Before the Bronx Terminal Market

Before the Bronx Terminal Market. . , The lower Hudson Valley and the Bronx Terminal Market share a rich and colorful past., Macomb's Dam Across the Harlem River , In 1814, Robert Macomb built a dam and toll bridge across the Harlem River in the vicinity of present-day 155th Street to form a millpond for use in the family milling business. Known as Macomb's Dam Bridge, completed in 1895, is the third-oldest bridge in New York City and is also the city's oldest intact metal truss swing bridge, a significant feat of engineering at the time., In the 1880s the area adjacent to the bridge was a popular day excursion destination for bicyclists, drivers of trotting horses, and patrons of the nearby Polo Grounds, north of the bridge. To accommodate the recreational needs of the area's growing population, Macomb's Dam Park was opened in 1914., Lenape Nation , The Lower Hudson Valley of New York, including the Bronx, was once the homeland of the Lenape people. The Lenape, also known as Delaware, belong to the Algonquian language family. They lived in autonomous villages and subsisted through hunting, fishing, gathering, and small-garden farming., Early interaction of the Lenape with Dutch explorers and settlers was primarily through the fur trade, which was eventually exhausted due to over-harvesting. By the mid-18th century, ravaged by Old-World diseases and sometimes and sometimes defrauded of lands, many Lenape refugees from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware settled in the Ohio Valley and formed the Lenape, or Delaware, Nation. During the American Revolution, the Lenape were the first Indian tribe to enter into a treaty with the United States. The Lenape agreed to supply the army with warriors and scouts in exchange for trade goods upon which the Delaware depended for for survival, pro-British factions within the tribe gained control. In the tragic aftermath of the war, the Delaware Nation was shattered and its people further dispossessed. By the mid-19th century, most Lenape had been removed to Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. The Lenape remain a practicing culture today, retaining a sense of identity with their ancestors.