Your article on the celebration of the 175th anniversary of The High Bridge, while interesting, omitted a bit of history and was wrong about the walkway’s closing.
The bridge was originally a set of stone arches. In the 1920s, tearing down the bridge was considered due to the difficulty of ships navigating the Harlem River. In an editorial, the Scientific American referred to tearing the bridge down as an act of unparalleled vandalism. The stone arches were replaced with a single steel arch spanning most of the Harlem River.
Contrary to popular opinion, the bridge was not closed in 1970 but in 1960. Documents I obtained from the Municipal Archives verify this. Also contrary to popular opinion, there is no story in The New York Times archives of a tourist being killed by a rock thrown off the bridge. In 1958, four boys bombarded a Circle Line Boat with sticks and rocks. The walkway was closed in 1960 due to safety concerns and the building of the nearby Alexander Hamilton Bridge/Trans-Manhattan Expressway.
A reporter for The New York Times in 1968 followed the Old Croton Aqueduct, came to the High Bridge, and found it closed.
Nat Weiner
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