The Bronx

The Bronx
Bronx County
Borough of New York City and County

Yankee Stadium (center), Bronx County Courthouse and the Grand Concourse towards the top. To the right of the Stadium is its former site.

Flag

Seal
Motto: Ne cede malis – "Yield Not To Evil"
(lit. "Yield Not to Evil Things")

Location of the Bronx, shown in red, in New York City
Coordinates: 40°50′14″N 73°53′10″W / 40.83722°N 73.88611°W / 40.83722; -73.88611
Country  United States of America
State  New York
County Bronx (Coterminous)
City  New York City
Borough created 1898 (County in 1914)
Named for Jonas Bronck
Government
  Type Borough (New York City)
  Borough President Rubén Díaz, Jr. (D)
(Borough of the Bronx)
  District Attorney Darcel Clark
(Bronx County)
Area
  Total 57 sq mi (150 km2)
  Land 42 sq mi (110 km2)
  Water 15 sq mi (40 km2)  27%
Highest elevation 280 ft (90 m)
Population (2016)
  Total 1,455,720[1]
  Density 34,653.4/sq mi (13,379.8/km2)
Time zone Eastern Standard Time (North America) (UTC-5:00)
  Summer (DST) Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4:00)
ZIP code prefix 104
Area code(s) 718/347/929, 917
Website Official website of the Bronx Borough President

The Bronx (/ˈbrɒŋks/) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, within the U.S. state of New York. It is geographically south of Westchester County; north and east of the island and borough of Manhattan to the south and west across the Harlem River; and north of the borough of Queens, across the East River. Of the five boroughs, the Bronx is the only one that has the majority of its area on the U.S. mainland and, with a land area of 42 square miles (109 km2) and a population of 1,455,720 in 2016,[1] has the fourth-largest land area, the fourth-highest population, and the third-highest population density.[2] Since 1914, the Bronx has had the same boundaries as Bronx County, a county of New York and the third most densely populated county in the United States.[2]

The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, closer to Manhattan, and a flatter eastern section, closer to Long Island. East and west street addresses are divided by Jerome Avenue—the continuation of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895.[3] Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914.[4] About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space,[5] including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. These open spaces are situated primarily on land deliberately reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan.

The name "Bronx" originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639.[6][7][8] The native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bronx received many immigrant groups as it was transformed into an urban community, first from various European countries (particularly Ireland, Germany, and Italy) and later from the Caribbean region (particularly Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic), as well as African American migrants from the southern United States.[9] This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop.

The Bronx contains one of the five poorest Congressional Districts in the United States, the 15th, but its wide diversity also includes affluent, upper-income and middle-income neighborhoods such as Riverdale, Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, Schuylerville, Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Morris Park, and Country Club.[10][11] The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a sharp decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s and the 1970s, culminating in a wave of arson. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace from the 1990s until today.[12]

New York City's five boroughs
Jurisdiction Population Land area Density
BoroughCountyEstimate
(2016)[13]
square
miles
square
km
persons /
sq. mi
persons /
sq. km
New York
1,643,734 22.83 59.1 72,033 27,826
Bronx
1,455,720 42 110 34,653 13,231
Kings
2,629,150 71 180 37,137 14,649
Queens
2,333,054 109 280 21,460 8,354
Richmond
476,015 58.5 152 8,112 3,132
8,537,673303.33781.128,18810,947
19,745,28947,214122,284416.4159
Sources: see individual borough articles

Etymology and naming

Early names

Map of the Bronx in 1867

The Bronx was called Rananchqua[14] by the native Siwanoy[15] band of Lenape (also known historically as the Delawares), while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck.[16] It was divided by the Aquahung River.

The origin of Jonas Bronck (c.1600–43) is contested. Some sources claim he was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639.[8][17][18][19][20][21] Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the area now known as the Bronx and built a farm named "Emmanus" close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in Mott Haven.[22] He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem (on Manhattan Island), and bought additional tracts from the local tribes. He eventually accumulated 500 acres (200 ha) between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which became known as Bronck's River or the Bronx [River]. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Bronck's Land.[17] The American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Bronck's son or his younger brother.[23] More recent research indicates that Pieter was probably Jonas' nephew or cousin, but certainly of the same family.

Use of definite article

The Bronx is referred to with the definite article as "The Bronx," both legally[24] and colloquially.[25] The County of Bronx does not place "The" immediately before "Bronx" in formal references, unlike the coextensive Borough of the Bronx, nor does the United States Postal Service in its database of Bronx addresses.[26] The region was apparently named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the "Annexed District of The Bronx" created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County. It was continued in the "Borough of The Bronx", which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1898. The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers.[27][28] Another explanation for the use of the definite article in the borough's name is that the original form of the name was a possessive or collective one referring to the family, as in visiting "the Broncks", "the Bronck's," or "the Broncks'".[29]

“We have always been very proud of the fact that you do not go to Bronx but to The Bronx, meaning to visit that family or what remains of it,” said Audrey Bronk, whose husband Charles is a 10th-generation descendant of Pieter.[30]

The capitalization of The Bronx's name is sometimes disputed. Generally, the definite article is lowercase in place names ("the Bronx") except in official references to the borough. It would be capitalized ("The Bronx") at the beginning of a sentence or in any other situation when a normally lowercase word would be capitalized.[31] However, some people and groups refer to the borough with a capital letter at all times, such as Lloyd Ultan, a Bronx County Historical Society historian, and the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, a Bronx-based organization. These people say that the definite article is part of the proper name.[32][33] In particular, the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx is leading efforts to make the city refer to the borough with an uppercase definite article in all uses, comparing the lowercase article in The Bronx's name to "not capitalizing the 's' in 'Staten Island.'"[33]

History

European colonization of the Bronx began in 1639. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County, but it was ceded to New York County in fragments before it became Bronx County. Originally, the area was inhabited by American Indians until colonization turned the borough into a farmland.

Before 1914

The development of the Bronx is directly connected to its strategic location between New England and New York (Manhattan). Control over the bridges across the Harlem River plagued the period of British colonial rule. The King's Bridge, built in 1693 where Broadway reached the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, was a possession of Frederick Philipse, lord of Philipse Manor. The tolls were resented by local farmers on both sides of the creek. In 1759, the farmers, led by Jacobus Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer, built a "free bridge" across the Harlem River,[34] which led to the abandonment of tolls altogether.[35]

The territory now contained within Bronx County was originally part of Westchester County, one of the 12 original counties of the English Province of New York. The present Bronx County was contained in the town of Westchester and parts of the towns of Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846, a new town was created by division of Westchester, called West Farms; the town of Morrisania was created in turn from West Farms in 1855. In 1873, the town of Kingsbridge was established within the former borders of Yonkers, roughly corresponding to the modern Bronx neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, and Woodlawn.

Among famous settlers in the Bronx in the 19th and early 20th centuries were author Willa Cather, tobacco merchant Pierre Lorillard, and inventor Jordan L. Mott, who established Mott Haven to house the workers at his iron works.[36]

The consolidation of the Bronx into New York City proceeded in two stages. In 1873, the state legislature annexed Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania to New York, effective in 1874; the three towns were abolished in the process.[37][38]

The whole territory east of the Bronx River was annexed to the city in 1895, three years before New York's consolidation with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. This included the Town of Westchester (which had voted against consolidation in 1894) and portions of Eastchester and Pelham.[3][37][39][40][41] The nautical community of City Island voted to join the city in 1896.

On January 1, 1898, the consolidated City of New York was born, including the Bronx as one of the five distinct Boroughs. (At the same time, the Bronx's territory moved from Westchester County into New York County, which already contained Manhattan and the rest of pre-1874 New York City.)

On April 19, 1912, those parts of New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County in the past decades were newly constituted as Bronx County, the 62nd and last county to be created by the state, effective in 1914.[37][42] Bronx County's courts opened for business on January 2, 1914 (the same day that John P. Mitchel started work as Mayor of New York City).[4] Marble Hill, Manhattan was now connected to the Bronx, but it did not become part of that county by a historical accident due to changes in waterways.

After 1914

Bronx residents born abroad or overseas, 1930 and 2000
1930 United States Census[43]2000 United States Census[44]
Total population of the Bronx 1,265,258   Total population of the Bronx 1,332,650  
   All born abroad or overseas 524,41039.4%
   Puerto Rico126,6499.5%
Foreign-born Whites477,34237.7% All foreign-born 385,82729.0%
White persons born in Russia135,21010.7%Dominican Republic124,0329.3%
White persons born in Italy67,7325.4%Jamaica51,1203.8%
White persons born in Poland55,9694.4%Mexico20,9621.6%
White persons born in Germany43,3493.4%Guyana14,8681.1%
White persons born in the Irish Free State 34,5382.7%Ecuador14,8001.1%
Other foreign birthplaces of Whites140,54411.1%Other foreign birthplaces160,045 12.0%
† the 26 counties now within the Republic of Ireland ‡ beyond the 50 states & District of Columbia

The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods: a boom period during 1900–29, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression and post World War II years saw a slowing of growth leading into an eventual decline. The mid to late century were hard times, as the Bronx declined 1950–85 from a predominantly moderate-income to a predominantly lower-income area with high rates of violent crime and poverty. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.[45]

New York City expands

Grand Concourse and 161st Street as it appeared around 1900

The Bronx was a mostly rural area for generations, small farms supplying the city markets, but it grew into a railroad suburb in the late 19th century. Faster transportation enabled rapid population growth in the late 19th century, involving the move from horse-drawn street cars to elevated railways and the subway system, which linked to Manhattan in 1904.[45]

The South Bronx was a manufacturing center for many years and was noted as a center of piano manufacturing in the early part of the 20th century. In 1919, the Bronx was the site of 63 piano factories employing more than 5,000 workers.[46]

At the end of World War I, the Bronx hosted the rather small 1918 World's Fair at 177th Street and DeVoe Avenue.[3][47]

The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of the New York City Subway contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants came to the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction. Among these groups, many Irish Americans, Italian Americans, and especially Jewish Americans settled here. In addition, French, German, Polish, and other immigrants moved into the borough. The Jewish population also increased notably during this time. In 1937, 592,185 Jews lived in The Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population),[48] while only 54,000 Jews lived in the borough in 2011. Many synagogues still stand in the Bronx, but most have been converted to other uses.[49]

Decline

Bootleggers and gangs were active in the Bronx during Prohibition (1920–33). Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Polish gangs smuggled in most of the illegal whiskey, and the oldest sections of the borough became poverty-stricken.

Between 1930 and 1960, moderate and upper income Bronxites (predominantly non-Hispanic Whites) began to relocate from the southwestern neighborhoods of the borough. This migration has left a mostly poor African American and Hispanic (largely Puerto Rican) population in the West Bronx. One significant factor that shifted the racial and economic demographics was the construction of Co-op City, built with the intent of housing middle-class residents in family-sized apartments. The high-rise complex played a significant role in draining middle-class residents from older tenement buildings in the borough's southern and western fringes. Most predominantly non-Hispanic White communities today are located in the eastern and northwestern sections of the borough.

From the early 1960s to the early 1980s, the quality of life declined sharply for many Bronx residents. Historians and social scientists have suggested many factors, including the theory that Robert Moses' Cross Bronx Expressway destroyed existing residential neighborhoods and created instant slums, as put forward in Robert Caro's biography The Power Broker.[50] Another factor in the Bronx's decline may have been the development of high-rise housing projects, particularly in the South Bronx.[51] Yet another factor may have been a reduction in the real estate listings and property-related financial services offered in some areas of the Bronx, such as mortgage loans or insurance policies—a process known as redlining. Others have suggested a "planned shrinkage" of municipal services, such as fire-fighting.[52][53] There was also much debate as to whether rent control laws had made it less profitable (or more costly) for landlords to maintain existing buildings with their existing tenants than to abandon or destroy those buildings.[54]

In the 1970s, the Bronx was plagued by a wave of arson. The burning of buildings was predominantly in the poorest communities, such as the South Bronx. One explanation of what occurred was that landlords decided to burn their low property-value buildings and take the insurance money, as it was more lucrative to get insurance money than to refurbish or sell a building in a severely distressed area.[55] The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx.[56]

Out of 289 census tracts in the Bronx borough, 7 tracts lost more than 97% of their buildings to fire and abandonment between 1970 and 1980; another 44 tracts had more than 50% of their buildings meet the same fate. By the early 1980s, the South Bronx was considered one of the most blighted urban areas in the country, with a loss of 60% of the population and 40% of housing units. However, starting in the 1990s, many burned-out and run-down tenements were replaced by multi-unit housing.[56]

Revitalization

four-story houses along a city street
Row houses on a location where there was once burnt rubble. The Bronx has seen an increase in revitalization in recent years.

Since the late 1980s, significant development has occurred in the Bronx, first stimulated by the city's "Ten-Year Housing Plan"[57][58] and community members working to rebuild the social, economic and environmental infrastructure by creating affordable housing. Groups affiliated with churches in the South Bronx erected the Nehemiah Homes with about 1,000 units. The grass roots organization Nos Quedamos' endeavor known as Melrose Commons[59][60][61] began to rebuild areas in the South Bronx.[62] The IRT White Plains Road Line (2 5 trains) began to show an increase in riders. Chains such as Marshalls, Staples, and Target opened stores in the Bronx. More bank branches opened in the Bronx as a whole (rising from 106 in 1997 to 149 in 2007), although not primarily in poor or minority neighborhoods, while the Bronx still has fewer branches per person than other boroughs.[63][64][65][66]

In 1997, the Bronx was designated an All America City by the National Civic League, acknowledging its comeback from the decline of the mid-century.[67] In 2006, The New York Times reported that "construction cranes have become the borough's new visual metaphor, replacing the window decals of the 1980s in which pictures of potted plants and drawn curtains were placed in the windows of abandoned buildings."[68] The borough has experienced substantial new building construction since 2002. Between 2002 and June 2007, 33,687 new units of housing were built or were under way and $4.8 billion has been invested in new housing. In the first six months of 2007 alone total investment in new residential development was $965 million and 5,187 residential units were scheduled to be completed. Much of the new development is springing up in formerly vacant lots across the South Bronx.[69]

In addition, there is a revitalization of the existing housing market in areas such as Hunts Point, the Lower Concourse, and the neighborhoods surrounding the Third Avenue Bridge as people buy apartments and renovate them.[70] Several boutique and chain hotels have opened in recent years in the South Bronx.[71]

New developments are underway. The Bronx General Post Office[72][73] on the corner of the Grand Concourse and East 149th Street is being converted into a market place, boutiques, restaurants and office space with a USPS concession.[74] The Kingsbridge Armory, often cited as the largest armory in the world, is scheduled for redevelopment as the Kingsbridge National Ice Center.[75]

Under consideration for future development is the construction of a platform over the New York City Subway's Concourse Yard adjacent to Lehman College. The construction would permit approximately 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) of development and would cost US$350–500 million.[76] In addition, a La Quinta Inn has been proposed for the Mott Haven waterfront.[77]

Geography

Location and physical features

New York Times 1896 map of parks and transit in the newly annexed Bronx. Marble Hill is in pink, cut off by water from the rest of Manhattan in orange. Parks are light green, Woodlawn Cemetery medium green, sports facilities dark green, the not-yet-built Jerome Park Reservoir light blue, St. John's College (now Fordham University) in violet, and the city limits of the newly expanded New York in red.[78]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bronx County has a total area of 57 square miles (150 km2), of which 42 square miles (110 km2) is land and 15 square miles (39 km2) (27%) is water.[79]

The Bronx is the only part of New York City that is almost entirely situated on the North American mainland.[80] Its bedrock is primarily Fordham gneiss, a high-grade heavily banded metamorphic rock containing significant amounts of pink feldspar.[81] Marble Hill – politically part of Manhattan but now physically attached to the Bronx – is so-called because of the formation of Inwood Marble there as well as in Inwood, Manhattan and parts of the Bronx and Westchester County.

The Hudson River separates the Bronx on the west from Alpine, Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, New Jersey; the Harlem River separates it from the island of Manhattan to the southwest; the East River separates it from Queens to the southeast; and to the east, Long Island Sound separates it from Nassau County in western Long Island. Directly north of the Bronx are (from west to east) the adjoining Westchester County communities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. (There is also a short southern land boundary with Marble Hill in the Borough of Manhattan, over the filled-in former course of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Marble Hill's postal ZIP code, telephonic Area Code and fire service, however, are shared with the Bronx and not Manhattan.)

The Bronx River flows south from Westchester County through the borough, emptying into the East River; it is the only entirely freshwater river in New York City.[82] A smaller river, the Hutchinson River (named after the religious leader Anne Hutchinson, killed along its banks in 1641), passes through the East Bronx and empties into Eastchester Bay.

The Bronx also includes several small islands in the East River and Long Island Sound, such as City Island and Hart Island. Rikers Island in the East River, home to the large jail complex for the entire city, is also part of the Bronx.

The Bronx's highest elevation at 280 feet (85 m) is in the northwest corner, west of Van Cortlandt Park and in the Chapel Farm area near the Riverdale Country School.[83] The opposite (southeastern) side of the Bronx has four large low peninsulas or "necks" of low-lying land that jut into the waters of the East River and were once salt marsh: Hunt's Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck and Throg's Neck. Further up the coastline, Rodman's Neck lies between Pelham Bay Park in the northeast and City Island. The Bronx's irregular shoreline extends for 75 square miles (194 km2).[84]

Parks and open space

Sample of Bronx open spaces and parks
Acquired Name acres mi2 hectares
1863Woodlawn Cemetery4000.6162
1888Pelham Bay Park2,7644.31,119
Van Cortlandt Park1,1461.8464
Bronx Park7181.1291
Crotona Park1280.252
St. Mary's Park350.0514
1890Jerome Park Reservoir940.1538
1897St. James Park110.024.6
1899Macombs Dam Park280.0412
1909Henry Hudson Park90.014
1937Ferry Point Park4140.65168
Soundview Park1960.3179
1962Wave Hill210.038.5
Land area of the Bronx in 200026,89742.010,885
Water area9,85515.43,988
Total area[79]36,75257.414,873
closed in 2007 to build a new park & Yankee Stadium [85]
Main source: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Although Bronx County was the third most densely populated county in the United States as of 2006 (after Manhattan and Brooklyn),[2] 7,000 acres (28 km2) of the Bronx—about one-fifth of the Bronx's area, and one-quarter of its land area—is given over to parkland.[5] The vision of a system of major Bronx parks connected by park-like thoroughfares is usually attributed to John Mullaly.

Woodlawn Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, sits on the western bank of the Bronx River near Yonkers. It opened in 1863, at a time when the Bronx was still considered a rural area.

The northern side of the borough includes the largest park in New York City—Pelham Bay Park, which includes Orchard Beach—and the third-largest, Van Cortlandt Park, which is west of Woodlawn Cemetery and borders Yonkers[86]. Also in the northern Bronx, Wave Hill, the former estate of George W. Perkins—known for a historic house, gardens, changing site-specific art installations and concerts—overlooks the New Jersey Palisades from a promontory on the Hudson in Riverdale. Nearer the borough's center, and along the Bronx River, is Bronx Park; its northern end houses the New York Botanical Gardens, which preserve the last patch of the original hemlock forest that once covered the entire county, and its southern end the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoological gardens in the United States.[87] Just south of Van Cortlandt Park is the Jerome Park Reservoir, surrounded by 2 miles (3 km) of stone walls and bordering several small parks in the Bedford Park neighborhood; the reservoir was built in the 1890s on the site of the former Jerome Park Racetrack.[88] Further south is Crotona Park, home to a 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) lake, 28 species of trees, and a large swimming pool.[89] The land for these parks, and many others, was bought by New York City in 1888, while land was still open and inexpensive, in anticipation of future needs and future pressures for development.[90]

Some of the acquired land was set aside for the Grand Concourse and Pelham Parkway, the first of a series of boulevards and parkways (thoroughfares lined with trees, vegetation and greenery). Later projects included the Bronx River Parkway, which developed a road while restoring the riverbank and reducing pollution, Mosholu Parkway and the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Northern tip of Hunter Island in Pelham Bay Park

In 2006, a five-year, $220-million program of capital improvements and natural restoration in 70 Bronx parks was begun (financed by water and sewer revenues) as part of an agreement that allowed a water filtration plant under Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park. One major focus is on opening more of the Bronx River's banks and restoring them to a natural state.[91]

Neighborhoods

The number, locations, and boundaries of the Bronx's neighborhoods (many of them sitting on the sites of 19th-century villages) have become unclear with time and successive waves of newcomers. In 2006, Manny Fernandez of The New York Times wrote,

According to a Department of City Planning map of the city's neighborhoods, the Bronx has 49. The map publisher Hagstrom identifies 69. The borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., says 61. The Mayor's Community Assistance Unit, in a listing of the borough's community boards, names 68. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, lists 44.[lower-alpha 1][92]

Notable Bronx neighborhoods include the South Bronx; Little Italy on Arthur Avenue in the Belmont section; and Riverdale.

East Bronx

(Bronx Community Boards 9 [south central], 10 [east], 11 [east central] and 12 [north central] )[93]

The neighborhood of Co-op City is the largest cooperative housing development in the world.

East of the Bronx River, the borough is relatively flat and includes four large low peninsulas, or 'necks,' of low-lying land which jut into the waters of the East River and were once saltmarsh: Hunts Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck (Castle Hill Point) and Throgs Neck. The East Bronx has older tenement buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multifamily homes, as well as single family homes. It includes New York City's largest park: Pelham Bay Park along the Westchester-Bronx border.

Neighborhoods include: Clason's Point, Harding Park, Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester (Board 9); Throggs Neck, Country Club, City Island, Pelham Bay, Edgewater Park, Co-op City (Board 10); Westchester Square, Van Nest, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park (Board 11); Williamsbridge, Eastchester, Baychester, Edenwald and Wakefield (Board 12).

City Island and Hart Island
The sea is a part of everyday life in City Island.

(Bronx Community Board 10)

City Island is located east of Pelham Bay Park in Long Island Sound and is known for its seafood restaurants and private waterfront homes.[94] City Island's single shopping street, City Island Avenue, is reminiscent of a small New England town. It is connected to Rodman's Neck on the mainland by the City Island Bridge.

East of City Island is Hart Island, which is uninhabited and not open to the public. It once served as a prison and now houses New York City's Potter's Field or pauper's graveyard for unclaimed bodies.[95]

West Bronx

Grand Concourse at East 165th Street

(Bronx Community Boards 1 to 8, progressing roughly from south to northwest)

The western parts of the Bronx are hillier and are dominated by a series of parallel ridges, running south to north. The West Bronx has older apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, multifamily homes in its lower income areas as well as larger single family homes in more affluent areas such as Riverdale and Fieldston.[96] It includes New York City's fourth-largest park: Van Cortlandt Park along the Westchester-Bronx border. The Grand Concourse, a wide boulevard, runs through it, north to south.

Northwestern Bronx

(Bronx Community Boards 7 [between the Bronx and Harlem Rivers] and 8 [facing the Hudson River] – plus part of Board 12)

Neighborhoods include: Fordham-Bedford, Bedford Park, Norwood, Kingsbridge Heights (Board 7), Kingsbridge, Riverdale (Board 8), and Woodlawn (Board 12). (Marble Hill, Manhattan is now connected by land to the Bronx rather than Manhattan and is served by Bronx Community Board 8.)

South Bronx

(Bronx Community Boards 1 to 6 plus part of Board 7—progressing northwards, Boards 2, 3 and 6 border the Bronx River from its mouth to Bronx Park, while 1, 4, 5 and 7 face Manhattan across the Harlem River)

Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the South Bronx has no official boundaries. The name has been used to represent poverty in the Bronx and applied to progressively more northern places so that by the 2000s Fordham Road was often used as a northern limit. The Bronx River more consistently forms an eastern boundary. The South Bronx has many high-density apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multi-unit homes. The South Bronx is home to the Bronx County Courthouse, Borough Hall, and other government buildings, as well as Yankee Stadium. The Cross Bronx Expressway bisects it, east to west. The South Bronx has some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, as well as very high crime areas.

Neighborhoods include: The Hub (a retail district at Third Avenue and East 149th Street), Port Morris, Mott Haven (Board 1), Melrose (Board 1 & Board 3), Morrisania, East Morrisania [also known as Crotona Park East] (Board 3), Hunts Point, Longwood (Board 2), Highbridge, Concourse (Board 4), West Farms, Belmont, East Tremont (Board 6), Tremont, Morris Heights (Board 5), University Heights. (Board 5 & Board 7).

Adjacent counties

The Bronx adjoins:[97]

Transportation

Roads and streets

Surface streets

The Bronx street grid is irregular. Like the northernmost part of upper Manhattan, the West Bronx's hilly terrain leaves a relatively free-style street grid. Much of the West Bronx's street numbering carries over from upper Manhattan, but does not match it exactly; East 132nd Street is the lowest numbered street in the Bronx. This dates from the mid-19th century when the southwestern area of Westchester County west of the Bronx River, was incorporated into New York City and known as the Northside.

The East Bronx is considerably flatter, and the street layout tends to be more regular. Only the Wakefield neighborhood picks up the street numbering, albeit at a misalignment due to Tremont Avenue's layout. At the same diagonal latitude, West 262nd Street in Riverdale matches East 237th Street in Wakefield.

Three major north-south thoroughfares run between Manhattan and the Bronx: Third Avenue, Park Avenue, and Broadway. Other major north-south roads include the Grand Concourse, Jerome Avenue, Sedgwick Avenue, Webster Avenue, and White Plains Road. Major east-west thoroughfares include Mosholu Parkway, Gun Hill Road, Fordham Road, Pelham Parkway, and Tremont Avenue.

Most east-west streets are prefixed with either East or West, to indicate on which side of Jerome Avenue they lie (continuing the similar system in Manhattan, which uses Fifth Avenue as the dividing line).[98]

The historic Boston Post Road, part of the long pre-revolutionary road connecting Boston with other northeastern cities, runs east-west in some places, and sometimes northeast-southwest.

Mosholu and Pelham Parkways, with Bronx Park between them, Van Cortlandt Park to the west and Pelham Bay Park to the east, are also linked by bridle paths.

As of the 2000 Census, approximately 61.6% of all Bronx households do not have access to a car. Citywide, the percentage of autoless households is 55%.[99]

Highways

Several major limited access highways traverse the Bronx. These include:

Bridges and tunnels

An aerial view of the Throgs Neck Bridge

Thirteen bridges and three tunnels connect the Bronx to Manhattan, and three bridges connect the Bronx to Queens. These include, from west to east:

To Manhattan: the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Broadway Bridge, the University Heights Bridge, the Washington Bridge, the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, the High Bridge, the Concourse Tunnel, the Macombs Dam Bridge, the 145th Street Bridge, the 149th Street Tunnel, the Madison Avenue Bridge, the Park Avenue Bridge, the Lexington Avenue Tunnel, the Third Avenue Bridge (southbound traffic only), and the Willis Avenue Bridge (northbound traffic only).

To both Manhattan and Queens: the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, formerly known as the Triborough Bridge.

To Queens: the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge.

Mass transit

Middletown Road subway station on the 6 <6> trains
NYC Transit bus operating on the Bx40 line in University Heights

The Bronx is served by six lines of the New York City Subway with 70 stations in the Bronx:[100]

There are also many MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes in the Bronx. This includes local and express routes as well as Bee-Line Bus System routes.[101]

Two Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines (the Harlem Line and the Hudson Line) serve 11 stations in the Bronx. (Marble Hill, between the Spuyten Duyvil and University Heights stations, is actually in the only part of Manhattan connected to the mainland.) In addition, trains serving the New Haven Line stop at Fordham Road.

Demographics

Race, ethnicity, language, and immigration

2013 estimates

Racial/ethnic concentrations within the Bronx, by block. (Red indicates Hispanic of any race; Blue indicates non-Hispanic White; and Green indicates non-Hispanic Black or African-American.)
Racial composition 2013[102] 1990[103] 1970[103] 1940[103]
White 45.8% 35.7% 73.4% 98.3%
–Non-Hispanic 10.5% 22.6% n/a n/a
Black or African American 43.3% 37.3% 24.3% 1.7%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 54.6% 43.5% 27.7%[104] n/a
Asian 4.2% 3.0% 0.5% 0.1%
Other race N/A 23.5% 1.6% (X)

According to a 2013 Census Bureau estimate,[102] 45.8% of the Bronx's population was white, 43.3% was black or African American, 4.2% Asian, 3.0% American Indian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, and 3.3% of two or more races. In addition, 54.6% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race.

The Census Bureau considers the Bronx to be the most diverse area in the country. There is an 89.7 percent chance that any two residents, chosen at random, would be of different race or ethnicity.[105] The borough's most populous racial group, white, declined from 98.3% in 1940 to 45.8% in 2013.[102]

31.7% of the population were foreign born and another 8.9% were born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parents. 55.6% spoke a language other than English at home and 16.4% had a bachelor's degree or higher.[106]

Approximately 44.3% of the population over the age of five spoke only English at home, which is roughly 570,000 people. The majority (55.7%) of the population spoke a language other than English at home. Over 580,600 people (45.2% of the population) spoke Spanish at home.[107][108]

2010 Census

Historical population
Census Pop.
17901,781
18001,755−1.5%
18102,26729.2%
18202,78222.7%
18303,0238.7%
18405,34676.8%
18508,03250.2%
186023,593193.7%
187037,39358.5%
188051,98039.0%
189088,90871.0%
1900200,507125.5%
1910430,980114.9%
1920732,01669.8%
19301,265,25872.8%
19401,394,71110.2%
19501,451,2774.1%
19601,424,815−1.8%
19701,471,7013.3%
19801,168,972−20.6%
19901,203,7893.0%
20001,332,65010.7%
20101,385,1083.9%
Est. 20161,455,720[1]5.1%
Sources: 1790–1990;[109]
2000–2010

According to the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race); 30.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.9% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 3.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.6% from some other race (non-Hispanic) and 1.2% of two or more races (non-Hispanic). The U.S. Census considers the Bronx to be the most diverse area in the country. There is an 89.7 percent chance that any two residents, chosen at random, would be of different race or ethnicity.[105]

As of 2010, 46.29% (584,463) of Bronx residents aged five and older spoke Spanish at home, while 44.02% (555,767) spoke English, 2.48% (31,361) African languages, 0.91% (11,455) French, 0.90% (11,355) Italian, 0.87% (10,946) various Indic languages, 0.70% (8,836) other Indo-European languages, and Chinese was spoken at home by 0.50% (6,610) of the population over the age of five. In total, 55.98% (706,783) of the Bronx's population age five and older spoke a language at home other than English.[110] A Garifuna-speaking community from Honduras and Guatemala also makes the Bronx its home.[111]

2009 Community Survey

According to the 2009 American Community Survey, White Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-fifth (22.9%) of the Bronx's population. However, non-Hispanic whites formed under one-eighth (12.1%) of the population, down from 34.4% in 1980.[103] Out of all five boroughs, the Bronx has the lowest number and percentage of white residents. 320,640 whites called the Bronx home, of which 168,570 were non-Hispanic whites. The majority of the non-Hispanic European American population is of Italian and Irish descent. People of Italian descent numbered over 55,000 individuals and made up 3.9% of the population. People of Irish descent numbered over 43,500 individuals and made up 3.1% of the population. German Americans and Polish Americans made up 1.4% and 0.8% of the population respectively.

The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a Hispanic majority, many of whom are Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.

At the 2009 American Community Survey, Black Americans made the second largest group in the Bronx after Hispanics and Latinos. Blacks of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-third (35.4%) of the Bronx's population. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin made up 30.8% of the population. Over 495,200 blacks resided in the borough, of which 430,600 were non-Hispanic blacks. Over 61,000 people identified themselves as "Sub-Saharan African" in the survey, making up 4.4% of the population.

Native Americans are a very small minority in the borough. Only some 5,560 individuals (out of the borough's 1.4 million people) are Native American, which is equal to just 0.4% of the population. In addition, roughly 2,500 people are Native Americans of non-Hispanic origin.

In 2009, Hispanic and Latino Americans represented 52.0% of the Bronx's population. Puerto Ricans represented 23.2% of the borough's population. Over 72,500 Mexicans lived in the Bronx, and they formed 5.2% of the population. Cubans numbered over 9,640 members and formed 0.7% of the population. In addition, over 319,000 people were of various Hispanic and Latino groups, such as Dominican, Salvadoran, and so on. These groups collectively represented 22.9% of the population. At the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race). Asian Americans are a small but sizable minority in the borough. Roughly 49,600 Asians make up 3.6% of the population. Roughly 13,600 Indians call the Bronx home, along with 9,800 Chinese, 6,540 Filipinos, 2,260 Vietnamese, 2,010 Koreans, and 1,100 Japanese.

Multiracial Americans are also a sizable minority in the Bronx. People of multiracial heritage number over 41,800 individuals and represent 3.0% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and African American heritage number over 6,850 members and form 0.5% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Native American heritage number over 2,450 members and form 0.2% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Asian heritage number over 880 members and form 0.1% of the population. People of mixed African American and Native American heritage number over 1,220 members and form 0.1% of the population.

Older estimates

The Census of 1930 counted only 1.0% (12,930) of the Bronx's population as Negro (while making no distinct counts of Hispanic or Spanish-surname residents).[43]

Foreign or overseas birthplaces of Bronx residents, 1930 and 2000
1930 United States Census[43]2000 United States Census[44]
Total population of the Bronx 1,265,258   Total population of the Bronx 1,332,650  
   All born abroad or overseas 524,41039.4%
   Puerto Rico126,6499.5%
Foreign-born Whites477,34237.7% All foreign-born 385,82729.0%
White persons born in Russia135,21010.7%Dominican Republic124,0329.3%
White persons born in Italy67,7325.4%Jamaica51,1203.8%
White persons born in Poland55,9694.4%Mexico20,9621.6%
White persons born in Germany43,3493.4%Guyana14,8681.1%
White persons born in the Irish Free State 34,5382.7%Ecuador14,8001.1%
Other foreign birthplaces of Whites140,54411.1%Other foreign birthplaces160,045 12.0%
† the 26 counties now within the Republic of Ireland ‡ beyond the 50 states & District of Columbia

Population and housing

Poverty concentrations within the Bronx, by Census Tract

At the 2010 Census, there were, 1,385,108 people living in Bronx, a 3.9% increase since 2000. As of the United States Census[112] of 2000, there were 1,332,650 people, 463,212 households, and 314,984 families residing in the borough. The population density was 31,709.3 inhabitants per square mile (12,242.2/km²). There were 490,659 housing units at an average density of 11,674.8 per square mile (4,507.4/km²).[112] Recent Census estimates place total population of Bronx county at 1,392,002 as of 2012.[113]

There were 463,212 households out of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.4% were married couples living together, 30.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.37.[112]

The age distribution of the population in the Bronx was as follows: 29.8% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 87.0 males.[112]

Individual and household income

The 1999 median income for a household in the borough was $27,611, and the median income for a family was $30,682. Males had a median income of $31,178 versus $29,429 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $13,959. About 28.0% of families and 30.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.5% of those under age 18 and 21.3% of those age 65 or over.

From 2015 Census data, the median income for a household was (in 2015 dollars) $34,299. Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2015 dollars): $18,456 with persons in poverty at 30.3%.

Government and politics

Local government

Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, the Bronx has been governed by the New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor-council system. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in the Bronx.

Borough Presidents of the Bronx
Name Party Term †
Louis F. Haffen Democratic1898 – Aug. 1909
John F. Murray DemocraticAug. 1909–1910
Cyrus C. Miller Democratic1910–1914
Douglas
Mathewson
Republican-
Fusion
1914–1918
Henry Bruckner Democratic1918–1934
James J. Lyons Democratic1934–1962
Joseph F. Periconi Republican-
Liberal
1962–1966
Herman BadilloDemocratic 1966–1970
Robert AbramsDemocratic 1970–1979
Stanley SimonDemocratic1979 – April 1987
Fernando FerrerDemocraticApril 1987 – 2002
Adolfo Carrión, Jr.Democratic2002 – March 2009
Ruben Diaz, Jr.DemocraticMay 2009 –  
† Terms begin and end in January
where the month is not specified.

The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.[114]

Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations.

Until March 1, 2009, the Borough President of the Bronx was Adolfo Carrión Jr., elected as a Democrat in 2001 and 2005 before retiring early to direct the White House Office of Urban Affairs Policy. His successor, Democratic New York State Assembly member Rubén Díaz, Jr., who won a special election on April 21, 2009 by a vote of 86.3% (29,420) on the "Bronx Unity" line to 13.3% (4,646) for the Republican district leader Anthony Ribustello on the "People First" line,[115][116] became Borough President on May 1.

All of the Bronx's currently elected public officials have first won the nomination of the Democratic Party (in addition to any other endorsements). Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. Controversial political issues in the Bronx include environmental issues, the cost of housing, and annexation of parkland for new Yankee Stadium.

Since its separation from New York County on January 1, 1914, the Bronx, has had, like each of the other 61 counties of New York State, its own criminal court system[4] and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Darcel D. Clark has been the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016. Her predecessor was Robert T. Johnson, was the District Attorney from 1989 to 2015. He was the first African-American District Attorney in New York State.

Eight members of the New York City Council represent districts wholly within the Bronx (11–18), while a ninth represents a Manhattan district (8) that also includes a small area of the Bronx. One of those members, Joel Rivera (District 15), has been the Council's Majority Leader since 2002. In 2008, all of them were Democrats.

The Bronx also has twelve Community Boards, appointed bodies that field complaints and advise on land use and municipal facilities and services for local residents, businesses and institutions. (They are listed at Bronx Community Boards).

Representatives in the U.S. Congress

Candidates winning non-judicial elections in the Bronx since 2004
year office winner of the Bronx
(failed to win overall contest)
Bronx
%
over-
all %
borough-wide votes
2004U.S. President & V.P.John KerryJohn Edwards, D-WF81.8%48.3%
2005Mayor of New YorkFernando Ferrer, D59.8%39.0%
Public AdvocateBetsy Gotbaum, D93.8%90.0%
City ComptrollerWilliam C. Thompson, Jr., D-WF95.5%92.6%
Borough PresidentAdolfo Carrión, Jr., D83.8%
2006U.S. SenatorHillary Clinton, D-WF-Independence89.5%67.0%
Governor & Lt Gov.Eliot SpitzerDavid Paterson, D-WF-Indpce88.8%69.0%
State ComptrollerAlan G. Hevesi, D-WF-Independence84.5%56.8%
NY Attorney-GeneralAndrew M. Cuomo, D-Working Families82.6%58.3%
2007Bronx Dist. AttorneyRobert T. Johnson, D-R-Conservative100–%
2008Democratic Pres.Hillary Clinton61.2%48.0%
Republican Pres.John McCain54.4%46.6%
U.S. President & V.P.Barack ObamaJoe Biden, D-WF87.8%52.9%
2009Borough PresidentRuben Diaz, Jr., Bronx Unity86.3%
individual legislative districts
2005New York City Council
Council District 8Melissa Mark Viverito, D-WF100.%100.%
Council District 11G. Oliver Koppell, D81.1%
Council District 12Larry B. Seabrook, D87.2%
Council District 13James Vacca, D64.4%
Council District 14María Baez, D94.7%
Council District 15Joel Rivera, D (majority leader)91.0%
Council District 16Helen D. Foster, D-R-Working Families98.6%
Council District 17María Del Carmen Arroyo, D-Indep'ce98.3%
Council District 18Annabel Palma, D-WF89.1%
2006U.S. House of Representatives
Cong. District 7Joseph Crowley, D-WF84.9%84.0%
Cong. District 16José E. Serrano, D-WF95.3%
Cong. District 17Eliot L. Engel, D-WF89.3%76.4%
New York State Senate
Senate District 28José M. Serrano, D-WF100.%100.%
Senate District 31Eric T. Schneiderman, D-WF88.8%92.3%
Senate District 32Rubén Díaz, D92.5%
Senate District 33Efraín González, Jr., D96.9%
Senate District 34Jeffrey D. Klein, D-WF64.8%61.2%
Senate District 36Ruth H. Thompson, D-WF95.4%95.4%
New York State Assembly
Assembly District 76Peter M. Rivera, D-WF91.8%
Assembly District 77Aurelia Greene, D-WF94.9%
Assembly District 78José Rivera, D89.7%
Assembly District 79Michael A. Benjamin, D95.1%
Assembly District 80Naomi Rivera, D74.6%
Assembly District 81Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-WF95.1%
Assembly District 82Michael R. Benedetto, D-WF81.4%
Assembly District 83Carl E. Heastie, D-WF94.1%
Assembly District 84Carmen E. Arroyo, D92.7%
Assembly District 85Rubén Díaz, Jr., D94.8%
Assembly District 86Luís M. Diaz, D94.6%
D = Democratic Party; R = Republican Party;
WF = Working Families Party; Indpce = Independence Party of New York

In 2008, three Democrats represented almost all of the Bronx in the United States House of Representatives.

All of these Representatives won over 75% of their districts' respective votes in both 2004 and 2006. National Journal's neutral rating system placed all of their voting records in 2005 and 2006 somewhere between very liberal and extremely liberal.[10][11]

11 out of 150 members of the New York State Assembly (the lower house of the state legislature) represent districts wholly within the Bronx. Six State Senators out of 62 represent Bronx districts, half of them wholly within the County, and half straddling other counties. All these legislators are Democrats who won between 65% and 100% of their districts' vote in 2006.[117]

Votes for other offices

In the 2004 presidential election, Senator John F. Kerry received 81.8% of the vote in the Bronx (79.8% on the Democratic line plus 2% on the Working Families Party's line) while President George W. Bush received 16.3% (15.5% Republican plus 0.85% Conservative).

In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama improved on Kerry's showing, and took 88.7% of the vote in the Bronx to Republican John McCain's 10.9%.

In 2005, the Democratic former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer won 59.8% of the borough's vote against 38.8% (35.3% Republican, 3.5% Independence Party) for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who carried every other borough in his winning campaign for re-election.

In 2006, successfully reelected Senator Hillary Clinton won 89.5% of the Bronx's vote (82.8% Dem. + 4.1% Working Families + 2.6% Independence) against Yonkers ex-Mayor John Spencer's 9.6% (8.2% Republican + 1.4% Cons.), while Eliot Spitzer won 88.8% of the Borough's vote (82.1% Dem. + 4.1% Working Families + 2.5% Independence Party) in winning the Governorship against John Faso, who received 9.7% of the Bronx's vote (8.2% Republican + 1.5% Cons.)[118]

In the Presidential primary elections of February 5, 2008, Sen. Clinton won 61.2% of the Bronx's 148,636 Democratic votes against 37.8% for Barack Obama and 1.0% for the other four candidates combined (John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden). On the same day, John McCain won 54.4% of the borough's 5,643 Republican votes, Mitt Romney 20.8%, Mike Huckabee 8.2%, Ron Paul 7.4%, Rudy Giuliani 5.6%, and the other candidates (Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Alan Keyes) 3.6% between them.[119]

After becoming a separate county in 1914, the Bronx has supported only two Republican Presidential candidates. It voted heavily for the winning Republican Warren G. Harding in 1920, but much more narrowly on a split vote for his victorious Republican successor Calvin Coolidge in 1924 (Coolidge 79,562; John W. Davis, Dem., 72,834; Robert La Follette, 62,202 equally divided between the Progressive and Socialist lines).

Since then, the Bronx has always supported the Democratic Party's nominee for President, starting with a vote of 2–1 for the unsuccessful Al Smith in 1928, followed by four 2–1 votes for the successful Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Both had been Governors of New York, but Republican former Gov. Thomas E. Dewey won only 28% of the Bronx's vote in 1948 against 55% for Pres. Harry Truman, the winning Democrat, and 17% for Henry A. Wallace of the Progressives. It was only 32 years earlier, by contrast, that another Republican former Governor who narrowly lost the Presidency, Charles Evans Hughes, had won 42.6% of the Bronx's 1916 vote against Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's 49.8% and Socialist candidate Allan Benson's 7.3%.)[120]

The Bronx has often shown striking differences from other boroughs in elections for Mayor. The only Republican to carry the Bronx since 1914 was Fiorello La Guardia in 1933, 1937 and 1941 (and in the latter two elections, only because his 30% to 32% vote on the American Labor Party line was added to 22% to 23% as a Republican).[121] The Bronx was thus the only borough not carried by the successful Republican re-election campaigns of Mayors Rudolph Giuliani in 1997 and Michael Bloomberg in 2005. The anti-war Socialist campaign of Morris Hillquit in the 1917 mayoral election won over 31% of the Bronx's vote, putting him second and well ahead of the 20% won by the incumbent pro-war Fusion Mayor John P. Mitchel, who came in second (ahead of Hillquit) everywhere else and outpolled Hillquit citywide by 23.2% to 21.7%.[122]

The Bronx County Vote for President and Mayor since 1952
President & Vice President of the United StatesMayor of the City of New York
Year Republican,
Conservative &
Independence
Democratic,
Liberal &
Working Families
Won the
Bronx
Elected
President
Year Candidate carrying
the Bronx
Elected Mayor
2016 9.5%   37,797 88.5% 353,646 Hillary Clinton Donald Trump 2017 TBD TBD
2012 8.1%   29,967 91.5% 339,211 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2013Bill de Blasio,
D-Working Families
Bill de Blasio,
D-Working Families
2008 10.9%   41,683 88.7% 338,261 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2009William C. Thompson, Jr,
D-Working Families
Michael Bloomberg,
R–Indep'ce/Jobs & Educ'n
2004 16.3%   56,701 81.8% 283,994 John F. Kerry George W. Bush 2005Fernando Ferrer, D Mike Bloomberg, R/Lib-Indep'ce
2000 11.8%   36,245 86.3% 265,801 Al Gore George W. Bush 2001Mark Green,
D-Working Families
Michael Bloomberg,
R-Independence
1996 10.5%   30,435 85.8% 248,276 Bill Clinton Bill Clinton 1997Ruth Messinger, DRudolph Giuliani, R-Liberal
1992 20.7%   63,310 73.7% 225,038 Bill ClintonBill Clinton 1993David Dinkins, D Rudolph Giuliani, R-Liberal
1988 25.5%   76,043 73.2% 218,245 Michael DukakisGeorge H. W. Bush 1989David Dinkins, D David Dinkins, D
1984 32.8% 109,308 66.9% 223,112 Walter MondaleRonald Reagan 1985Edward Koch, D-Indep.Edward Koch, D-Independent
1980 30.7%   86,843' 64.0% 181,090 Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan 1981Edward Koch, D-R Edward Koch, D-R
1976 28.7%   96,842 70.8% 238,786 Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter 1977Edward Koch, DEdward Koch, D
1972 44.6% 196,756 55.2% 243,345 George McGovernRichard Nixon 1973Abraham Beame, D Abraham Beame, D
1968 32.0% 142,314 62.4% 277,385 Hubert HumphreyRichard Nixon 1969Mario Procaccino,
D-Nonpartisan-Civil Svce Ind.
John V. Lindsay, Liberal
1964 25.2% 135,780 74.7% 403,014 Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson 1965Abraham Beame,
D-Civil Service Fusion
John Lindsay,
R-Liberal-Independent Citizens
1960 31.8% 182,393 67.9% 389,818 John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy 1961Robert F. Wagner, Jr.,
D-Liberal-Brotherhood
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.,
D-Liberal-Brotherhood
1956 42.8% 256,909 57.2% 343,656 Adlai Stevenson IIDwight D. Eisenhower 1957Robert F. Wagner, Jr.,
D-Liberal-Fusion
Robert F. Wagner, Jr.,
D-Liberal-Fusion
1952 37.3% 241,898 60.6% 309,482 Adlai Stevenson IIDwight D. Eisenhower 1953Robert F. Wagner, Jr., D Robert F. Wagner, Jr., D
Presidential Elections Results[123]
Year Republican Democratic Third Parties
2016 9.5% 37,797 88.5% 353,646 2.0% 8,079
2012 8.1% 29,967 91.5% 339,211 0.5% 1,760
2008 10.9% 41,683 88.7% 338,261 0.4% 1,378
2004 16.5% 56,701 82.8% 283,994 0.7% 2,284
2000 11.8% 36,245 86.3% 265,801 2.0% 6,017
1996 10.5% 30,435 85.8% 248,276 3.7% 10,639
1992 20.7% 63,310 73.7% 225,038 5.6% 17,112
1988 25.5% 76,043 73.2% 218,245 1.3% 3,793
1984 32.8% 109,308 66.9% 223,112 0.4% 1,263
1980 30.7% 86,843 64.0% 181,090 5.3% 14,914
1976 28.7% 96,842 70.8% 238,786 0.5% 1,763
1972 44.6% 196,754 55.2% 243,345 0.2% 1,075
1968 32.0% 142,314 62.4% 277,385 5.6% 24,818
1964 25.2% 135,780 74.7% 403,014 0.2% 800
1960 31.8% 182,393 67.9% 389,818 0.4% 2,071
1956 42.8% 257,382 57.2% 343,823 0.0% 0
1952 37.3% 241,898 60.6% 392,477 2.1% 13,420
1948 27.8% 173,044 54.2% 337,129 18.0% 112,182
1944 31.8% 211,158 67.7% 450,525 0.5% 3,352
1940 31.8% 198,293 67.1% 418,931 1.1% 6,980
1936 17.6% 93,151 79.4% 419,625 3.0% 16,042
1932 19.2% 76,587 70.4% 281,330 10.5% 42,002
1928 28.7% 98,636 67.7% 232,766 3.7% 12,545
1924 36.7% 79,583 33.6% 72,840 29.6% 64,234
1920 56.6% 106,050 24.4% 45,741 19.0% 35,538
1916 42.6% 40,938 49.8% 47,870 7.7% 7,396

Economy

Shopping malls and markets in the Bronx include:

Shopping districts

Renovated Prow Building, part of the original Bronx Terminal Market
An aerial view of the Bronx, Harlem River, Harlem, Hudson River, and George Washington Bridge
Morris Heights, a Bronx neighborhood of over 45,000
Street scene on Fordham Road, a major street in the Bronx

Prominent shopping areas in the Bronx include Fordham Road, Bay Plaza in Co-op City, The Hub, the Riverdale/Kingsbridge shopping center, and Bruckner Boulevard. Shops are also concentrated on streets aligned underneath elevated railroad lines, including Westchester Avenue, White Plains Road, Jerome Avenue, Southern Boulevard, and Broadway. The Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market contains several big-box stores, which opened in 2009 south of Yankee Stadium.

There are three primary shopping centers in the Bronx: The Hub, Gateway Center and Southern Boulevard. The Hub–Third Avenue Business Improvement District (B.I.D.), in The Hub, is the retail heart of the South Bronx, located where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues.[124] It is primarily located inside the neighborhood of Melrose but also lines the northern border of Mott Haven.[125] The Hub has been called "the Broadway of the Bronx", being likened to the real Broadway in Manhattan and the northwestern Bronx.[126] It is the site of both maximum traffic and architectural density. In configuration, it resembles a miniature Times Square, a spatial "bow-tie" created by the geometry of the street.[127] The Hub is part of Bronx Community Board 1.

The Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, in the West Bronx, is a shopping center that encompasses less than one million square feet of retail space, built on a 17 acres (7 ha) site that formerly held the Bronx Terminal Market, a wholesale fruit and vegetable market as well as the former Bronx House of Detention, south of Yankee Stadium. The $500 million shopping center, which was completed in 2009, saw the construction of new buildings and two smaller buildings, one new and the other a renovation of an existing building that was part of the original market. The two main buildings are linked by a six-level garage for 2,600 cars. The center has earned itself a LEED "Silver" designation in its design.[128]

Education

Education in the Bronx is provided by a large number of public and private institutions, many of which draw students who live beyond the Bronx. The New York City Department of Education manages public noncharter schools in the borough. In 2000, public schools enrolled nearly 280,000 of the Bronx's residents over 3 years old (out of 333,100 enrolled in all pre-college schools).[129] There are also several public charter schools. Private schools range from élite independent schools to religiously affiliated schools run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Jewish organizations.

A small portion of land that is between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park, with a total of 35 houses, is a part of the Bronx, but is cut off from the rest of the borough due to the way the county boundaries were established; the New York City government pays for the residents' children to go to Pelham Union Free School District schools, including Pelham Memorial High School, since that is more cost effective than sending school buses to take the students to New York City schools. This arrangement has been in place since 1948.[130]

Educational attainment

In 2000, according to the U.S. Census, out of the nearly 800,000 people in the Bronx who were then at least 25 years old, 62.3% had graduated from high school and 14.6% held a bachelor's or higher college degree. These percentages were lower than those for New York's other boroughs, which ranged from 68.8% (Brooklyn) to 82.6% (Staten Island) for high school graduates over 24, and from 21.8% (Brooklyn) to 49.4% (Manhattan) for college graduates. (The respective state and national percentages were [NY] 79.1% & 27.4% and [US] 80.4% & 24.4%.)[131]

High schools

In the 2000 Census, 79,240 of the nearly 95,000 Bronx residents enrolled in high school attended public schools.[129]

Many public high schools are located in the borough including the elite Bronx High School of Science, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, DeWitt Clinton High School, High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx Leadership Academy 2, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, the Morris Academy for Collaborative Study, Wings Academy for young adults, The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, Validus Preparatory Academy, The Eagle Academy For Young Men, Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School, Bronx Academy of Letters, Herbert H. Lehman High School and High School of American Studies. The Bronx is also home to three of New York City's most prestigious private, secular schools: Fieldston, Horace Mann, and Riverdale Country School.

High schools linked to the Roman Catholic Church include: Saint Raymond's Academy for Girls, All Hallows High School, Fordham Preparatory School, Monsignor Scanlan High School, St. Raymond High School for Boys, Cardinal Hayes High School, Cardinal Spellman High School, The Academy of Mount Saint Ursula, Aquinas High School, Preston High School, St. Catharine Academy, Mount Saint Michael Academy, and St. Barnabas High School.

The SAR Academy and SAR High School are Modern Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva coeducational day schools in Riverdale, with roots in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

In the 1990s, New York City began closing the large, public high schools in the Bronx and replacing them with small high schools. Among the reasons cited for the changes were poor graduation rates and concerns about safety. Schools that have been closed or reduced in size include John F. Kennedy, James Monroe, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Evander Childs, Christopher Columbus, Morris, Walton, and South Bronx High Schools. More recently the City has started phasing out large middle schools, also replacing them with smaller schools.

Fordham University's Keating Hall

Colleges and universities

In 2000, 49,442 (57.5%) of the 86,014 Bronx residents seeking college, graduate or professional degrees attended public institutions.[129]

Several colleges and universities are located in the Bronx.

Fordham University was founded as St. John's College in 1841 by the Diocese of New York as the first Catholic institution of higher education in the northeast. It is now officially an independent institution, but strongly embraces its Jesuit heritage. The 85-acre (340,000 m2) Bronx campus, known as Rose Hill, is the main campus of the university, and is among the largest within the city (other Fordham campuses are located in Manhattan and Westchester County).[87]

Three campuses of the City University of New York are in the Bronx: Hostos Community College, Bronx Community College (occupying the former University Heights Campus of New York University)[132] and Herbert H. Lehman College (formerly the uptown campus of Hunter College), which offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

The College of Mount Saint Vincent is a Catholic liberal arts college in Riverdale under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of New York. Founded in 1847 as a school for girls, the academy became a degree-granting college in 1911 and began admitting men in 1974. The school serves 1,600 students. Its campus is also home to the Academy for Jewish Religion, a transdenominational rabbinical and cantorial school.

Manhattan College is a Catholic college in Riverdale which offers undergraduate programs in the arts, business, education, engineering, and science. It also offers graduate programs in education and engineering.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of the Montefiore Medical Center, is in Morris Park.

Two colleges based in Westchester County have Bronx campuses. The Catholic and nearly all-female College of New Rochelle maintains satellite campuses at Co-op City and in The Hub. The coeducational and non-sectarian Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, founded by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy in 1950, has a campus near Westchester Square.

By contrast, the private, proprietary Monroe College, focused on preparation for business and the professions, started in the Bronx in 1933 but now has a campus in New Rochelle (Westchester County) as well the Bronx's Fordham neighborhood.[133]

The State University of New York Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (Throggs Neck)—at the far southeastern tip of the Bronx—is the national leader in maritime education and houses the Maritime Industry Museum. (Directly across Long Island Sound is Kings Point, Long Island, home of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the American Merchant Marine Museum.) As of 2017, graduates from the university earned an average annual salary of $144,000, the highest of any university graduates in the United States.[134]

Culture and institutions

Culture

The Bronx Zoo is the largest zoo in New York City, and among the largest in the country.
The Bronx's P.L.A.Y.E.R.S. Club Steppers performing at the 2007 Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival in Brooklyn. (Note the T-shirts' inscription "I ♥ BX" [Bronx], echoing the ubiquitous slogan "I ♥ NY" [I Love New York] ).[135]

Author Edgar Allan Poe spent the last years of his life (1846 to 1849) in the Bronx at Poe Cottage, now located at Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. A small wooden farmhouse built around 1812, the cottage once commanded unobstructed vistas over the rolling Bronx hills to the shores of Long Island.[136] Poe moved there to get away from the Manhattan city air and crowding in hope that the then rural area would be beneficial for his wife's tuberculosis. It was in the Bronx that Poe wrote one of his most famous works, Annabel Lee.[137]

More than a century later, the Bronx would evolve from a hot bed of Latin jazz to an incubator of hip hop as documented in the award-winning documentary, produced by City Lore and broadcast on PBS in 2006, "From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale."[138] Hip Hop first emerged in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. The New York Times has identified 1520 Sedgwick Avenue "an otherwise unremarkable high-rise just north of the Cross Bronx Expressway and hard along the Major Deegan Expressway" as a starting point, where DJ Kool Herc presided over parties in the community room.[139][140] The 2016 Netflix series The Get Down is based on the development of hip hop in 1977 in the South Bronx.[141] Ten years earlier, the Bronx Opera had been founded.

Founding of hip-hop

On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc was a D.J. and M.C. at a party in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx adjacent to the Cross Bronx Expressway.[142] While it was not the actual "Birthplace of Hip Hop" – the genre developed slowly in several places in the 1970s – it was verified to be the place where one of the pivotal and formative events occurred.[142] Specifically:

[Cool Herc] extended an instrumental beat (mixing or scratching) to let people dance longer (B-boying) and began MC'ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing. ... [This] helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution.

Beginning with the advent of beat match DJing, in which Bronx DJs (Disc Jockeys) including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Kool Herc extended the breaks of funk records, a major new musical genre emerged that sought to isolate the percussion breaks of hit funk, disco and soul songs. As hip hop's popularity grew, performers began speaking ("rapping") in sync with the beats, and became known as MCs or emcees. The Herculoids, made up of Herc, Coke La Rock, and DJ Clark Kent, were the earliest to gain major fame. The Bronx is referred to in hip-hop slang as "The Boogie Down Bronx", or just "The Boogie Down". This was hip-hop pioneer KRS-One's inspiration for his thought provoking group BDP, or Boogie Down Productions, which included DJ Scott La Rock. Newer hip hop artists from the Bronx include Big Pun, Lord Toriq and Peter Gunz, Camp Lo, Swizz Beatz, Drag-On, Fat Joe, Terror Squad and Corey Gunz.[143]

Hush Hip Hop Tours, a tour company founded in 2002 by local licensed sightseeing tour guide Debra Harris,[144] has established a sightseeing tour of the Bronx showcasing the locations that helped shape hip hop culture, and features some of the pioneers of hip hop as tour guides. The Bronx's recognition as an important center of African-American culture has led Fordham University to establish the Bronx African-American History Project (BAAHP).[145]

Sports

New Yankee Stadium at 161st and River Avenue

The Bronx is the home of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. The original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 on 161st Street and River Avenue, a year that saw the Yankees bring home their first of 27 World Series Championships. With the famous facade, the short right field porch and Monument Park, Yankee Stadium has been home to many of baseball's greatest players including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

The original stadium was the scene of Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech in 1939, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Roger Maris' record breaking 61st home run in 1961, and Reggie Jackson's 3 home runs to clinch Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. The Stadium was the former home of the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1956 to 1973.

The original Yankee Stadium closed in 2008 to make way for a new Yankee Stadium in which the team started play in 2009; it's north-northeast of the 1923 Yankee Stadium, on the former site of Macombs Dam Park. The current Yankee Stadium is also the home of New York City FC of Major League Soccer, who began play in 2015.

Off-Off-Broadway

The Bronx is home to several Off-Off-Broadway theaters, many staging new works by immigrant playwrights from Latin America and Africa. The Pregones Theater, which produces Latin American work, opened a new 130-seat theater in 2005 on Walton Avenue in the South Bronx. Some artists from elsewhere in New York City have begun to converge on the area, and housing prices have nearly quadrupled in the area since 2002. However rising prices directly correlate to a housing shortage across the city and the entire metro area.

Arts

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, founded in 1998 by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzales, provides dance, theatre and art workshops, festivals and performances focusing on contemporary and modern art in relation to race, gender, and sexuality. It is home to the Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, a contemporary dance company, and the Bronx Dance Coalition. The Academy was formerly in the American Bank Note Company Building before relocating to a venue on the grounds of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.[146]

The Bronx Museum of the Arts, founded in 1971, exhibits 20th century and contemporary art through its central museum space and 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) of galleries. Many of its exhibitions are on themes of special interest to the Bronx. Its permanent collection features more than 800 works of art, primarily by artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and mixed media. The museum was temporarily closed in 2006 while it underwent a major expansion designed by the architectural firm Arquitectonica.

The Bronx has also become home to a peculiar poetic tribute in the form of the "Heinrich Heine Memorial," better known as the Lorelei Fountain. After Heine's German birthplace of Düsseldorf had rejected, allegedly for anti-Semitic motives, a centennial monument to the radical German-Jewish poet (1797–1856), his incensed German-American admirers, including Carl Schurz, started a movement to place one instead in Midtown Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. However, this intention was thwarted by a combination of ethnic antagonism, aesthetic controversy and political struggles over the institutional control of public art.[147] In 1899, the memorial by Ernst Gustav Herter was placed in Joyce Kilmer Park, near the Yankee Stadium. In 1999, it was moved to 161st Street and the Concourse.

Maritime heritage

The peninsular borough's maritime heritage is acknowledged in several ways.The City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum occupies a former public school designed by the New York City school system's turn-of-the-last-century master architect C. B. J. Snyder. The state's Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (on the southeastern shore) houses the Maritime Industry Museum.[148] In addition, the Harlem River is reemerging as "Scullers' Row"[149] due in large part to the efforts of the Bronx River Restoration Project,[150] a joint public-private endeavor of the city's parks department. Canoeing and kayaking on the borough's namesake river have been promoted by the Bronx River Alliance. The river is also straddled by the New York Botanical Gardens, its neighbor, the Bronx Zoo, and a little further south, on the west shore, Bronx River Art Center.[151]

The press and broadcasting

Newspapers

The Bronx has several local newspapers, including The Bronx News,[152] Parkchester News, City News, The Riverdale Press, Riverdale Review, The Bronx Times Reporter, Inner City Press [153] (which now has more of a focus on national issues) and Co-op City Times. Four non-profit news outlets, Norwood News, Mount Hope Monitor, Mott Haven Herald and The Hunts Point Express serve the borough's poorer communities. The editor and co-publisher of The Riverdale Press, Bernard Stein, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his editorials about Bronx and New York City issues in 1998. (Stein graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1959.)

The Bronx once had its own daily newspaper, The Bronx Home News, which started publishing on January 20, 1907, and merged into the New York Post in 1948. It became a special section of the Post, sold only in the Bronx, and eventually disappeared from view.

Radio and television

One of New York City's major non-commercial radio broadcasters is WFUV, a National Public Radio-affiliated 50,000-watt station broadcasting from Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The radio station's antenna is atop an apartment building owned by Montefiore Medical Center.

The City of New York has an official television station run by the NYC Media Group and broadcasting from Bronx Community College, and Cablevision operates News 12 The Bronx, both of which feature programming based in the Bronx. Co-op City was the first area in the Bronx, and the first in New York beyond Manhattan, to have its own cable television provider. The local public-access television station BronxNet originates from Herbert H. Lehman College, the borough's only four year CUNY school, and provides government-access television (GATV) public affairs programming in addition to programming produced by Bronx residents.[154]

Film and television

Mid-20th century

Mid-20th century movies set in the Bronx portrayed densely settled, working-class, urban culture. Hollywood films such as From This Day Forward (1946), set in Highbridge, occasionally delved into Bronx life. Paddy Chayefsky's Academy Award-winning Marty was the most notable examination of working class Bronx life[155] was also explored by Chayefsky in his 1956 film The Catered Affair, and in the 1993 Robert De Niro/Chazz Palminteri film, A Bronx Tale, Spike Lee's 1999 movie Summer of Sam, centered in an Italian-American Bronx community, 1994's I Like It Like That that takes place in the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood of the South Bronx, and Doughboys, the story of two Italian-American brothers in danger of losing their bakery thanks to one brother's gambling debts.

The Bronx's gritty urban life had worked its way into the movies even earlier, with depictions of the "Bronx cheer", a loud flatulent-like sound of disapproval, allegedly first made by New York Yankees fans. The sound can be heard, for example, on the Spike Jones and His City Slickers recording of "Der Fuehrer's Face" (from the 1942 Disney animated film of the same name), repeatedly lambasting Adolf Hitler with: "We'll Heil! (Bronx cheer) Heil! (Bronx cheer) Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!"[156]

As a symbolism

Some movies have also used the term Bronx for comic effect, such as "Bronx", the character on the Disney animated series Gargoyles.

Starting in the 1970s, the Bronx often symbolized violence, decay, and urban ruin. The wave of arson in the South Bronx in the 1960s and 1970s inspired the observation that "The Bronx is burning": in 1974 it was the title of both a New York Times editorial and a BBC documentary film. The line entered the pop-consciousness with Game Two of the 1977 World Series, when a fire broke out near Yankee Stadium as the team was playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. Numerous fires had previously broken out in the Bronx prior to this fire. As the fire was captured on live television, announcer Howard Cosell is wrongly remembered to have said something like, "There it is, ladies and gentlemen: the Bronx is burning". Historians of New York City frequently point to Cosell's remark as an acknowledgement of both the city and the borough's decline.[157] A new feature-length documentary film by Edwin Pagan called Bronx Burning[158] is in production[159] in 2006, chronicling what led up to the numerous arson-for-insurance fraud fires of the 1970s in the borough.

Bronx gang life was depicted in the 1974 novel The Wanderers by Bronx native Richard Price and the 1979 movie of the same name. They are set in the heart of the Bronx, showing apartment life and the then-landmark Krums ice cream parlor. In the 1979 film The Warriors, the eponymous gang go to a meeting in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and have to fight their way out of the borough and get back to Coney Island in Brooklyn. A Bronx Tale (1993) depicts gang activities in the Belmont "Little Italy" section of the Bronx. The 2005 video game adaptation features levels called Pelham, Tremont, and "Gunhill" (a play off the name Gun Hill Road). This theme lends itself to the title of The Bronx Is Burning, an eight-part ESPN TV mini-series (2007) about the New York Yankees' drive to winning baseball's 1977 World Series. The TV series emphasizes the boisterous nature of the team, led by manager Billy Martin, catcher Thurman Munson and outfielder Reggie Jackson, as well as the malaise of the Bronx and New York City in general during that time, such as the blackout, the city's serious financial woes and near bankruptcy, the arson for insurance payments, and the election of Ed Koch as mayor.

The 1981 film Fort Apache, The Bronx is another film that used the Bronx's gritty image for its storyline. The movie's title is from the nickname for the 41st Police Precinct in the South Bronx which was nicknamed "Fort Apache". Also from 1981 is the horror film Wolfen making use of the rubble of the Bronx as a home for werewolf type creatures. Knights of the South Bronx, a true story of a teacher who worked with disadvantaged children, is another film also set in the Bronx released in 2005. The Bronx was the setting for the 1983 film Fuga dal Bronx, also known as Bronx Warriors 2 and Escape 2000, an Italian B-movie best known for its appearance on the television series Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The plot revolves around a sinister construction corporation's plans to depopulate, destroy and redevelop the Bronx, and a band of rebels who are out to expose the corporation's murderous ways and save their homes. The film is memorable for its almost incessant use of the phrase, "Leave the Bronx!" Many of the movie's scenes were filmed in Queens, substituting as the Bronx. Rumble in the Bronx was a 1995 Jackie Chan kung-fu film, another which popularised the Bronx to international audiences. Last Bronx, a 1996 Sega game played on the bad reputation of the Bronx to lend its name to an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where crime and gang warfare is rampant.

As a setting

Bronx native Nancy Savoca's 1989 comedy, True Love, explores two Italian-American Bronx sweethearts in the days before their wedding. The film, which debuted Annabella Sciorra and Ron Eldard as the betrothed couple, won the Grand Jury Prize at that year's Sundance Film Festival. The CBS television sitcom Becker, 1998–2004, was more ambiguous. The show starred Ted Danson as Dr. John Becker, a doctor who operated a small practice and was constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, and practically everything and everybody else in his world. It showed his everyday life as a doctor working in a small clinic in the Bronx.

Penny Marshall's 1990 film Awakenings, which was nominated for several Oscars, is based on neurologist Oliver Sacks' 1973 account of his psychiatric patients at Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx who were paralyzed by a form of encephalitis but briefly responded to the drug L-dopa. Robin Williams played the physician; Robert De Niro was one of the patients who emerged from a catatonic (frozen) state. The home of Williams' character was shot not far from Sacks' actual City Island residence. A 1973 Yorkshire Television documentary and "A Kind of Alaska", a 1985 play by Harold Pinter,[160] were also based on Sacks' book.

Gus Van Sant's 2000 Finding Forrester was quickly billed "Good Will Hunting in the Hood." Sean Connery is in the title role of a reclusive old man who 50 years earlier wrote a single novel that garnered the Pulitzer Prize. He meets 16-year-old Jamal, portrayed by Rob Brown, a gifted basketball player and aspiring writer from the Bronx, and becomes his mentor. The movie includes stock footage of Bronx housing projects from 1990, as well as some other scenes shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The 2012 documentary "South Bronx United" features the Mott Haven neighborhood and its conflict over the online grocery delivery service Fresh Direct's move of their trucking facility from Long Island City to the South Bronx.

In literature

Books

The Bronx has been featured significantly in fiction literature. All of the characters in Herman Wouk's City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder (1948) live in the Bronx, and about half of the action is set there. Kate Simon's Bronx Primitive: Portraits of a Childhood is directly autobiographical, a warm account of a Polish-Jewish girl in an immigrant family growing up before World War II, and living near Arthur Avenue and Tremont Avenue.[161] In Jacob M. Appel's short story, "The Grand Concourse" (2007),[162] a woman who grew up in the iconic Lewis Morris Building returns to the Morrisania neighborhood with her adult daughter. Similarly, in Avery Corman's book The Old Neighborhood (1980),[163] an upper-middle class white protagonist returns to his birth neighborhood (Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse), and learns that even though the folks are poor, Hispanic and African-American, they are good people.

By contrast, Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)[164] portrays a wealthy, white protagonist, Sherman McCoy, getting lost off the Major Deegan Expressway in the South Bronx and having an altercation with locals. A substantial piece of the last part of the book is set in the resulting riotous trial at the Bronx County Courthouse. However, times change, and in 2007, The New York Times reported that "the Bronx neighborhoods near the site of Sherman's accident are now dotted with townhouses and apartments." In the same article, the Reverend Al Sharpton (whose fictional analogue in the novel is "Reverend Bacon") asserts that "twenty years later, the cynicism of The Bonfire of the Vanities is as out of style as Tom Wolfe's wardrobe."[165]

Don DeLillo's Underworld (1997) is also set in the Bronx and offers a perspective on the decline of the area from the 1950s onwards. John Patrick Shanley's "Savage in Limbo" is set in a 1980s Bronx bar called 'Scales' where the frustrated characters feel they are unable to move.

Poetry

In poetry, the Bronx has been immortalized by one of the world's shortest couplets:

The Bronx
No Thonx
Ogden Nash, The New Yorker, 1931

Nash repented 33 years after his calumny, penning in 1964 the following prose poem to the Dean of Bronx Community College:

I can't seem to escape
the sins of my smart-alec youth;
Here are my amends.
I wrote those lines, "The Bronx?
No thonx";
I shudder to confess them.
Now I'm an older, wiser man
I cry, "The Bronx?
God bless them!"[1]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference thonx was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

In 2016, W. R. Rodriguez published Bronx Trilogy—consisting of the shoe shine parlor poems et al, concrete pastures of the beautiful bronx, and from the banks of brook avenue. The trilogy celebrates Bronx people, places, and events. DeWitt Clinton High School, St. Mary's Park, and Brook Avenue are a few of the schools, parks, and streets Rodriguez uses as subjects for his poems.[166]

Nash's couplet "The Bronx No Thonx" and his subsequent blessing are mentioned in Bronx Accent: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough, edited by Llyod Ultan and Barbara Unger and published in 2000. The book, which includes the work of Yiddish poets, offers a selection from Alan Ginsberg’s Kaddish, as his Aunt Elanor and his mother, Naomi, lived near Woodlawn Cemetery. Also featured is Ruth Lisa Schecther’s poem, "Bronx," which is described as a celebration of the borough’s landmarks. There is a selection of works from poets such as Sandra Maria Esteves, Milton Kessler, Joan Murray, W. R. Rodriguez, Myra Shapiro, Gayl Teller, and Terence Wynch.[167]

Bronx Memoir Project

Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 1 is a published anthology by the Bronx Council of the Arts and brought forth through a series of workshops meant to empower Bronx residents and shed the stigma on the Bronx's burning past.[168] The Bronx Memoir Project was created as an ongoing collaboration between the Bronx Council on the Arts and other cultural institutions, including The Bronx Documentary Center, The Bronx Library Center, Poe Park Visitor Center, Mindbuilders, and other institutions and funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.[169][170] The goal was to develop and refine memoir fragments written by people of all walks of life that share a common bond residing within the Bronx.[169]

In songs

The following songs also mention the Bronx (see also list of songs about New York City):

See also

General:

References

Notes

  1. This data was as of 2006. By May 25, 2014, English Wikipedia listed 58.
  2. See: Car 54, Where Are You?#Theme song

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 "Counties Population Totals Tables: 2010-2016, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016". Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 New York State Department of Health, Population, Land Area, and Population Density by County, New York State – 2010, retrieved on August 8, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Lloyd Ultann, Bronx Borough Historian, "History of the Bronx River," Paper presented to the Bronx River Alliance, November 5, 2002 (notes taken by Maarten de Kadt, November 16, 2002), retrieved on August 29, 2008. This 2½ hour talk covers much of the early history of the Bronx as a whole, in addition to the Bronx River.
  4. 1 2 3 On the start of business for Bronx County: Bronx County In Motion. New Officials All Find Work to Do on Their First Day. The New York Times, January 3, 1914 (PDF retrieved on June 26, 2008):
    "Despite the fact that the new Bronx County Court House is not completed there was no delay yesterday in getting the court machinery in motion. All the new county officials were on hand and the County Clerk, the District Attorney, the Surrogate, and the County Judge soon had things in working order. The seal to be used by the new county was selected by County Judge Louis D. Gibbs. It is circular. In the center is a seated figure of Justice. To her right is an American shield and over the figure is written 'Populi Suprema.' ..."
    "Surrogate George M. S. Schulz, with his office force, was busy at the stroke of 9 o'clock. Two wills were filed in the early morning, but owing to the absence of a safe they were recorded and then returned to the attorneys for safe keeping. ..."
    "There was a rush of business to the new County Clerk's office. Between seventy-five and a hundred men applied for first naturalization papers. Two certificates of incorporation were issued, and seventeen judgments, seven lis pendens, three mechanics' liens and one suit for negligence were filed."
    "Sheriff O'Brien announced several additional appointments."
  5. 1 2 Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is blooming! by Beth J. Harpaz, Travel Editor of The Associated Press (AP), June 30, 2008, retrieved on July 11, 2008 Archived May 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Wylie, Jonathon (1987). The Faroe Islands: Interpretations of History. University of Kentucky Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-8131-1578-8. Jónas Bronck (or Brunck) was the son of Morten Jespersen Bronck ... Jónas seems to have gone to school in Roskilde in 1619, but found his way to Holland where he joined an expedition to Amsterdam.
    • "Jonas Bronx". Bronx Notables. Bronx Historical Society. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
    • van Laer, A. J. F. (October 1916). "Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630–1674". The American Historical Review. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association. 22 (1): 164–166. JSTOR 1836219. "... Jonas Bronck was a Dane ...".
    • Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (Michael L.) (1999). Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898. 1. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 30–37. ISBN 0-19-511634-8. ... many of these colonists, perhaps as many as half of them, represented the same broad mixture of nationalities as New Amsterdam itself. Among them were Swedes, Germans, French, Belgians, Africans, and Danes (such as a certain Jonas Bronck)...
  7. 1 2 Van Rensselaer, Mariana Griswold (1909). History of the city of New York in the seventeenth century. 1. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 161.
  8. Braver (1998)
  9. 1 2 The Almanac of American Politics 2008, edited by Michael Barone with Richard E. Cohen and Grant Ujifusa, National Journal Group, Washington, D.C., 2008 ISBN 978-0-89234-117-7 (paperback) or ISBN 978-0-89234-116-0 (hardback), chapter on New York state
  10. 1 2 U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003, Section 31, Table 1384. Congressional District Profiles – 108th Congress: 2000
  11. See the "Historical Populations" table in History above and its sources.
  12. "Current Population Estimates: NYC". NYC.gov. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  13. "Bronx History: What's in a Name?". New York Public Library. Retrieved March 15, 2008. The Native Americans called the land Rananchqua, but the Dutch and English began to refer to it as Broncksland.
  14. "Harding Park". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
  15. Ellis, Edward Robb (1966). The Epic of New York City. Old Town Books. p. 55. ISBN 0-7867-1436-0.
  16. 1 2 Hansen, Harry (1950). North of Manhattan. Hastings House. OCLC 542679., excerpted at The Bronx ... Its History & Perspective
  17. van Laer, A. J. F. (1916). "Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630–1674". The American Historical Review. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association. 22 (1): 164–166. JSTOR 1836219. doi:10.2307/1836219. ... Jonas Bronck was a Swede ...
  18. Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (Michael L.) (1999). Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898. 1. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 30–37. ISBN 0-19-511634-8. …many of these colonists, perhaps as many as half of them, represented the same broad mixture of nationalities as New Amsterdam itself. Among them were Swedes, Germans, French, Belgians, Africans, and Danes (such as a certain Jonas Bronck)...
  19. "The first Bronxite". The Advocate. Bronx County Bar Association. 24: 59. 1977. It is widely accepted that Bronck came from Sweden, but claims have also been made by the Frisian Islands on the North Sea coast and by a small town in Germany.
  20. Karl Ritter, "Swedish town celebrates link to the Bronx" Associated Press, August 21, 2014. which also refers to a claim by the Faeroe Islands.
  21. "The Bronx Mall – Cultural Mosaic – The Bronx... Its History & Perspective". www.bronxmall.com. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  22. "Excerpts from an Interview with William Bronk by Mark Katzman". uiuc.edu.
  23. See, for example, New York City Administrative Code §2–202 Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  24. See, for example, references on the New York City website
  25. "ZIP Code Lookup". United States Postal Service. Note that the database also does not use punctuation, and other articles (such as the) to improve automated scanning of addresses.
  26. Clarke, Erin "What's in a Name: How 'The' Bronx Got the 'The'", NY1, June 7, 2015, Retrieved on February 6, 2016.
  27. Steven Hess, "From The Hague to the Bronx: Definite Articles in Place Names", Journal of the North Central Name Society, Fall 1987.
  28. Rev. David J. Born, letter to William F. Buckley, Jr. in "Notes & Asides", National Review, January 28, 2002, retrieved on July 3, 2008.
  29. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/nyregion/from-bronck-to-the-bronx-a-name-and-a-swedish-heritage-to-celebrate.html
  30. "3. Capitalization Rules" (PDF). gpo.gov. United States Government Publishing Office. p. 29. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  31. "Why The Bronx?". The New York Times. May 9, 1993. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  32. 1 2 Slattery, Denis. "Bronx residents call on media and city agencies to capitalize 'The Bronx'". nydailynews.com. New York Daily News. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  33. "Dyckman House – History". fordham.edu.
  34. "Postscripts". notorc.blogspot.com.
  35. Jordan L. Mott (1798–1866), inventor of a coal-fired, cast-iron stove and founder of the J. L. Mott Iron Works, formerly of the Bronx. See: John Thomas Scharf, History of Westchester County, New York.., vol. 1, pt. 2 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: L. E. Preston & Co., 1886), pages 830–832. Available on-line at: Google Books (retrieved July 27, 2009). See also: J. L. Bishop, E. T. Freedley, and E. Young, A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860..., vol. II (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Edward Young & Co., 1868), pages 576–578. also available on-line at Google Books (retrieved July 27, 2009)
  36. 1 2 3 Thorne, Kathryn Ford, Compiler & Long, John H., Editor (1993). New York Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Simon & Schuster. pp. 33, 118–133. ISBN 0-13-051962-6.
  37. New York. Laws of New York. 1873, 96th Session, Chapter 613, Section 1. p.928.
  38. Articles on "consolidation" (by David C. Hammack) and the "Bronx" (by David C. Hermalyn and Lloyd Ultan) in The Encyclopedia of New York City, Yale 1995
  39. New York. Laws of New York. 1895, 118th Session, Chapter 934, Section 1. p.1948.
  40. Peck, Richard. "In the Bronx, the Gentry Live On; The Gentry Live On", The New York Times, December 2, 1973. Accessed July 17, 2008. "But the Harlem riverfront was industrializing, and in 1874 the city annexed the area west of the Bronx River: Morrisania, West Farms and Kingsbridge. A second annexation in 1894 gathered in Westchester and portions of Eastchester and Pelham." However, 1894 must refer to the referendum, since the enabling act was not passed or signed until 1895.
  41. New York. Laws of New York. 1912, 135th Session, Chapter 548, Section 1. p.1352.
  42. 1 2 3 Historical Census Browser Archived August 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, retrieved on August 7, 2008, querying 1930 Census for New York State. "The data and terminology presented in the Historical Census Browser are drawn directly from historical volumes of the U.S. Census of Population and Housing." "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 15, 2007. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  43. 1 2 Quick Tables QT-P15 and QT-P22, U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved on August 10, 2008 Archived June 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  44. 1 2 Olmsted (1989); Olmsted (1998)
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  48. Remembrance of Synagogues Past: The Lost Civilization of the Jewish South Bronx, by Seymour J. Perlin, Ed.D. (retrieved on August 10, 2008), citing population estimates in "The Jewish Community Study of New York: 2002", UJA [United Jewish Appeal] Federation of New York, June 2004, and his own survey of synagogue sites.
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  51. Roderick Wallace: "A synergism of plagues: 'planned shrinkage,' contagious housing destruction, and AIDS in the Bronx." Environmental Research, October 1988, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 1–33, and "Urban desertification, public health and public order: 'planned shrinkage', violent death, substance abuse and AIDS in the Bronx", Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 37, No. 7 (1990) pp. 801–813—abstracts retrieved on July 5, 2008 from PubMed. One sentence in the abstract of the 1990 article reads, "Empirical and theoretical analyses strongly imply present sharply rising levels of violent death, intensification of deviant behaviors implicated in the spread of AIDS, and the pattern of the AIDS outbreak itself, have been gravely affected, and even strongly determined, by the outcomes of a program of 'planned shrinkage' directed against African-American and Hispanic communities, and implemented through systematic and continuing denial of municipal services—particularly fire extinguishment resources—essential for maintaining urban levels of population density and ensuring community stability."
  52. Issues such as redlining, hospital quality, and what looked like the planned shrinkage of garbage collection were alleged as the motivations which sparked the Puerto Rican activists known as the Young Lords. The Young Lords coalesced with similar groups who claimed to be fighting for neighborhood empowerment, such as the Black Panthers, to protest urban renewal and arson for profit with sit-ins, marches, and violence. See pages 6–9 of the guide to ¡Palante Siempre Palante! The Young Lords a "P.O.V." (Point of View) documentary on the Public Broadcasting Service.
  53. For an example of this argument, as well as of several other theses mentioned here, see "When the Bronx was burning" City-data forum (blog), 2007, where rubygreta writes:"Rent control destroyed the Bronx, especially starting in the 1960s and 1970s, when oil prices rose through the roof, and heavily subsidized Coop City opened in the East Bronx. Essentially, tenants never moved out of their apartments because they had below-market rents thanks to rent control. The apartments deteriorated and common areas deteriorated because the landlords had no cash-flow. And no cash flow meant that they could not get mortgages for major repairs such as boilers, roofs and window replacement."
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  64. New bank targets Latinos in South Bronx December 11, 2007
  65. On June 30, 2005, there were 129 Federally insured banking offices in the Bronx, for a ratio of 1.0 offices for every 10,000 inhabitants. By contrast the national financial center of Manhattan had 555 for a ratio of 3.5/10,000, Staten Island a ratio of 1.9, Queens 1.7 and Brooklyn 1.1. In New York State as a whole the ratio was 2.6 and in the United States, 3.5 (a single office can serve more people in a more-densely-populated area.) U.S. Census Bureau, City and County Data Book, 2007 Table B-11. Counties – Banking, Retail Trade, and Accommodation and Food Services For 1997 and 2007, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Summary of Deposits; summary tables Archived December 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Deposits of all FDIC-Insured Institutions Operating in New York: State Totals by County – all retrieved on July 15–16, 2008.
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  86. 1 2 In September 2008, Fordham University and its neighbor, the Wildlife Conservation Society, a global research organization which operates the Bronx Zoo, will begin a joint program leading to a Master of Science degree in adolescent science education (biology grades 7–12).
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    N.B., Estimates in (1) and (2) before 1920 re-allocate the Census population from the counties whose land is now partly occupied by Bronx County.
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  121. To see a comparison of borough votes for Mayor, see New York City mayoral elections#How the boroughs voted
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Further reading

See also: Bibliography of the history of the Bronx

General:

Bronx history:

Newspapers:

Blogs:

Associations:

History:

Coordinates: 40°50′14″N 73°53′10″W / 40.8373°N 73.8860°W / 40.8373; -73.8860

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