William A. Harris Garden, Community garden in Sugar Hill, Harlem, United States.
The William A. Harris Garden is a green space at the intersection of West 153rd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan covering about 0.11 acres. The site remained undeveloped for over a century before being transformed into a neighborhood garden in 1979.
The garden originated in 1979 when local resident William A. Harris converted a vacant lot above the historic Croton Aqueduct into a green space. The land had remained unused for over 100 years because of its position above this critical water system that served Manhattan from 1838 onward.
The garden serves as a gathering place where neighbors work together growing vegetables and flowers while strengthening their connection to the community. Visitors can observe how this shared green space shapes daily life in the densely built neighborhood.
The garden is watered by a 1000-gallon collection tank installed on the adjacent Kinghaven apartment building rooftop in 2011. Visitors should know this is a working neighborhood garden and the best time to visit is when local gardeners are actively tending the plots.
The site remained vacant for over 100 years because it sits directly above the Croton Aqueduct, a major underground water pipeline built in the 1800s. This geographical constraint made construction impossible until local activists realized the space could become a thriving community garden.
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