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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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The Bronx, highlighted in yellow, is the only borough of New York City on the mainland of the United States.

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 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. [Geographic references#6GR6]. The Harlem River separates The Bronx from the island of Manhattan and the East River separates it from Queens.

Contents

History

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 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"— 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 D-Train subway which reached it ("the Iron Worm"). The exterior of these trains in particular was the medium of many accomplished graffiti writers, causing much 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.

Landmarks

Yankee Stadium is home to the New York Yankees.
Yankee Stadium is home to the New York Yankees.

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 as being out in "the country."

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 to empty 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.[link]

The Bronx is widely considered to be the birthplace of hip hop music, circa 1973.

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 also the home for the headquarters for the famous social networking website MySpace.

Education (High Schools and Colleges)

The Bronx is home to several colleges including Fordham University, Manhattan College, Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) (formerly the uptown campus of Hunter College), the College of Mount Saint Vincent, the State University of New York Maritime College, Monroe College, Bronx Community College, (occupying the former University Heights Campus of New York University), and Hostos Community College the latter two both part of CUNY.

Many famous high schools are also located in the borough including the Bronx High School of Science, DeWitt Clinton High School, John F. Kennedy High School, and the High School of American Studies at Lehman College. 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 1990's 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.

Famous Bronxites

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.

Law and government

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).

Geography

As a part of New York City, Bronx County contains no other political subdivisions. It is located at [40°42′15″N, 73°55′5″W] (40.704234, -73.917927)[Geographic references#1GR1].

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.

Transportation

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, more closely resembling that of extreme upper Manhattan, which has similar terrain, than the rest of Manhattan Island. 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, and 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, and the Willis Avenue Bridge

To Manhattan or Queens:
the Triborough Bridge

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

Mass transit

The Bronx is served by six lines of the New York City Subway: Two Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines (the Harlem Line and the Hudson Line) run through the Bronx, serving 12 stations. Trains serving the New Haven Line also cross the Bronx, using Harlem Line trackage.

Neighborhoods

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 :

[ v]·[ d]·[ e]
Neighborhoods in the New York City Borough of The Bronx
90px Allerton · Baychester · Bedford Park · City Island · Co-op City · Country Club · Eastchester · East Morrisania · East Tremont · Fieldston · Fordham · Highbridge · Hunts Point · Kingsbridge · Locust Point · Longwood · Melrose · Morrisania · Morris Heights · Morris Park · Mott Haven · North Bronx · North New York · North Riverdale · Norwood · Olinville · Parkchester · Pelham Bay · Pelham Gardens · Pelham Parkway · Port Morris · Riverdale · Silver Beach · Soundview · South Bronx · Spuyten Duyvil · Throgs Neck · Tremont · University Heights · Van Nest · Wakefield · West Farms · Williamsbridge · Woodlawn

Demographics

Bronx
Population by year
1900 - (nc)
1910 - (nc)
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[Geographic references#2GR2] 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.

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):

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, and Country Club.)

Trivia

See also

External links

 History · Government · Geography · Demographics · Economy · Transportation
Culture · Media · Music · Sports · Neighborhoods · Architecture · Museums · Education
New York City Lists · · New York State
The Five Boroughs: The Bronx · Brooklyn · Manhattan · Queens · Staten Island

[ v]·[ d]·[ e]
Neighborhoods in the New York City Borough of The Bronx
90px Allerton · Baychester · Bedford Park · City Island · Co-op City · Country Club · Eastchester · East Morrisania · East Tremont · Fieldston · Fordham · Highbridge · Hunts Point · Kingsbridge · Locust Point · Longwood · Melrose · Morrisania · Morris Heights · Morris Park · Mott Haven · North Bronx · North New York · North Riverdale · Norwood · Olinville · Parkchester · Pelham Bay · Pelham Gardens · Pelham Parkway · Port Morris · Riverdale · Silver Beach · Soundview · South Bronx · Spuyten Duyvil · Throgs Neck · Tremont · University Heights · Van Nest · Wakefield · West Farms · Williamsbridge · Woodlawn

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