ABSTRACT
On June 2, 1835, the New York City Board of Water Commissioners hired Major David Bates Douglass as Chief Engineer of the Croton Aqueduct. The aqueduct, running from the Croton River in upper Westchester County to central Manhattan, called for innovative structures of sufficient variety to tax the skill of any civil engineer. At the Harlem River, the aqueduct encountered a depression 1450 feet wide, measured along the aqueduct's grade line. John Jervis carefully evaluated alternative means for crossing all the major valleys encountered by the Old Croton Aqueduct. The aqueduct that Jervis built from the Croton River to Manhattan bore evidence of his experience, his design and research skills, and of the balance that he had struck between durability and economy. Jervis shunned aqueduct bridges wherever possible. Because they demanded materials and workmanship of the highest quality, they were extremely expensive.
