Crestwood, Yonkers, New York
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Crestwood is a neighborhood in Yonkers, New York. Located in northeastern Yonkers, Crestwood borders the Bronx River where it meets the Village of Tuckahoe. The main part of Crestwood is serviced by the Tuckahoe post office, leading many residents to choose to disassociate themselves with Yonkers and claim residence of Tuckahoe, N.Y. or even to "Crestwood"; exit signs on the Bronx River Parkway label Crestwood as "Crestwood" rather than "Yonkers".
The creation of the Bronx River Parkway had a profound impact on the geography of the Crestwood/Tuckahoe area. When construction began in 1917, one of the overarching objectives of the road designers was to "conveniently accommodate the large amount of traffic expected and to display to the traveler the principal interesting features without despoiling it" (from the 1909 Bronx Parkway Commission Report). Completed in 1925, it was the nation's first "parkway".
While interesting from a historic perspective, the BRP also had far-reaching sociological consequences. As part of the right-of-way purchases, lots belonging to the town of Crestwood had to be bought up, and roads cut in two. Travelling northbound on the BRP, after exit 5 to Crestwood, one can see the earlier pattern of cross-streets extending from the left hand side of the roadway across to the right-hand side. A newer off-ramp on the northbound side now leads into what was a roadway that had to be removed to facilitate the construction of the parkway.
Nearer Crestwood station, several grandly built homes occupy the hilly ground overlooking the river. One could easily imagine these early homeowners enjoying a prized view of uninterrupted river vista.
Crestwood is home to Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary since 1962, when the seminary purchased the former Iselin estate from the Sisters of Charity.
[edit] The Crestwood-Tuckahoe Confusion
The Bronx River serves as a common town line in Westchester County, New York; as stated earlier it divides the City of Yonkers from the Town of Eastchester with its villages of Tuckahoe and Bronxville. The Harlem line of the Metro-North commuter railroad runs along the Bronx River. There are two stops in the Village of Tuckahoe. Since both could not be named "Tuckahoe", the southerly station down by the village hall is named Tuckahoe, for the area east of the station, and the northern station Crestwood, for the area west of the station, in Yonkers. This leads many locals in Tuckahoe to refer to northern Tuckahoe as "Crestwood".
