this previous post: Motoring Across the Croton, 1912 An excellent history/timeline of Boscobel can be found here . ↩︎ Until at

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least 1871 the long bridge on the Ossining side was a drawbridge, to allow boats to sail up the lower Croton River. ↩︎ For information about and images of American Locomotive Company trucks from 1909-1913 see here and here . ↩︎ See “Supervisors in

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Long Session Transact a Lot of Important County Business,” New Rochelle Pioneer , August 12, 1911, page 3, here . ↩︎ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new

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window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Boscobel Croton River

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Dyckman family Van Cortlandt Bridge Published November 25, 2016

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For more than 60 years the Danish Home in Croton has been issuing what most people would think of as Christmas seals—stamp-like labels placed on mail during the Christmas season to raise funds and awareness for charitable programs. 1 The American

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Lung Association has become so well-known for its Christmas seals that they’ve trademarked the term, but that doesn’t prevent other organizations from creating these beautiful, poster-like images. Click the stamps to enlarge them. Stamp collectors

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refer to Christmas seals as “Cinderellas” the term for anything resembling a postage stamp but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration. ↩︎ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in

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new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn

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Like Loading... Related Tagged Danish Home Ephemera Published December 24, 2016 December 24, 2022

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This postcard shows a sign that once existed along Truesdale Drive, marking the entrance to the Mikado Inn. The card was published circa 1920 by the Photo & Art Postal Card Co. in New York, but it was doubtlessly commissioned by the inn’s proprietor,

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“Admiral” George T. Moto. The sign is long gone, but part of the low stone wall and entrance (under the green roof in the postcard) are still there today. Want to learn more about the Mikado? See these previous posts: Oscar Levant Plays the Mikado

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Oscar Levant, the quick-witted pianist, composer, actor, author and quiz-show panelist performed there as a teenager, sharing “sleeping quarters with twenty or thirty Japanese waiters in the cellar.” What’s Cookin’ at the Mikado? A tasty bit of

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Harmon history—a Mikado Inn menu featuring two Spring Lamb Chops for $1.50, Filet Mignon Mikado for $3.00 and a Porterhouse Steak for two for $5.00. Mikado Inn “Real Photo” Postcard, circa 1920 See the beautiful Japanese gardens behind the Mikado

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Inn. The Motorist’s Playground An ad for the Mikado and two other Croton-area “road houses” from the June 12, 1921 issue of the New-York Tribune . The “Japanese gardens” highlighted in the ad are shown in the post above. You might also be interested

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in the Nikko Inn across the street on Nordica Drive. Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on

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