Duffy's Hill
Hill in New York, U.S.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duffy's Hill is a hill located on Lexington Avenue between 102nd and 103rd Streets in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was named for Michael James Duffy, a Tammany Hall Alderman who spent $250,000 to build 26 rowhouses on the south side of 101st Street between Lexington and Park Avenues in 1894.[2] He continued building between Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue up to 104th Street, a section of the city sometimes known at the time as "Duffyville".[3]
The hill marked the site of cable car accidents by 1897, as the cars had to quickly accelerate and decelerate at this point.[4] The New York Railways Corporation had a 24-hour guard stationed at the base of the hill at 103rd Street by 1937 to watch over streetcar incidents related to the hill.[5] At one time, Lexington Avenue buses would detour onto Park Avenue to avoid the hill.[6]
The National Board of Fire Underwriters noted that Lexington Avenue's grade of 12.6% was the steepest of any "important localit[y]" in Manhattan.[7] The entrances to the 103rd Street station of the New York City Subway, served by the 6 and <6> trains, are located at the bottom of the hill.[8]