Antique & Vintage Postcards

Arching over the Harlem River in a long procession of stone Roman-style arches, the High Bridge at Washington Heights appears here in warm hand-tinted tones — the masonry rendered in cool grey-brown, the water below shimmering blue-green, and the sky flushed a romantic peach-orange that belongs entirely to the colorist's imagination. Built between 1837 and 1848 as part of the Croton Aqueduct system, the High Bridge is New York City's oldest surviving bridge, carrying water from Westchester County reservoirs to a thirsty and rapidly growing city below. The back of the card, published by The American Art Publishing Co. of New York, carries a remarkably precise description: the bridge crosses the Harlem River at 175th Street, stands 116 feet above the water, stretches 1,460 feet in length, and the old Croton aqueduct it carries could deliver 90,000,000 gallons of water per day. The stamp box lists domestic postage at one cent and foreign at two cents, firmly placing this card in the 1907–1917 window of the Golden Age of American postcards.