Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Riverside to Inwood 147 John the Divine is now (1902) being erected, on a site covering three city blocks, from iioth to 113th Streets. The corner-stone was laid in 1892, and possibly most of the present generation of men will have passed away before the entire work is completed. The cost will ap- proximate six millions of dollars. Cathedral Heights is at the southern end of Morn- ingside Heights, a region that has been fitly charac- terised by Mr. Seth Low as " the Acropolis of the New World." Crowning the Heights, among the most con- spicuous landmarks of the Hudson, are the buildings of Columbia University. These, when all completed, will number fifteen, central among which is the unique Low Memorial Library. It is one of the purest ex- amples of classic Greek architecture in America. In form, it describes a Maltese cross, surmounted by a dome of noble proportions, beneath which is the al- ready famous rotunda that constitutes the central feature of the building. A statue of Pallas Athene stands at the doorway, within the ample colonnade, to reach which one must cross the broad, paved espla- nade and mount a wide flight of stairs — for the architects wisely put this building on a grade far enough above that of the street to add to its impres- sive beauty. The other buildings of the University group that are already completed are the Engineering Building, Scher- merhorn, Fayerweather, and Havemeyer Halls, and part of University Hall. Digitized by Microsoft® 148 The Hudson River Coltimbia College was first of all the old King's College, founded by Royal charter in the time of George II. After the independence of the colonies was won, " King's " became " Columbia. " The present site is the latest, and it is hoped the last, of several homes that have been familiar to successive genera- tions of Cohimbia alumni. The buildings of Columbia University are upon the ground made memorable in American history by what has been called the Battle of Harlem Heights, to which particular reference is made in another chapter. On the Broadway side of the Engineering Building there, is a bronze tablet commemorating this action, which took place on the i6th of September, 1776. Near Columbia, only separated by Broadway, is Barnard College, for women, which is a department of the University. This is at 119th Street. At 120th is the Teachers College, founded in 1886 by Miss Grace Dodge. This also is now a part of Columbia. One of the most notable structures along the ridge is that of St. Luke's Hospital, opposite the Cathedral grounds, at 1 1 3th Street. Back from the river and hidden, except at one or two points, where a transverse valley crosses the main ridge of the island at i6ist Street, stands the historic Jumel mansion, as it is usually called. The name is that of the first husband of Madame Aaron Burr, who owned the house at one time. It was built in 1758 by Colonel Roger Morris, once Washington's com- Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Riverside to Inwood 151 panion in arms, when they were both aides to General Braddock. Mary Philipse, for whose hand it is said that Washington was a suitor, married Morris and lived in this old house. In 1776, when the Americans were retreating after the Battle of Long Island, Wash- ington made his headquarters there. Captain Nathan Hale received his instructions at that old house and started from there on his fatal mission. There Wash- ington again came, this time as a guest, with his cabi- net, in 1790. Under its roof, Madame Jumel, having obtained her divorce from Burr, died in poverty. It has a strange, ftiU history, that severe, prim old colonial mansion that one may catch a passing glimpse of from the river. Besides the buildings of a public character that have been enumerated here, and others which are omitted for lack of space, there are numberless private resi- dences, some of them quite palatial in extent, that crown the heights or are scattered along the slopes of the shore. Immediately above Riverside Park is the former village known to its residents as Manhattan ville. A steel viaduct spans the Manhattan Valley and connects Riverside Drive with the Harlem Speedway. At Man- hattanville, on 128th Street, near St. Nicholas Avenue, is the celebrated convent school, under the charge of the sisters of the Sacred Heart. The buildings, of brown stone, large enough for the accommodation of several hundred scholars, are situated in the middle of a wooded Digitized by Microsoft® 152 The Hudson River park. Here the pupils are not limited to those of one creed, though uniformity in dress among the inmates of