Duffy's Hill
40°47′23″N 73°56′53″W / 40.789705°N 73.948163°W
Duffy's Hill is a hill located on Lexington Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was named for Michael James Duffy, a Tammany Hall Alderman who spent $250,000 to build 26 rowhouses on the south side of 101st Street between Lexington and Park Avenues in 1894.[2] He continued building between Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue up to 104th Street, a section of the city sometimes known at the time as "Duffyville".[3]
The hill marked the site of cable car accidents by 1897, as the cars had to quickly accelerate and decelerate at this point.[4] The New York Railways Corporation had a 24-hour guard stationed at the base of the hill at 103rd Street by 1937 to watch over streetcar incidents related to the hill.[5]
At one time, Lexington Avenue buses would detour onto Park Avenue to avoid the hill.[6]
The National Board of Fire Underwriters noted that Lexington Avenue's grade of 12.6% was the steepest of any "important localit[y]" in Manhattan.[7]
References
Notes
- ^ Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7., p.205<
- ^ Gray, Christopher (June 19, 2005). "A Street of Bright Colors, Mixed With Natural Brick". New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
- ^ "Michael J. Duffy Dead" New York Times (January 5, 1903)
- ^ "A Cable Car Accident" New York Times (June 4, 1897}
- ^ Cooke, Charles; Lockridge, Richard; Ross, Harold (February 11, 1933). "The Talk of the Town: "Duffy's Hill"". New Yorker. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|last-author-amp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - ^ "Woman is Killed by Bus" New York Times (January 13, 1937)
- ^ National Board of Fire Underwriters "Report on the City of New York" (1905) p.5