The Bronx
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The Bronx, highlighted in yellow, is the only borough of New York City on the mainland of the United States. |
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Map_of_New_York_highlighting_Bronx_County.png |
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five
Boroughs of
New York City in the
United States. Named for
Jonas Bronck, a
Swedish-
Dutch sea captain and 1641 resident whose 500-
acre (2 km²) farm between the Harlem River and the
Aquahung comprises part of the modern borough, The Bronx is
coterminous with
Bronx County of the
State of New York and is located northeast of
Manhattan and south of
Westchester County. The
borough's name is officially The Bronx, but the
county's name is officially just Bronx, without the definite article. According to a 2005
United States Census Bureau estimate, the population of Bronx County was approximately 1,357,589. The Bronx is the fourth most populous of New York City's five boroughs and the county is the fifth most populous county in the
New York Metropolitan Area.
The Bronx is the only New York City borough sited on the
North American mainland, and also includes several small islands in the
East River and
Long Island Sound. . The
Harlem River separates The Bronx from the island of
Manhattan and the
East River separates it from
Queens.
The Bronx was first settled by
Europeans in
1639 when Jonas Bronck, for whom the area was later named, established a farm along the Harlem River in the area now known as the Mott Haven section. The territory now contained within Bronx County was originally part of
Westchester County, an original county of New York state. The present Bronx County was contained in four
towns: Westchester, Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846, a new town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the town of
Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In 1873, the town of Kingsbridge (roughly corresponding to the modern Bronx neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, and Woodlawn) seceded from
Yonkers.
In 1874 the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the towns of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to
New York County, and in 1895 the Town of Westchester and portions of Eastchester and Pelham, were transferred to New York County.
City Island, known as New York City's only nautical community, voted to secede from Westchester County and join New York County in 1896. In
1898, New York City amalgamated, with the Bronx as one of five boroughs (though still within New York County). In
1914, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted as the new Bronx County (while also keeping its status as one of the five boroughs of the city).
The Bronx underwent rapid growth after
World War I. Extensions of the
New York City Subway contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants flooded the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction. Among these groups, many Irish settled here. Author
Willa Cather,
Pierre Lorillard who made a fortune on tobacco sales, and inventor
Jordan Mott were famous for settling the land. In addition,
French,
German, and
Polish immigrants moved into the Borough. The
Jewish population also increased notably during this time and many
synagogues are still evident throughout the borough (although a good portion of these have been converted to other uses).
In the prohibition days,
bootleggers and
gangs ran rampant in the Bronx. Mostly Polish and Italian immigrants smuggled in the illegal whiskey. By 1926, the Bronx was noted for its high crime rate and its many
speakeasies. Mayor
Jimmy Walker stated:
The Manhattan Polak is very different from the Bronx Polak. The Manhattan Polak would smuggle in the illegal whiskey secretly so as the cops aren't on 'em or don't see 'em a mile away. In the Bronx, the Polaks don't give a lick if they spotted with it. They'd pull out their guns as quick as lightning and the cops would be dead men in less than a second.
After the
1930s, the Polish immigrant population in the Bronx decreased as a result of better living conditions in other states. The German population followed suit in the
1940s and so did many
Italians in the
1950s, leaving a thriving
Hispanic (mostly Puerto Rican and Dominican) and
African-American population which would continue to live and dominate in the Bronx to this day.
During the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the Bronx went into an era of sharp decline in
quality of life. Many factors have been put forward by historians and other social scientists. They include the theory that
urban renewal projects in the borough (such as
Robert Moses'
Cross-Bronx Expressway) destroyed existing low-density neighborhoods in favor of roads that produced
urban sprawl as well as high-density
housing projects. Another factor may have been the shift by insurance companies and banks to stop offering financial services to the Bronx and other working-class industrial areas (the "
Rustbelt") in favor of the booming
suburbs in "the
Sunbelt"â€"a process known as
redlining.
The South Bronx, and particularly the
Bronx River Housing Project, became a nexus for the development of
hip hop culture. Block parties were the main event at which
MCs and
DJs showed off their sound creations. Rappers alternately glorified and complained about their neighborhoods ("the Boogie Down Bronx") and the subway line which served them ("the Iron Worm"). The exterior of these trains in particular was the medium of many accomplished
graffiti writers, causingmuch grief for the city government, who saw their work as disorderly vandalism.
For a period, a wave of
arson overtook the borough's apartment buildings, with competing theories as to why. Some point to the heavy traffic and use of illicit drugs among the area's poor as causing them to be inclined to
scam the city's benefits for burn-out victims as well as the
Section 8 housing program. Others believe landlords decided to burn their buildings before their insurance policies expired and were not renewed. After the destruction of nearly half of the buildings in the South Bronx, the arsons all but ended during the tenure of Mayor
Ed Koch with aftereffects still felt into the early
1990s.
The Bronx's attractions include
Yankee Stadium, home of the
New York Yankees; the
Bronx Zoo; and the
New York Botanical Garden. The Bronx also contains the
Hall of Fame for Great Americans, a national landmark overlooking the
Harlem River, designed by the renowned architect
Stanford White.
The Bronx includes two of the largest parks in New York City,
Pelham Bay Park and
Van Cortlandt Park. Pelham Bay Park includes a large man-made public beach called
Orchard Beach, created by
Robert Moses.
Woodlawn Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, is located near the border with
Westchester County. It opened in 1863, at a time when the Bronx was still considered a rural area.
Famous Bronx neighborhoods include the
South Bronx, a "Little Italy" on
Arthur Avenue in the
Belmont section,
Morris Park, and
Wave Hill.
The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a freshwater river (the
Bronx River) running through it. A smaller river, the
Hutchinson River, passes through the northeast Bronx and empties into
Eastchester Bay.
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 about 1812, the cottage once commanded unobstructed vistas over the rolling Bronx hills to the shores of
Long Island.[
1]
The south part of The Bronx is widely considered to be the birthplace of
hip hop music, circa the early
1970s.
Though it has a great deal of attractions, the Bronx is known for being particularly "anti-tourist", not so much in the sense of hostility to outsiders but insofar as its reputation nationally keeps tourists to New York as far from the borough as possible. This characteristic is actually what many in the New York area actually enjoy about visiting the Bronx; it has been claimed that the Little Italy on Arthur Avenue is more authentic than the more famous
Little Italy in Manhattan.
The Bronx is home to several colleges, including:
*The main campus of
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of
Yeshiva University*Three campuses of the
City University of New York**
Bronx Community College (occupying the former University Heights Campus of
New York University)
**
Hostos Community College**
Lehman College of the
City University of New York (formerly the uptown campus of
Hunter College)
*
College of Mount Saint Vincent*
Fordham University*
Manhattan College*Monroe College
*
State University of New York Maritime CollegeMany famous high schools are also located in the borough including the
Bronx High School of Science and
DeWitt Clinton High School. Well known parochial high schools include
St. Raymond High School for Boys,
Cardinal Hayes,
Cardinal Spellman High School,
Fordham Prep,
Aquinas High School,
Preston,
Mount Saint Michael, and the
Academy of Mount Saint Ursula. The Bronx is home to three elite private schools:
Fieldston,
Horace Mann, and
Riverdale Country School.
Starting in the 1990s, the New York City Board of Education, and its successor, the
New York City Department of Education has been closing large public high schools and replacing them with dozens of "mini-schools." In most cases they have cited poor graduation rates and concerns about safety. Schools that have been closed or reduced in size include James Monroe,
Taft,
Theodore Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Evander Childs, Christopher Columbus, Morris,
Walton, and South Bronx High Schools. More recently, the NYCDOE has started phasing out large middle schools as well, also replacing them with smaller schools.
These famous people all resided in The Bronx at some time in their lives. Many of the early historical figures lived in that part of Westchester County which would later become part of The Bronx.
*
Danny Aiello,
Sholom Aleichem,
Woody Allen,
June Allyson,
Christopher Aponte,
William Henry Appleton*
Afrika Bambaataa,
Anne Bancroft,
David Berkowitz,
Joey Bishop,
Mary J. Blige,
Jonas Bronck,
Red Buttons*
James Caan,
George Carlin,
Diahann Carroll,
Grandmaster Caz,
Paddy Chayefsky,
Willie Colon,
Jose Cruz,
Tony Curtis,
Lauren Conrad*
Cus D'Amato,
Bobby Darin,
Stacey Dash,
Gray Davis,
Howard Dean,
Don DeLillo,
Dion DiMucci,
E. L. Doctorow,
Art Donovan*
Chris Eubank*
Grandmaster Flash,
Ace Frehley*
Lou Gehrig,
Stan Getz,
Marty Glickman,
Cuba Gooding Jr.,
John Gotti,
Hank Greenberg*
Kool Herc,
Anne Hutchinson*
Fat Joe,
Billy Joel*
Helen Kane,
Kool Keith,
Max Kellerman,
Calvin Klein,
Ed Koch,
Stanley Kubrick*
Fiorello H. LaGuardia,
Jake LaMotta,
Hector Lavoe,
Ralph Lauren,
Miles Marshall Lewis,
Tom Leykis,
Anibal Lopez,
Jennifer Lopez,
Linda Lovelace*
Sonia Manzano,
Garry Marshall,
Penny Marshall,
Grandmaster Melle Mel,
Joel Meyerowitz,
Rick Meyerowitz,
Sal Mineo,
Gouverneur Morris,
Jan Murray*
Laura Nyro*
Carroll O'Connor,
Drag-on,
KRS-One,
Jerry Orbach,
Lee Harvey Oswald*
Al Pacino,
Adelina Patti,
Jan Peerce,
Thomas Pell,
George W. Perkins,
Roberta Peters,
Justin Pierce,
Regis Philbin,
Edgar Allan Poe,
Chaim Potok,
Colin Powell,
Tito Puente,
Big Pun*
Carl Reiner,
Theodore Roosevelt*
Vin Scully,
John Patrick Shanley,
Carly Simon,
Neil Simon,
Robert Sobel,
Regina Spektor,
Elliot Spitzer,
Lionel Stander*
Grand Wizard Theodore,
Arturo Toscanini,
Mark Twain*
Veronica Vazquez*
Vanessa Williams,
Herman Wouk,
Rosalyn Yalow| Year | GOP! Dems |
|---|
| 2004 | 16.5% 56,701 | 82.8% 283,994 |
| 2000 | 11.8% 36,245 | 86.3% 265,801 |
| 1996 | 10.5% 30,435 | 85.8% 248,276 |
| 1992 | 20.7% 63,310 | 73.7% 225,038 |
| 1988 | 25.5% 76,043 | 73.2% 218,245 |
| 1984 | 32.8% 109,308 | 66.9% 223,112 |
| 1980 | 30.7% 86,843 | 64.0% 181,090 |
| 1976 | 28.7% 96,842 | 70.8% 238,786 |
| 1972 | 44.6% 196,756 | 55.2% 243,345 |
| 1968 | 32.0% 142,314 | 62.4% 277,385 |
| 1964 | 25.2% 135,780 | 74.7% 403,014 |
| 1960 | 31.8% 182,393 | 67.9% 389,818 |
Like the other counties which are contained within New York City, the Bronx is nominally presided over by a borough president. The borough is also served by various county
courts, as well as a district attorney (public prosecutor).
As a part of New York City, Bronx County contains no other political subdivisions. It is located at (40.704234, -73.917927).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 148.7
km² (57.4
mi²). 108.9 km² (42.0 mi²) of it is land and 39.9 km² (15.4 mi²) of it (26.82%) is water.
The western parts of the Bronx are hilly and are dominated by a series of parallel ridges, running south to north. East of the Bronx River the borough is flatter, and includes four large low peninsulas or "necks" of low-lying land that jut into the waters of the East River and were once saltmarsh: Hunt's Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck and Throgg's Neck. In the northeast corner of the Bronx,
Rodman's Neck lies in Long Island Sound.
Roads
The Bronx street grid is irregular. Much of the west Bronx follows the Manhattan street grid, and some of the streets are numbered. The west Bronx's hilly terrain, however, leaves a relatively free street grid that closely resembles that of extreme
upper Manhattan, which has similar terrain. Because the street numbering carries over from upper Manhattan, the lowest numbered street in the Bronx is East 132nd Street. The east Bronx is considerably flatter, and the street layout tends to be more regular. However, only the
Wakefield neighborhood picks up the numbered street grid.
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, Webster Avenue, and White Plains Road. Major east-west streets include Gun Hill Road,
Fordham Road,
Pelham Parkway, and Tremont Avenue. Many 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).
Several major expressways and highways traverse the Bronx. These include:
*the
Bronx River Parkway*the
Bruckner Expressway (
I-278/
I-95)
*the
Cross-Bronx Expressway (
I-95/
I-295)
*the
Henry Hudson Parkway (
NY-9A)
*the
Hutchinson River Parkway*the
Major Deegan Expressway (I-87)
Bridges and tunnels
Many bridges and tunnels connect the Bronx to Manhattan and
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 Manhattan or Queens: the
Triborough BridgeTo Queens: the
Bronx Whitestone Bridge and the
Throgs Neck BridgeMass transit
The Bronx is served by six lines of the
New York City Subway:
*
IND Concourse Line ()
*
IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line ()
*
IRT Dyre Avenue Line ()
*
IRT Jerome Avenue Line ()
*
IRT Pelham Line ()
*
IRT White Plains Road Line ()Two
Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines (the
Harlem Line and the
Hudson Line) run through the Bronx, serving 12 stations. In addition, trains serving the
New Haven Line cross the Bronx on Harlem Line trackage.
See
List of Bronx neighborhoods for a comprehensive listing of the Bronx's various neighborhoods and their descriptions.
The borough is politically divided into 12 community boards :
*
1 :
Mott Haven,
Port Morris, and
Melrose *
2 :
Hunts Point,
Longwood, and
Morrisania*
3 :
Crotona Park,
Claremont Village,
Concourse Village,
Woodstock, and
Morrisania*
4 :
Highbridge,
Concourse,
Mount Eden, and
Concourse Village*
5 :
Fordham,
University Heights,
Morris Heights,
Bathgate, and
Mount Hope*
6 :
Belmont,
Bathgate,
West Farms,
East Tremont, and
Bronx Park South*
7 :
Norwood,
University Heights,
Jerome Park,
Bedford Park,
Fordham, and
Kingsbridge Heights*
8 :
Riverdale,
Spuyten Duyvil,
Van Cortlandt Village,
Kingsbridge,
Kingsbridge Heights,
Fieldston, and
Marble Hill*
9 :
Parkchester,
Unionport,
Soundview,
Castle Hill,
Bruckner,
Harding Park,
Bronx River and
Clason Point*
10 :
Co-op City,
City Island,
Spencer Estates,
Throgs Neck,
Country Club,
Zerega,
Westchester Square,
Pelham Bay,
Eastchester Bay,
Schuylerville,
Edgewater,
Locust Point, and
Silver Beach*
11 :
Morris Park,
Pelham Parkway,
Pelham Gardens,
Allerton,
Bronxdale,
Laconia, and
Van Nest*
12 :
Edenwald,
Wakefield,
Williamsbridge,
Woodlawn,
Fish Bay,
Eastchester,
Olinville and
Baychester Bronx
Population by year | 1900 - 201,000
1910 - 431,000
1920 - 732,016
1930 - 1,265,258
1940 - 1,394,711
1950 - 1,451,277
1960 - 1,424,815
1970 - 1,471,701
1980 - 1,168,972
1990 - 1,203,789
2000 - 1,332,650 |
As of the
census of 2000, there were 1,332,650 people, 463,212 households, and 314,984 families residing in the borough. The
population density was 12,242.2/km² (31,709.3/mi²). There were 490,659 housing units at an average density of 4,507.4/km² (11,674.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 35.64%
Black or
African American, 29.87%
White, 0.85%
Native American, 3.01%
Asian, 0.10%
Pacific Islander, 24.74% from
other races, and 5.78% from two or more races. 48.38% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. 14.5% of the population were Whites, not of Hispanic origins. The Bronx has the highest number and of
Puerto Ricans than any other county in the United States. It also has one of the highest percentages of
Puerto Ricans and
Dominicans in the U.S. with 24.0% and 10.0%, respectively
Based on sample data from the same census, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 47.29% of the population 5 and over speak only
English at home. 43.67% speak Spanish at home, either exclusively or along with English. Other languages or groups of languages spoken at home by more than 0.25% of the population of the Bronx include
Italian (1.36%),
Kru,
Ibo, or
Yoruba (1.07%),
French (0.72%), and
Albanian (0.54%).
Some main European ancestries of Bronx residents, 2000 (percentage of total borough population):
*
Italian : 5.67%
*
Irish : 3.69%
*
German : 1.50%
*
English : 0.53%
According to an estimate by the Census Bureau, the population increased to 1,357,589 in 2005.
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.
In the borough the population was spread out with 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% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 87.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.7 males.
The 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.
Despite the stereotype that The Bronx is a typical poor urban area of New York City, it is not necessarily true of the entire borough, or even a majority of it. The Bronx has much affordable housing (as compared to most of the rest of the
New York metropolitan area, as well as upscale neighborhoods like
Riverdale,
City Island, Pelham Bay, Woodlawn, Fordham, and
Country Club), and parts of the Central Bronx.
* In 1997, the Bronx was designated an "
All America City" by the
National Civic League.
* The
Bronx cheer and a popular cocktail were both named after this borough.
* "Bronx" has become synonymous with violent or messy areas. For instance, in casual French,
"c'est le Bronx" stands for "what a mess."
* "Bronx" is the name of a character on the
Walt Disney animated series
Gargoyles (named after the borough). (See
List of Gargoyles characters).
* The wave of arson in the
South Bronx launched the phrase "The Bronx is burning" in 1974, as a title of both a
New York Times editorial and a
BBC documentary. However, the line entered the pop-consciousness with Game 2 of the
1977 World Series, when a fire broke out near Yankee Stadium as the team was playing the
Los Angeles Dodgers. As the fire was captured on live television, announcer
Howard Cosell intoned, "There it is ladies and gentlemen: The Bronx is burning." Historians of New York City frequently point to Cosell's remark as a sign of both the city and the borough's descent into anarchy.
* The Bronx is referred to in
hip-hop slang as "The Boogie Down Bx," or just "The Boogie Down."
* In the
1979 film "
The Warriors", the eponymous gang go to a meet in
Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx, and have to make their way back to
Coney Island in
Brooklyn. The 2005
video game adaptation features levels called Pelham, Tremont and "Gunhill" (an apparent corruption of Gun Hill Road).
* The
1981 film
Fort Apache the Bronx also portrayed the Bronx as a gang-filled, crime-ridden area. The film takes its title from the nickname for the 41st Police Precinct in the South Bronx. Both the film and the precinct were condemned by community members for condoning police brutality, and ex-
Young Lord and
Puerto Rican activist Richie Perez formed the group The Committee Against Fort Apache.
* The
1995 film
Rumble in the Bronx (
Hong faan kui in
Cantonese) is set in the Bronx but was actually filmed almost entirely in
Vancouver.
* The television series
Becker was set in the Bronx.
*
Adidas have made dedicated New York City Adicolor The Bronx shoes, with pictured-silhouettes off The Bronx on the soles of the shoe.
*
Bronx, NY - All You Need To Know*
Weekly Bronx Report from Inner City Press*
I Love The Bronx*
Discovering The Bronx*
NYC MTA Transit Bus Map of The Bronx *
Bronx population (
pdf file)
*
The Bronx: A Swedish Connection*
The Bronx River Alliance*
The Bronx Zoo*
The New York Botanical Garden*
Bronx River Art Center*
Forgotten New York: Relics of a Rich History in the Everyday Life of New York City*
Woodlawn Cemetery*
Wave Hill: New York Public Garden and Cultural Center*
The Bronx County Historical Society*
Sky view of the Bronx - in photographs*
Poe Cottage
