Spuyten Duyvil Creek

Early 1900s map displaying the original path of Spuyten Duyvil Creek.

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Spuyten Duyvil Creek is a channel connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal, and on to the Harlem River in New York City, separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx and the rest of the mainland. The neighborhood named Spuyten Duyvil lies to the north of the creek.

Spuyten Duyvil Creek originally flowed north of Manhattan's Marble Hill. The construction of the Harlem River Ship Canal to the south of the neighborhood in 1895 turned Marble Hill into an island, and in 1914, when the original creekbed was filled in, Marble Hill became physically attached to the Bronx, though it remains part of the borough of Manhattan.

Another realignment of the creek occurred in the 1930s, to the west of the original realignment. This had the opposite effect: It separated a portion of the Bronx and resulted in its attachment to Manhattan.^[1]

"Spuyten Duyvil" literally means "Devil's Spout" or Spuitende Duivel in Dutch; a reference to the strong and wild currents found at that location.

References

See also

• Area code 212

External links

• History of Spuyten Duyvil Creek from Washington Heights & Inwood Online
• Another translation of 'Spuyten Duyvil'
• Spuyten Duyvil, a bar in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood
• Tracing Spuyten Duyvil today

Coordinates: 40°52′30″N 73°55′5″W / 40.875°N 73.91806°W / 40.875; -73.91806