Spuyten Duyvil Creek

[1] It may be literally translated as "Spouting Devil" or Spuitende Duivel in Dutch; a reference to the strong and wild tidal currents found at that location.

[2][3][4][5] Historian Reginald Pelham Bolton, however, argues that the phrase means "sprouting meadow", referring to a fresh-water spring.

[1][3][4][5][7][8] An extensive appendix to Studies in Etymology and Etiology: With Emphasis on Germanic, Jewish, Romance and Slavic Languages (2009) by David L. Gold, which includes commentary by Rob Rentenaar, professor of onomastics at the University of Amsterdam, goes into great detail about all the various translations for "Spuyten Duyvil" which have been mooted over the years.

[1][3] A second term, spelled various ways including Paparinemo or Papiriniman, was shared with a triangular island formed by the junction of the creek and Tibbetts Brook in today's Kingsbridge neighborhood.

[16][10] Steep cliffs along the Spuyten Duyvil's mouth at the Hudson prevented any bridge there, but upstream it narrowed into a rocky drainage.

The brook currently ends above ground within Van Cortlandt Park, emptying into the Harlem River system at the Wards Island Water Pollution Control Plant via underground sewers.

Many settlers circumvented the toll for the ferry by crossing the creek from northern Marble Hill to modern Kingsbridge, Bronx, a point where it was feasible to wade or swim through the waters.

[21] Granted the title Lord of Philipse Manor, he established a plantation and provisioning depot for his shipping business upriver on the Hudson in present-day Sleepy Hollow.

[5][21] Over time the channels of the Spuyten Duyvil and Harlem River were joined and widened and additional bridges were constructed,[21] but maritime transit was still difficult and confined to small craft.

[21][24] The U.S. Congress broke the logjam in 1873 by appropriating money for a survey of the relevant area, following which New York state bought the necessary land and gave it to the federal government.

[32][33] At this time, Tibbets Brook was diverted into storm drains underneath Broadway, with the old right-of-way becoming Tibbett Avenue.

In 1914 the original creekbed was filled in with rock from the excavation of Grand Central Terminal's foundation during its construction;[10][36][37] and the temporary island, comprising present-day Marble Hill, became physically attached to the Bronx, though it remained politically part of the borough of Manhattan, as it is today.

Broadway Bridge, a combination road and rail lift span, continues to link Marble Hill with Manhattan.