The first map I was able to find of the Bryn Mawr Knolls area dates to 1868. The area Bryn Mawr Knolls covers is the Cowdry Estate. At this time it looks like Palmer Road did not exist (but one does see a plat of land belonging to JH Palmer). Mile Square Road, Tuckahoe Road, Saw Mill River Road and Central Avenue all show on this map as well as the railroad in Bronxville. One can also sees large plats of land belonging to IV Fowler and S. Fowler - probably the land owners today's Fowler Avenue is named for.
It also looks like the area that will become Bryn Mawr Place at the corner of Mile Square and Palmer has been platted at this time.
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This is the 1st refefernce I've found to Brwn Mawr. Palmer Road and what would become the Putnam Line railroad are shown. Interestingly the roads around Briggs and Stone shown on the 1881 map are not shown on this one.
All of the topographic maps on this page are from here.
In this map from 1893 it looks like the plans have been laid for Lockwood Avenue and development to the south side of it. Fowler is still shown as owning a very large plat on the north side of Lockwood avenue. Also new on this map is a New Croton Aqueduct.
In this 1897 topo map, it looks like Lockwood Avenue and some of the roads off of it have been built, as well as the resevoir on Palmer Road where the Yonkers Board of Education is today.
This is a section of bird's eye view map from the Library Of Congress (see here.) showing Bryn Mawr and the Lockwood Avenue area.
I do not see much difference on this 1900 topo map than the 1897 edition. I'm surprised to see different editions of the topo map only seperated by three years, that seems to be a a rather short revision cycle.
This 1908 map shows the develpoment on the area on the north side of Lockwood Avenue. It also seems to show that Lockwood Avenue was realigned - on the 1893 map it is shown as straight, while on this map it's got a bend on the western end of it. The other intereting thing about Lockwood Ave on this map is that it shown extending across Mile Square Road, into what is now Welty field, bending to the North, crossing the railroad tracks and and eventually running into Tuckahoe Road. As a kid I used to walk the railroad tracks in that area and recall a stone arch brige where the railroad tracks crossed over a wide pathway that went back towards the developed part of Welty field. After seeing this map I'm pretty sure that the 'wide path' is in fact the original Lockwood avenue seen on this map.
Some other interesting items on this map are the New Croton Aqueduct to the west of Mile Square Road and Walnut Avenue east of the railroad tracks running from Palmer Road up to Tuckahoe Road. I don't believe Walnut Ave exists today, it looks to be where the NY State Thruway currentl runs. I wonder when it was removed.
This image is the most recent historical map of the area where Bryn Mawr Knolls is today. Apparently the Knolls was still undeveloped in 1914, although it's clear the Bryn Mawr Place neighborhood had been platted at this time. Also interesting to see the two track and spur track shown for the Putnam line near the Bryn Mawr Park Station. Also note, north is to the right on this map.
At this point I do not know for sure when the Bryn Mawr Knolls area was first developed. From this Google query it appears the Knolls was first developed starting around 1926 by the Homeland Company and in 1932 by by the Rice Land and Improvement company. Interestingly a WB Rice is shown as a land owner on the 1908 map above for a plot of land south of the Knolls, although the principal behind the Rice Land and Dev't company appears to have been an Edwawrd Rice who was a marine builder as well, and passed away at the age of 79 in 1955. I'll have to see if I can find some maps of the area from the 1930's and 40's.
As a side note, someone with a NY Times subscription may find it interesting to poke through the results from the Google query above as most of the articles referenced are from the NY Times archive.
Topo Maps are from MyTopo.com
Bird's Eye Map from the Library of Congress
Other Maps from David Rumsey Map Collection
An interesting article on the Bryn Mawr area from a 1966 Herald Statesman issue: page 1 page 2
Published 1 Aug 2009, updated 26 March 2015.
Comments to: Bill Tracey (bill@ewjt.com)
Copyright © Bill Tracey 2009, 2015