155th Street (Manhattan)

155th Street is a major crosstown street in the Washington Heights neighborhood, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the northernmost of the 15 crosstown streets mapped out in the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 that established the numbered street grid in Manhattan. [ [http://www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/nyc1811.htm REMARKS OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR LAYING OUT STREETS AND ROADS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, UNDER THE ACT OF APRIL 3, 1807] , accessed May 2, 2007. "These streets are all sixty feet wide except fifteen, which are one hundred feet wide, viz.: Numbers fourteen, twenty-three, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty-seven, seventy-two, seventy-nine, eighty-six, ninety-six, one hundred and six, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred and twenty-five, one hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and fifty-five--the block or space between them being in general about two hundred feet."]

155th Street starts on the West Side at Riverside Drive, crossing Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue and Saint Nicholas Avenue. At Saint Nicholas Place, the terrain drops off steeply, and 155th Street is carried on a convert|1600|ft|m|sing=on long viaduct, constructed in 1893, that slopes down towards the Harlem River, continuing onto the Macombs Dam Bridge, crossing over (but not intersecting with) the Harlem River Drive. [Gray, Christopher. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807EFDF1F39F93AA35754C0A9669C8B63 "Streetscapes/The 155th Street Viaduct; An Elevated 1893 Roadway With a Lacy Elegance"] , "The New York Times", July 9, 2000. Accessed November 10, 2007.] A separate, unconnected section of 155th Street passes under the viaduct, connecting Bradhurst Avenue and the Harlem River Drive.

Points of interest

*Highbridge Park - situated on the banks of the Harlem River near the northernmost tip of Manhattan, between 155th Street and Dyckman Street. [ [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7732 Highbridge Park] , New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed November 10, 2007.]
*Rucker Park - located at Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Rucker Park is one of the premier havens of streetball, and its summer league has been the launching point for many NBA players. [ [http://www.insidehoops.com/rucker/directions.shtml Directions to Rucker Park] , InsideHoops.com. Accessed November 10, 2007.]
*Polo Grounds - The final incarnation of the famed stadium was located at was then 8th Avenue from 1911 to 1963. Over its life, it was home of the New York Giants (1911-1957), New York Yankees (1913-1922) and New York Mets (1962-1963) baseball franchises, and the New York Giants (1925-1955) and New York Jets (1960-1963) football teams.
*Hispanic Society of America - Museum of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American art and artifacts, as well as a rare books and manuscripts and research library, located at Audubon Terrace.

References