205-691: The Van Cortlandt House , also known as the Van Cortlandt Mansion , is the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx in New York City . It is located in the southwestern portion of Van Cortlandt Park . The house is operated as a historic house museum known as the Van Cortlandt House Museum . Built by Frederick Van Cortlandt and completed in 1749, the house is a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story Georgian building with
410-566: A serpent , and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . The dining room is in the eastern wing, separated from the eastern parlor by the rear hall, and is designed in a late-18th-century style. It was likely not originally used for meals, as Americans generally did not have dedicated dining rooms prior to the American Revolution. The dining room had a fireplace with a mantel from c. 1800 , which had ornamentation such as pilasters, sunbursts, and motifs of one-quarter of
615-743: A tribal jurisdictional area in Caddo County, Oklahoma , that they share with the Caddo Nation and Wichita and Affiliated Tribes . The Unami and Munsee languages belong to the Eastern Algonquian language group and are largely mutually intelligible . Moravian missionary John Heckewelder wrote that Munsee and Unami "came out of one parent language." Only a few Delaware First Nation elders in Moraviantown, Ontario , fluently speak Munsee. William Penn , who first met
820-485: A vale that the historian Robert Bolton described as "about one mile north from Kings bridge", next to what is now Broadway. One descendant wrote that the mansion was probably built on the site of, or close to, Van der Donck's farmhouse; the foundation of Van der Donck's old house remained intact in front of the Van Cortlandt House. East of the mansion was a mill dam across Tibbetts Brook , a small mill, and
1025-561: A ball through the other team's goal posts. Men could not carry and pass the ball, only use their feet, while the women could carry, pass, or kick. If the ball was picked up by a woman, she could not be tackled by the men, although men could attempt to dislodge the ball. Women were free to tackle the men. Another common activity was that of dance, and yet again, gender differences appear: men would dance and leap loudly, often with bear claw accessories, while women, wearing little thimbles or bells, would dance more modestly, stepping "one foot after
1230-526: A boom period during 1900–1929, 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 changed during 1950–1985 from a predominantly moderate-income to a predominantly lower-income area with high rates of violent crime and poverty in some areas. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in
1435-562: A committee to create a report on whether it was feasible to build a fort near his family's house. Although James was described as not having been "a very active loyalist", he was not fully committed to the Patriots' cause either, and the Van Cortlandts wished to stay neutral. Augustus Van Cortlandt hid city records under Vault Hill to protect them during the war, turning them over to the new American government afterward. Some members of
1640-472: A distance, they reminded Dutch settlers of fine European lace. The winter cloaks of the women were striking, fashioned from the iridescent body feathers of wild turkeys. One of the more common activities of leisure for the Lenni Lenape would be the game of pahsaheman : a football-like hybrid, split on gender lines. Over a hundred players were grouped into gendered teams (male and female) to try getting
1845-786: A divided people during the 1770s, including in Killbuck's family. Killbuck resented his grandfather for allowing the Moravians to remain in the Ohio country. The Moravians believed in pacifism, and Killbuck believed that every convert to the Moravians deprived the Lenape of a warrior to stop further white settlement of their land. In the beginning of the American Revolutionary War , Killbuck and many Lenape claimed to be neutral. Other neighboring Indian communities, particularly
2050-476: A fan. There was a small closet built into the side of the fireplace mantel, which was used to keep items warm during winters. One corner of the room also featured a large white cupboard which was used to store porcelain. The walls are made of light plaster above dark buff wainscoting, and a chimney occupies the north wall. Atop the wall was a ceiling molding, which likely dated from the 19th century. An 18th-century ceiling molding and fireplace mantel were restored in
2255-570: A flatter eastern section. East and west street names are divided by Jerome Avenue . The West Bronx was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County (modern-day Manhattan) in 1914. About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery , Van Cortlandt Park , Pelham Bay Park , the New York Botanical Garden , and
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#17327811562922460-720: A free bridge across the Harlem River. After the American Revolutionary War , the King's Bridge toll was abolished. 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 in Yonkers , Eastchester , and Pelham . In 1846,
2665-513: A garrison at Bergen , which allowed settlement west of the Hudson within the province of New Netherland . This land was purchased from the Lenape after the fact. New Amsterdam was founded in 1624 by the Dutch in what would later become New York City . Dutch settlers also founded a colony at present-day Lewes, Delaware , on June 3, 1631, and named it Zwaanendael (Swan Valley). The colony had
2870-419: A largely plain facade, except for brick keystones that depict Van Cortlandt family members' faces. The interiors include a kitchen in the basement; two parlors, an entry hall, and a dining room on the first floor; and bedrooms on the second and third floors. The museum has historically presented various performances and events at the house, and it operates tours and educational programs. Critics have praised both
3075-539: A man's maternal uncle (his mother's brother), and not his father, was usually considered to be his closest male relative, since his uncle belonged to his mother's clan and his father belonged to a different one. The maternal uncle played a more prominent role in the lives of his sister's children than did the father—for example likely being the one responsible for educating a young man in weapons craft, martial arts, hunting, and other life skills. Lenape practiced companion planting , in which women cultivated many varieties of
3280-558: 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 to house 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 in
3485-426: 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 the town of Yonkers, roughly corresponding to the modern Bronx neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale , and Woodlawn Heights , and included Woodlawn Cemetery . Among the famous people who settled in
3690-546: A pair of wooden bird sculptures that had been taken from a Spanish privateer. American troops unsuccessfully tried to retake the house in 1777. A British captain surnamed Rowe was severely wounded in a battle nearby in 1780, and he died in the house just after his fiancée arrived, giving rise to rumors that Rowe's ghost haunted the house. James Van Cortlandt moved away during the war because of his poor health, and he died in 1781. Because James had no children, his younger brother, New York City Clerk Augustus Van Cortlandt , took over
3895-407: A place for "the vicious elements, bootleggers, gamblers and their friends in all walks of life" to cooperate and to "evade the law, escape punishment for their crimes, [and] to deter the police from doing their duty". Between 1930 and 1960, moderate and upper income Bronxites (predominantly non-Hispanic Whites) began to relocate from the borough's southwestern neighborhoods. This migration has left
4100-483: A private entrance for Frederick's widow Frances. To the left (west) of the front hall is the western parlor, which served as Washington's quarters in 1783. On the northern wall is a fireplace surrounded by blue-and-white tiles, which depict scenes from the Bible. Pilasters separate the fireplace from an arched cupboard on either side; each cupboard has two paneled doors and a set of shelves for storing porcelain. The rest of
4305-866: 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 county, and its southern end the Bronx Zoo , the largest urban zoological gardens in the United States. In 1904 the Chestnut Blight pathogen ( Cryphonectria parasitica )
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#17327811562924510-576: A restoration of the paneling, wallpaper, and fireplace tiles. The mansion was closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , and it reopened next year for self-guided tours. The house's communications systems were refurbished in 2022, and the fence around the house was to be rebuilt in the mid-2020s. The house, designed by an unknown architect, is built in the Georgian style and
4715-418: A rifle. The house also had a Dutch storage chest in one parlor, several poster beds on the second floor, and a dollhouse on the third floor. The mansion retained much of its old furniture in the 21st century, such as cupboards, cradles, and built-in cabinets. The museum also displayed artifacts such as colored rugs, bedspreads, and utensils. In the modern-day dining room, there is a set of drawers, six chairs, and
4920-476: A rubblestone facade and Georgian-style interiors. It served as a residence of one branch of the Van Cortlandt family for 140 years before it reopened as a museum in 1897. The house is built on an estate that Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired in the 1690s. Frederick began constructing the building in 1748, although he did not live to see its completion, and Frederick's son James inherited the house. During
5125-410: A short life, as in 1632 a local band of Lenape killed the 32 Dutch settlers after a misunderstanding escalated over Lenape defacement of the insignia of the governing Dutch West India Company . The Lenape's quick adoption of trade goods, and their desire to trap furs to meet high European demand, resulted in over-harvesting the beaver population in the lower Hudson Valley. With the fur sources exhausted,
5330-491: A small "round crest, of about 2 inches in diameter". Deer hair, dyed a deep scarlet, as well as plumes of feathers, were favorite components of headdresses and breast ornaments for males. The Lenape also adorned themselves with various ornaments made of stone, shell, animal teeth, and claws. The women often wore headbands of dyed deer hair or wampum. They painted their skin skirts or decorated them with porcupine quills. These skirts were so elaborately appointed that, when seen from
5535-722: A small, 13-square-mile (34 km ) reserve in Chatham-Kent , Ontario. The Delaware of Six Nations shares the Glebe Farm 40B in Brantford, Ontario , and Six Nations Indian Reserve No. 40 , shared with six Haudenosaunee peoples in Ontario. The Stockbridge-Munsee Community has a 22,139-acre (89.59 km ) Indian reservation in Wisconsin, with 16,255 acres (65.78 km ) held in federal trust. The Delaware Nation has
5740-473: A subsequent renovation. On the second floor, there is a hallway in the center of the southern wing, which connects with the house's main stairway. At the south end of the hallway is a sash window with inward-facing shutters and a seating area. Next to the hallway are two rooms, one each to the west and east. These bedrooms both contain white walls; doorways with molded frames; fireplaces with paneling and white tiles; windows with internal shutters; cornices above
5945-485: A system of major Bronx parks connected by park-like thoroughfares is usually attributed to John Mullaly . Woodlawn Cemetery , located on 400 acres (160 ha) and one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, sits on the western bank of the Bronx River near Yonkers . It opened in 1863, in what was then the town of Yonkers, at the time a rural area. Since the first burial in 1865, more than 300,000 people have been interred there. The borough's northern side includes
6150-400: A table. After the museum opened, it began hosting monthly "antiquarian exhibits" in 1903. The museum's other early exhibits included displays of antique pewter, miniatures of Colonial portraits, and needlework portraits. The museum hosted exhibits of colonial documents, paintings, and books in the 1920s, and it showed glass, silverware, china, and pottery from the 17th and 18th centuries during
6355-855: A woman's power in the hierarchical structure. As in the case of the Iroquois and Susquehannocks , the animosity of differences and competitions spanned many generations, and in general tribes with each of the different language groups became traditional enemies in the areas they'd meet. On the other hand, The New American Book of Indians points out that competition, trade, and wary relations were far more common than outright warfare—but both larger societies had traditions of 'proving' (blooding) new (or young) warriors by ' counting coup ' on raids into another tribes territories. The two groups were sometimes bitter enemies since before recorded history, but intermarriage occurred — and both groups have an oral history suggesting they jointly came east together and displaced
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6560-493: Is 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 stories tall. It was reportedly based on Philipse Manor in Westchester County. The house has an L-shaped plan, with wings extending along the south and east sides. The southern wing was probably completed first, followed by the eastern wing. A lean-to was added to the house in the 19th century, while a caretaker's apartment (adjacent to the main house) dates to before World War I. The house
6765-548: Is also arranged in an L-shaped plan. The caretaker's apartment has seven rooms, including a kitchen and two bathrooms. The kitchen is within the raised basement. The walls of the basement are 3 feet (0.91 m) thick, a defensive measure, and are made of plaster on stone. There are two small windows near the top of the western wall, which may have been intended as defensive loopholes . The basement's ceiling has low wooden beams, which measure 11 by 13 inches (280 by 330 mm) and were hand-crafted out of cypress and cedar. Water for
6970-409: Is based on the Bronx River , while the other strictly separates South Bronx from the rest of the borough. The Bronx River divides the borough nearly in half, putting the earlier-settled, more urban, and hillier sections in the western lobe and the newer, more suburban coastal sections in the eastern lobe. It is an accurate reflection on the Bronx's history considering that the towns that existed in
7175-407: Is built of dressed fieldstone . Late-19th-century sources describe the house as having a rubblestone facade. One corner of the house contains a cornerstone bearing the year 1748. The first story is raised above the ground, so there are several entrances with wooden porches, each of which contains a small stoop with railings. The original doors were replaced with Dutch-style doors at some point in
7380-430: Is covered in paneling with a cornice at the top. This room has a fireplace, which was probably added after the house was finished. The fireplace has a marble hearth with a wood molding, as well as a carved marble mantel with eared moldings, a shelf, and a carved frieze underneath. Above the fireplace is an overmantel with a frieze, eared moldings, and a broken pediment with an urn; the overmantel depicts Adam and Eve ,
7585-601: 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 . Local farmers on both sides of the creek resented the tolls, and in 1759, Jacobus Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer led them in building
7790-691: Is land and 15 square miles (39 km ) (27%) is water. The Bronx is New York City's northernmost borough, New York State's southernmost mainland county and the only part of New York City that is almost entirely on the North American mainland, unlike the other four boroughs that are either islands or located on islands. The bedrock of the West Bronx is primarily Fordham gneiss , a high-grade heavily banded metamorphic rock containing significant amounts of pink feldspar . Marble Hill – politically part of Manhattan but now physically attached to
7995-527: The American Revolutionary War , both British and American troops variously occupied the house; the structure was passed down to various members of the Van Cortlandt family through the 19th century. The city government acquired the house in 1888 as part of the construction of Van Cortlandt Park and initially used the building as a police barracks. The Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York leased
8200-598: The Bartow–Pell Mansion , it is one of two remaining manor houses in the Bronx. Frederick began developing the Van Cortlandt House on the property in 1748. According to the Van Cortlandt House Museum, Frederick likely did not build the house himself, despite being credited as the builder. Frederick's family used the Tippett house while their new structure was being built. The mansion was built in
8405-508: The Bedford Park neighborhood; the reservoir was built in the 1890s on the site of the former Jerome Park Racetrack . Further south is Crotona Park , home to a 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) lake, 28 species of trees, and a large swimming pool. 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. Some of
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8610-615: The Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old and is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city. These open spaces are primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan. The word "Bronx" originated with Swedish -born (or Faroese -born) Jonas Bronck , who established
8815-521: The Bronx Zoo . One of New York City's park commissioners proposed in March 1893 that the mansion be converted into a museum for Revolutionary War artifacts. The park commissioners provided $ 187 for interior painting and papering in December, and they provided $ 250 for renovation work the next month. The city's Park Board voted in 1894 to add an inscription honoring Washington to the mansion. In early 1896,
9020-914: The Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma , the Stockbridge–Munsee Community in Wisconsin , and the Munsee-Delaware Nation , Moravian of the Thames First Nation , and Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario . The name Lenni Lenape originates from two autonyms, Lenni , which means "genuine, pure, real, original", and Lenape , meaning "real person" or "original person". Lënu may be translated as "man". Adam DePaul,
9225-684: The Dominican Republic ), and immigrants from West Africa (particularly from Ghana and Nigeria ), African American migrants from the Southern United States , Nicaraguans , Panamanians , Hondurans , and South Asians . The Bronx contains the poorest congressional district in the United States , New York's 15th . The borough also features upper- and middle-income neighborhoods, such as Riverdale , Fieldston , Spuyten Duyvil , Schuylerville , Pelham Bay , Pelham Gardens , Morris Park , and Country Club . Parts of
9430-464: The East River . The Bronx, the only New York City borough not primarily located on an island, has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km ) and a population of 1,472,654 at the 2020 census . Of the five boroughs, it has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density . The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west , and
9635-602: The French and Indian War . The Moravians' insistence on Christian Lenape's abandoning traditional warfare practices alienated mission populations from other Lenape and Native American groups, who revered warriors. The Lenape initially sided with France , since they hoped to prevent further European colonial encroachment in their settlements. Their chiefs Teedyuscung in the east and Tamaqua near present-day Pittsburgh shifted to building alliances with British colonial authorities. Lenape leader Killbuck ( also Bemino) assisted
9840-595: 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
10045-825: The Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands , who live in the United States and Canada . The Lenape's historical territory includes present-day northeastern Delaware , all of New Jersey , the eastern Pennsylvania regions of the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania , and New York Bay , western Long Island , and the lower Hudson Valley in New York state . Today they are based in Oklahoma , Wisconsin , and Ontario . During
10250-819: The Lower Hudson Valley in New York to the lower Catskills and a sliver of the upper edge of the North Branch Susquehanna River . On the west side, the Lenape lived in several small towns along the rivers and streams that fed the waterways, and likely shared the hunting territory of the Schuylkill River watershed with the rival Iroquoian Susquehannock . Today, the Munsee-Delaware Nation has its own Indian reserve , Munsee-Delaware Nation 1, in southwest Ontario. The Delaware Nation at Moraviantown has
10455-468: The New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of a system of parks in the Bronx, including what would become Van Cortlandt Park . The act gave the city the right to acquire 700 acres (280 ha) from Augustus Bibby via eminent domain . Legal disputes over the act carried on for years. The Van Cortlandt family did not fully vacate the house until 1888, and the mill next to Van Cortlandt Lake
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#173278115629210660-514: 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. As evidence of the change in population, by 1937, 592,185 Jews lived in
10865-542: The Northeastern Woodlands . Although never politically unified, the confederation of the Lenape roughly encompassed the area around and between the Delaware and lower Hudson rivers, and included the western part of Long Island in present-day New York. Some of their place names, such as Manhattan ("the island of many hills" ), Raritan, and Tappan were adopted by Dutch and English colonists to identify
11070-465: The Spuyten Duyvil Creek ; Marble Hill's postal ZIP code , telephonic area codes 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. It separates the West Bronx from the schist of the East Bronx . A smaller river,
11275-478: The Three Sisters : maize, beans, and squash. Men hunted, fished, and otherwise harvested seafood . In the 17th century, the Lenape practiced slash and burn agriculture. They used fire to manage land. Controlled use of fire extended farmlands' productivity. According to Dutch settler Isaac de Rasieres, who observed the Lenape in 1628, the Lenape planted their primary crop, maize , in March. Over time,
11480-906: The Wyandot , the Mingo , the Shawnee , and the Wolf Clan of the Lenape , favored the British. They believed that by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , restricting Anglo-American settlement to east of the Appalachian Mountains, the British would help them preserve a Native American territory . As the Revolutionary War intensified, the Lenape in present-day Ohio were deeply divided over which side, if any, to take in
11685-470: The definite article as "the Bronx" or "The Bronx", both legally and colloquially. The "County of the Bronx" also takes "the" immediately before "Bronx" in formal references, like the coextensive "Borough of the Bronx". The United States Postal Service uses "Bronx, NY" for mailing addresses. 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
11890-423: The government of New York City on December 12, 1888, and converted into Van Cortlandt Park; other properties on the estate were not sold until 1919. The majority of the grain fields were converted into a sprawling lawn dubbed the "Parade Ground", while the Van Cortlandt House was preserved. Parts of the mansion were repaired and repainted in 1889. For several years thereafter, the family of the house's caretaker were
12095-436: The mound builders culture. In addition, both tribes practiced adopting young captives from warfare into their tribes and assimilating them as full tribal members. Iroquoians adopting Lenape (or other peoples) were known to be part of their religious beliefs, the adopted one taking the place in the clan of one killed in warfare. Early European observers may have misinterpreted matrilineal Lenape cultural practices. For example,
12300-533: The 1950s. The Colonial Dames has hosted live performances on the museum's behalf; for example, it staged a play at the Alvin Theatre in 1960 to raise money for the house. By the 1970s, the house presented St. Nicholas Day performances, the Bronx Arts Ensemble's weekend concerts, Bronx Bicentennial activities, and demonstrations of Revolutionary-era military activities. In the late 20th century,
12505-427: The 1970s. It had several caretakers during this time. A poet, Hagop Yacoubian, began caring for the house in 1959, shortly after coming to the U.S. from Armenia. Robert and Ann Porter, who were hired as the museum's caretakers in 1973 following a chance meeting with one of the museum's directors, sometimes hosted private parties in the house when the museum was closed. By the mid-1970s, the Bronx County Historical Society
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#173278115629212710-438: The 62nd and last county to be created by the state, effective in 1914. 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 ). Marble Hill, Manhattan , was now connected to the Bronx by filling in the former waterway, but it is not part of the borough or county. The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods:
12915-423: The Battle of White Plains, British General William Howe made the house his headquarters on November 13, 1776, placing it behind British-held ground. Hessian troops had pillaged the mansion before Howe's arrival, and various documents were as such scattered. Royal Navy admiral Robert Digby occasionally invited the future British King William IV to the mansion during the war, and Digby gifted Augustus Van Cortlandt
13120-433: The British against the French and their Indian allies. In 1761, Killbuck led a British supply train from Fort Pitt to Fort Sandusky . In 1763, Bill Hickman, a Lenape, warned English colonists in the Juniata River region of present-day Pennsylvania of an impending attack. After the end of the French and Indian War, European settlers continued to attack the Lenape, often to such an extent that, as historian Amy Schutt writes,
13325-488: The Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population), 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. Bootleggers and gangs were active in the Bronx during Prohibition (1920–1933). Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Polish gangs smuggled in most of the illegal whiskey, and the oldest sections of the borough became poverty-stricken. Police Commissioner Richard Enright said that speakeasies provided
13530-433: The Bronx began in 1639. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County , but it was ceded to New York County in two major parts ( West Bronx , 1874 and East Bronx , 1895) before it became Bronx County. Originally, the area was part of the Lenape 's Lenapehoking territory inhabited by Siwanoy of the Wappinger Confederacy. Over time, European colonists converted the borough into farmlands. The Bronx's development
13735-404: The Bronx during 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. 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;
13940-407: The Bronx saw a steep decline in population, livable housing, and quality of life starting from the mid-to-late 1960s, continuing throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, ultimately culminating in a wave of arson in the late 1970s, a period when hip hop music evolved. The South Bronx , in particular, experienced severe urban decay . The borough began experiencing new population growth starting in
14145-629: The Bronx was designated an All America City by the National Civic League , acknowledging its comeback from the decline of the mid-century. 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." 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
14350-418: 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
14555-449: The Bronx's decline may have been the development of high-rise housing projects , particularly in the South Bronx . 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. There
14760-542: The Bronx-based organization Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, arguing the definite article is part of the proper name. 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 ' ". European colonization of
14965-577: 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 . 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 Throggs Neck . Further up
15170-727: The Confederation until 1753, shortly before the outbreak of the French and Indian War (a part of the Seven Years' War in Europe). The historical record of the mid-17th century suggests that most Lenape polities each consisted of several hundred people but it is conceivable that some had been considerably larger prior to close contact, given the wars between the Susquehannocks and the Iroquois, both of whom were armed by
15375-604: The Delaware Tribe of Indians received grant money to fund The Lenape Talking Dictionary , preserving and digitizing the Southern Unami dialect. At the time of European settlement in North America , a Lenape would have identified primarily with their immediate family and clan, friends, and village unit and, after that, with surrounding and familiar village units followed by more distant neighbors who spoke
15580-415: The Dutch and Swedes, were surprised at the Lenape's skill in fashioning clothing from natural materials. In hot weather men and women wore only loin cloth and skirt respectively, while they used beaver pelts or bear skins to serve as winter mantles. Additionally, both sexes might wear buckskin leggings and moccasins in cold weather. Women would wear their hair long, usually below the hip, while men kept only
15785-411: The Dutch arrival, they began to exchange wampum for beaver furs provided by Iroquoian -speaking Susquehannock and other Minquas. They exchanged these furs for Dutch and, from the late 1630s, also Swedish imports. Relations between some Lenape and Minqua polities briefly turned sour in the late 1620s and early 1630s, but were relatively peaceful most of the time. The early European settlers, especially
15990-678: The Dutch fur traders, while the Lenape were at odds with the Dutch and so lost that particular arms race. In 1648, the Axion band of Lenape were the largest tribe on the Delaware River, with 200 warriors. Epidemics of newly introduced European infectious diseases , such as smallpox , measles, cholera, influenza, and dysentery, reduced the populations of Lenape. They and other Native peoples had no natural immunity . Recurrent violent conflicts with Europeans also devastated Lenape people. In 1682, William Penn and Quaker colonists created
16195-405: The Dutch shifted their operations to present-day upstate New York . The Lenape who produced wampum in the vicinity of Manhattan Island temporarily forestalled the negative effects of the decline in trade. During the resulting Beaver Wars in the first half of the 17th century, European colonists were careful to keep firearms from the coastally located Lenape, while rival Iroquoian peoples in
16400-606: The English colony of Pennsylvania beginning at the lower Delaware River . A peace treaty was negotiated between the newly arriving colonists and Lenape at what is now known as Penn Treaty Park . In the decades immediately following, some 20,000 new colonists arrived in the region, putting pressure on Lenape settlements and hunting grounds. Penn expected his authority and that of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania government to take precedence. William Penn died in 1718. His heirs, John and Thomas Penn, and their agents were ruling
16605-528: The Lenape adapted to European methods of hunting and farming with metal tools. The men limited their agricultural labor to clearing the field and breaking the soil. They primarily hunted and fished during the rest of the year: from September to January and from June to July, they mainly hunted deer, but from the month of January to the spring planting in May, they hunted anything from bears and beavers to raccoons and foxes. Dutch settler David de Vries , who stayed in
16810-529: The Lenape for agricultural products, mainly maize, in exchange for iron tools. The Lenape also arranged contacts between the Minquas or Susquehannocks and the Dutch West India Company and Swedish South Company to promote the fur trade . The Lenape were major producers of labor intensive wampum , or shell beads, which they traditionally used for ritual purposes and as ornaments. After
17015-654: The Lenape historical territory, which spanned what is now eastern Pennsylvania , New Jersey , Lower New York Bay , and eastern Delaware . The tribe's common name Delaware comes from the French language . English colonists named the Delaware River for the first governor of the Province of Virginia , Lord De La Warr . The British colonists began to call the Lenape the Delaware Indians because of where they lived. Swedish colonists also settled in
17220-466: The Lenape in 1682, said the Unami used the following words: "mother" was anna , "brother" was isseemus and "friend" was netap . He instructed his fellow English colonists: "If one asks them for anything they have not, they will answer, mattá ne hattá , which to translate is, 'not I have,' instead of 'I have not'." The Lenape languages were once exclusively spoken languages. In 2002,
17425-401: The Lenape people that lived there. The Lenape had a culture in which the clan and family controlled property. Europeans often tried to contract for land with the tribal chiefs, confusing their culture with that of neighboring tribes such as the Iroquois . As a further complication in communication and understanding, kinship terms commonly used by European settlers had very different meanings to
17630-550: The Lenape: "fathers" did not have the same direct parental control as in Europe, "brothers" could be a symbol of equality but could also be interpreted as one's parallel cousins, "cousins" were interpreted as only cross-cousins, etc. All of these added complexities in kinship terms made agreements with Europeans all the more difficult. The Lenape would petition for grievances on the basis that not all their families had been recognized in
17835-609: The Pennsylvania government that is commonly known as the Walking Purchase". In the end, all Lenape who still lived on the Delaware were driven off the remnants of their homeland under threats of violence. Some Lenape polities eventually retaliated by attacking Pennsylvania settlements. When they resisted European colonial expansion at the height of the French and Indian War , British colonial authorities investigated
18040-465: The Society of Colonial Dames of the State of New York applied to the park commissioners for permission to repair the mansion and operate it as a historic house museum . The New York State Legislature had given the society control of the mansion by that May. The Park Board agreed in December 1896 to lease the mansion to the society; the initial lease lasted for 25 years. The society then began renovating
18245-510: The South Bronx. The IRT White Plains Road Line ( 2 and 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. In 1997,
18450-640: The Storykeeper of the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania , calls the name "an anglicized grammatical error that basically translates as the 'original people people.'" While acknowledging that some Lenape do identify as Lenni Lenape or Delaware, DePaul says "the best word to use when referring to us is simply 'Lenape.'" When first encountered by European settlers, the Lenape were a loose association of closely related peoples who spoke similar languages and shared familial bonds in an area known as Lenapehoking ,
18655-612: The Third Avenue Bridge as people buy apartments and renovate them. Several boutique and chain hotels opened in the 2010s in the South Bronx . New developments are underway. The Bronx General Post Office 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. The Kingsbridge Armory , often cited as
18860-518: The Turtle or Wolf clans. His children would not belong to the Turkey Clan, but to the mother's clan. As such, a person's mother's brothers (the person's matrilineal uncles) played a large role in his or her life as they shared the same clan lineage. Within a marriage itself, men and women had relatively separate and equal rights, each controlling their own property and debts, showing further signs of
19065-425: The Van Cortlandt House in December 1960 for what was supposed to be a four-month renovation. The house's reopening was delayed by two months to June 1961. This renovation involved restoring the walls and the original floors, as well as upgrades to the caretaker's apartment and mechanical systems. The house was still open seven days a week in the 1960s, charging admission four days a week, but was only open on weekends by
19270-491: The Van Cortlandt House was the only structure in the area that used grotesque masks as decoration, although Mathews cited the decorations as having been common in the Netherlands. At the top of the facade is a cornice that supports a protruding soffit . The underside of the soffit has modillions set at wide intervals. The main house is capped by a mansard roof with a slate surface; there are no railings or decks above
19475-405: The Van Cortlandt House's site, having bought the land from the Dutch West India Company in 1646. Van der Donck died in 1655. Following the takeover of New Netherland by the British in 1664, the claim to the estate was awarded to van der Donck's brother-in-law, Elias Doughty, who proceeded to sell off the portions of the property. Doughty sold a 2,000-acre (810 ha) tract, including the site of
19680-670: The Van Cortlandt House, to Frederick Philipse , Thomas Delavall , and Thomas Lewis. Philipse bought out Delavall's and Lewis's land shares, making the land part of the expansive Philipsburg Manor . When Philipse's wife died, he remarried the daughter of Dutch brewer Oloff Stevense Van Cortlandt, herself a widow. Philipse's daughter Eva later married Jacobus Van Cortlandt , who was Olof's son and Philipse's second wife's brother. Jacobus Van Cortlandt acquired parcels from Philipse through 1699 and dammed Tibbetts Brook to create Van Cortlandt Lake. He and his wife largely lived in Manhattan but used
19885-586: The Van Cortlandt House. The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York, a branch of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America , continues to operate the mansion as a museum as of 2023. When the house opened as a museum, the western parlor was set aside specifically as a museum, while the other rooms displayed memorabilia from Colonial Dames and their friends. In the house's early years, one room contained artifacts from
20090-494: The Van Cortlandt family continued to reside at the mansion during most of the war. The grounds were used by Patriot militia leaders Comte de Rochambeau , Marquis de Lafayette , and George Washington . The house itself was Washington's headquarters after his troops were defeated in the 1776 Battle of Long Island , and Washington stayed at the house prior to the Battle of White Plains . After Washington's troops were defeated in
20295-423: The Van Cortlandts' original house still existed on the estate, and the house's interior was decorated with various portraits. New York City annexed the southern part of Westchester County in 1874, and the Van Cortlandt estate became part of the Bronx. The Van Cortlandts were looking to sell their land by the 1870s because of the area's increasing urbanization. In June 1884, New York governor Grover Cleveland signed
20500-441: The Van Cortlandts' previous residence. To the northeast of the mansion were woodlands. In Frederick's will , signed on October 2, 1749, he indicated that the house was almost complete. Frederick died before the house was finished, and he bequeathed the estate to his son, Jacobus (James) Van Cortlandt. His bequest also included either 11 or 12 slaves who worked on the plantation. Vault Hill, the Van Cortlandt family burial ground to
20705-687: 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 . In 2006, a five-year, $ 220-million program of capital improvements and natural restoration in 70 Bronx parks
20910-413: The annex's construction in 1913 but initially rejected all of them. After a subsequent contract was approved, annex, consisting of a caretaker's apartment adjacent to the main house, was finished in 1916 or 1917, just before World War I. The Department of Parks awarded a contract for repairs to the house at the end of 1914. The architect Norman Isham was hired to renovate the mansion, which included restoring
21115-550: The area from 1634 to 1644, described a Lenape hunt in the valley of the Achinigeu-hach (or Ackingsah-sack, the Hackensack River ), in which 100 or more men stood in a line many paces from each other, beating thigh bones on their palms to drive animals to the river, where they could be killed easily. Other methods of hunting included lassoing and drowning deer, as well as forming a circle around prey and setting
21320-575: The area of present-day Washington Valley in Morris County, New Jersey . Led by Reverend John Brainerd, colonists forcefully relocated 200 people to Indian Mills, then known as Brotherton , an industrial town with gristills and sawmills, that was the first Native American reservation in New Jersey . Reverend John Brainerd abandoned the reservation in 1777. In 1758, the Treaty of Easton
21525-609: The area prior to annexation to the City of New York generally did not straddle the Bronx River. In addition, what is today the Bronx was annexed to New York City in two stages: areas west of the Bronx River were annexed in 1874 while areas to the east of the river were annexed in 1895. Under this system, the Bronx can be further divided into the following regions: Lenape The Lenape ( English: / l ə ˈ n ɑː p i / , /- p eɪ / , / ˈ l ɛ n ə p i / ; Lenape languages : [lənaːpe] ), also called
21730-639: The area, and Swedish sources called the Lenape the Renappi . The historical Lenape country, Lenapehoking ( Lënapehòkink ), was a large territory that encompassed the Delaware and Lehigh Valley regions of eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey from the north bank of the Lehigh River along the west bank of the Delaware River into Delaware and the Delaware Bay . Their lands also extended west from western Long Island and New York Bay , across
21935-610: The area. Beginning in the 18th century, the Moravian Church established missions in Lenape settlements. The Moravians required the Christian converts to share Moravian pacifism and live in a structured and European-style mission village. Moravian pacifism and unwillingness to take loyalty oaths caused conflicts with British colonial authorities, who were seeking aid against the French and their Native American allies in
22140-492: The borough's name is sometimes disputed. Generally, the definite article is lowercase in place names ("the Bronx") except in some official references. The definite article is capitalized ("The Bronx") at the beginning of a sentence or in any other situation when a normally lowercase word would be capitalized. However, some people and groups refer to the borough with a capital letter at all times, such as Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan , The Bronx County Historical Society , and
22345-494: The brush on fire. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bays of the area, and, in southern New Jersey, harvested clams year-round. One technique used while fishing was to add ground chestnuts to stream water to make fish dizzy and easier to catch. The success of these methods allowed the tribe to maintain a larger population than other, nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples in North America at
22550-404: The building they lived in so they could qualify for emergency relocations by city social service agencies to better residences, sometimes being relocated to other parts of the city. Out of 289 census tracts in the Bronx borough, 7 tracts lost more than 97% of their buildings to arson and abandonment between 1970 and 1980; another 44 tracts had more than 50% of their buildings meet the same fate. By
22755-702: The causes of Lenape resentment. The British asked Sir William Johnson , Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to lead the investigation. Johnson had become wealthy as a trader and acquired thousands of acres of land in the Mohawk River region from the Iroquois Mohawk of New York. In 1757, an organization known as the New Jersey Association for Helping the Indians wrote a constitution to expel native Munsee Lenape from their settlements in
22960-577: The city in 1896. Following these two annexations, the Bronx's territory had moved from Westchester County into New York County, which already included Manhattan and the rest of pre-1874 New York City. On January 1, 1898, the consolidated City of New York was born, including the Bronx as one of the five distinct boroughs . However, it remained part of New York County until Bronx County was created in 1914. On April 19, 1912, those parts of New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County in previous decades were newly constituted as Bronx County,
23165-462: The city; it was followed by other residences such as the Morris–Jumel Mansion , King Manor , and Dyckman House . The Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of the few mid-18th-century buildings in New York City that still retained its original carpentry. The museum was open to the public every day of the week and was free most of the time. On Saturdays, it charged each guest 25 cents to raise money for
23370-514: 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 km ). Although Bronx County was the third most densely populated county in the United States in 2022 (after Manhattan and Brooklyn ), 7,000 acres (28 km ) of the Bronx—about one fifth of the Bronx's area, and one quarter of its land area—is given over to parkland. The vision of
23575-457: The colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Old-fashioned cookware was exhibited in the kitchen. The western parlor had a pair of Benjamin Franklin 's andirons and some maps dating as far back as 1642. In the eastern parlor were furniture such as chairs, a writing desk, a candle stand, and four chalk artworks. The dining room displayed porcelain, platters, and a dinner table. The western bedroom on
23780-493: The colony, and had abandoned many of William Penn 's practices. In an attempt to raise money, they contemplated ways to sell Lenape land to colonial settlers, which culminated in the Walking Purchase . In the mid-1730s, colonial administrators produced a draft of a land deed dating to the 1680s. William Penn had approached several leaders of Lenape polities in the lower Delaware to discuss land sales further north. Since
23985-657: The dead since the wars outnumbered those killed during the war. In April 1763, Teedyuscung was killed during the burning of his home. His son Captain Bull responded by attacking settlers, sponsored by the Susquehanna Company, in the present-day Wyoming Valley region of Pennsylvania.. Many Lenape joined in Pontiac's War and were among the Native Americans who besieged present-day Pittsburgh. During
24190-399: The dining room and parlors) were placed on the first floor. The rear of the house had a service wing, where servants could move about without guests noticing. As built, the first story's southern wing had an entrance hall flanked by two parlors, while the eastern wing had a side hall and dining room on that story. The second floor is generally designed in a simpler style than the first floor but
24395-700: The early 1770s, missionaries, including David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder , arrived in the Ohio Country near the Lenape villages. The Moravian Church sent these men to convert the Indigenous peoples to Christianity. The missionaries established several missions, including Gnadenhutten , Lichtenau , and Schoenbrunn . The missionaries pressured Indigenous people to abandon their traditional customs , beliefs, and ways of life, and to replace them with European and Christian ways. Many Lenape did adopt Christianity, but others refused to do so. The Lenape became
24600-412: The early 1980s, the Bronx was considered the most blighted urban area in the country, particularly the South Bronx which experienced a loss of 60% of the population and 40% of housing units. However, starting in the 1990s, many of the burned-out and run-down tenements were replaced by new housing units. In May 1984, New York Supreme Court justice Peter J. McQuillan ruled that Marble Hill, Manhattan ,
24805-497: The eastern and northwestern sections of the borough . From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, the quality of life changed for some 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 . Another factor in
25010-426: The end of the 17th century, each of which historically had twelve sub-clans: The Lenape have a matrilineal clan system and historically were matrilocal . Children belong to their mother's clan, from which they gain social status and identity. The mother's eldest brother was more significant as a mentor to the male children than was their father, who was generally of another clan. Hereditary leadership passed through
25215-478: The entrance. In the 20th century, several objects were added to the collection , such as handmade liquor bottles that had been excavated in 1902. During the 1910s and 1920s, the house had several pieces of colonial and Dutch furniture, and one parlor was cited as having a Chippendale mirror and a secretarial desk. The upstairs rooms retained their old four-poster beds with tapestries. The house displayed objects of various sizes, in addition to china and furniture. On
25420-490: The estate as a plantation in the early 18th century. The property's proximity to Tibbetts Brook, which drained into the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the south, made it easy for Van Cortlandt to ship grain and timber products by water. In 1732, Van Cortlandt acquired an additional parcel from the Tippett family. The estate was passed in 1739 to Jacobus's son Frederick Van Cortlandt . When Frederick inherited
25625-417: The family's maids had married a man surnamed Monroe. A narrow U-shaped stairway in the second-floor hall continues up to the third floor. On the third floor were two smaller rooms for servants, one of which was in an incomplete condition. The attic has been adapted into an exhibit on the lives of the slaves who worked on the Van Cortlandt plantation. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation owns
25830-399: The fireplaces, adding paneling, moving the radiators, and installing interior shutters. By the late 1910s, the museum was charging admission fees on Thursdays; although the museum no longer charged a fee on Sundays, it had shorter operating hours on that day. By the early 1930s, the Van Cortlandt House saw 50,000 to 60,000 visitors each year, including many foreign-born visitors. A walnut tree
26035-624: The first European settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639. European settlers displaced the native Lenape after 1643. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bronx received many immigrant and migrant groups as it was transformed into an urban community, first from European countries particularly Ireland , Germany , Italy , and Eastern Europe , and later from the Caribbean region (particularly Puerto Rico , Trinidad , Haiti , Guyana , Jamaica , Barbados , and
26240-480: 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. In addition there came a revitalization of the existing housing market in areas such as Hunts Point, the Lower Concourse, and the neighborhoods surrounding
26445-484: The first story. There are keystones above the windows, which contain carvings of grotesque masks. The grotesques bear various facial expressions, and each mask has a distinct design, representing a different Cortlandt. Local historian William Arthur Tieck said that the bricks were laid so the highest-quality brick faced outward, while ordinary brick faced inward. According to the National Park Service ,
26650-464: The grist mill and saw mill next to the lake. Within the house, the family salted the pork and beef; cured the ham and bacon; and stored the various fruits that grew on the premises. The Van Cortlandts did not primarily live in that house, instead staying in Manhattan most of the time. Two early historians wrote that James Van Cortlandt frequently intervened on behalf of neighbors who had been robbed. The family often invited civilian and military officials to
26855-492: The grounds. Washington used the house one final time in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris . The British had just withdrawn their troops from Manhattan, and Washington and George Clinton were getting ready to enter the island, stopping over at the house before doing so. Augustus Van Cortlandt's family moved to the house after the Revolution ended. The 1790 United States census shows that Augustus Van Cortlandt kept 17 slaves on
27060-446: The history of New York before it was so cosmopolitan", while another Times article in 1911 said that the house by itself was a reason to visit Van Cortlandt Park. A writer for The Christian Science Monitor wrote in 1915 that "this house helps us to picture their days of generous means and dignified living". Conversely, a writer for The American Architect said in 1919 that the house displayed too many objects that "are not relevant to
27265-481: The house continued to present events such as concerts, St. Nicholas Day carols, children's programs, and historical lectures. In the 21st century, the museum hosted events such as historical reenactments. The museum gives tours throughout the year, including both self-guided tours and those led by docents. The house also hosts special events. In 1889, one reporter described the building as "solid, substantial, massive", having been preserved "in splendid condition". After
27470-532: The house for $ 1 million, and the house's roof was to be repaired with $ 250,000 from the New York City Council and the Bronx borough president's office. However, there was no funding for further repairs, and the museum had only a $ 100,000 annual operating budget. Carpenter also doubled as the house's caretaker and continued to direct the museum through the early 21st century. The Van Cortlandt House had outdated mechanical systems, and, although Carpenter
27675-403: The house in 1896 and opened it to the public on May 28, 1897. Various modifications were made to the grounds over the subsequent decades, and a caretaker's house was built in the 1910s. The house underwent renovations in the 1960s and 1980s. The original house is L-shaped, with wings to the south and east; the caretaker's house to the north is attached to the rest of the structure. The mansion has
27880-435: The house or its history and are misleading in suggestion". The Bronx The Bronx ( / b r ɒ ŋ k s / BRONKS ) is the northernmost borough of New York City , coextensive with Bronx County , in the U.S. state of New York . It is south of Westchester County ; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan , across the Harlem River ; and north of the New York City borough of Queens , across
28085-580: The house was converted into a museum, The New York Times wrote that the house was "one of the most interesting relics of the Colonial period", while the Brooklyn Daily Eagle said: "The house alone, on account of its shapely architecture and quaint furnishings, is worth a visit to [Van Cortlandt] park". A writer for Town and Country said in 1901 that the house preserved "all the glory of that interesting era dear to those who love to read
28290-422: The house was to pass to their sister's son Augustus Bibby Van Cortlandt upon Henry's death. Augustus Bibby owned the house for four and a half decades; he renovated the mansion and farmed much of the estate. The fireplaces were trimmed back to make way for stoves. An account from the late 1840s described the house as having a front garden with box trees, which had been planted upon a set of fountains. The old mill and
28495-429: The house's history, in late 1900. At the time, the museum had recorded more than 50,000 visitors over the previous four years. The next year, the old mill used by the Van Cortlandt family was destroyed by lightning. A statue of National Guard major-general Josiah Porter was dedicated behind the house in 1902, and the colonial garden adjacent to the mansion was completed in 1903. A window from the old Rhinelander Sugar House
28700-450: The house's history. The exterior of the house largely lacks elaborate decorations. Despite the paucity of ornate ornamentation, one descendant, Catharine Van Cortlandt Mathews, wrote that the design "suggests to a large degree the substantial comfort of the era which it represents". Next to the original L-shaped structure is the caretaker's apartment, which also has a rubblestone facade and brick window frames. The caretaker's apartment occupies
28905-487: The house's maintenance. A colonial garden around the house was approved in May 1897 and announced to the public that July. New York City park superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr. began constructing the colonial garden that August at a cost of $ 50,000, and the New York City Board of Estimate allocated $ 15,000 that October for the garden. The Colonial Dames dedicated a tablet outside the mansion, which described
29110-473: The house's site between 1990 and 1992. After a set of tennis courts were proposed east of the mansion in the 1990s, preservationists raised concerns that the tennis courts would ruin views from the house and destroy historical artifacts, though the courts were approved anyway. By the mid-1990s, some rooms had peeling paint or water damage, and there were concerns that the furniture had bug infestations. The museum's director Laura Carpenter Correa wanted to renovate
29315-500: The house. The project, which cost between $ 4,000 and $ 5,000, involved restoring the house to its original condition. The Colonial Dames took over the mansion on May 27, 1897, and opened the house to the public on that date. At the time, the Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of a few old residences preserved on public grounds in New York City, along with Gracie Mansion . It was also one of the first historic house museums in
29520-409: The house. There were horse chestnuts on either side of the gateposts. The grounds surrounding the house were landscaped in what the historian Mary Lanman Ferris called "the Dutch manner of gardening". These included manmade terraces, large box trees, and water features such as fountains. The mansion was also surrounded by large old-growth trees. In the early 1900s, a Dutch garden was built just south of
29725-413: The kitchen was originally sourced from Vault Hill. There is a Dutch brick oven embedded in the kitchen's wall. On one wall is a wide, short fireplace with a hearth and an arched opening. A dresser and a porcelain closet occupied the kitchen. There is also a newer basement with a classroom and an auditorium. The museum's restrooms are also in the basement. The front hall is accessed from the main entrance on
29930-445: The land in question did not belong to their polities, the talks did not lead to an agreement. But colonial administrators prepared the draft that resurfaced in the 1730s. The Penns and their supporters presented this draft as a legitimate deed, but Lenape leaders in the lower Delaware refused to accept it. According to historian Steven C. Harper , what followed was a "convoluted sequence of deception, fraud, and extortion orchestrated by
30135-409: The land, the houses, and the families, the clan fathers provided the meat, cleared the fields, built the houses, and protected the clan. Upon reaching adulthood, a Lenape male would marry outside of his clan . The practice effectively prevented inbreeding, even among individuals whose kinship was obscure or unknown. This means that a male from the Turkey Clan was expected to marry a female from either
30340-490: The land, the site was considered part of lower Yonkers in Westchester County . Horses, oxen, cattle, hogs, sheep, and hens roamed across the farm, while crops such as flax and fruits were grown there. Several slaves also worked on the plantation. The Van Cortlandt House is the oldest known surviving house in what is now the Bronx, as well as one of three surviving 18th-century buildings in the borough. Along with
30545-411: The largest armory in the world, is currently slated for redevelopment. 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 m ) of development and would cost US$ 350–500 million . Despite significant investment compared to
30750-546: 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 . 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
30955-600: The last decades of the 18th century, European settlers and the effects of the American Revolutionary War displaced most Lenape from their homelands and pushed them north and west. In the 1860s, under the Indian removal policy, the U.S. federal government relocated most Lenape remaining in the Eastern United States to the Indian Territory and surrounding regions. Lenape people currently belong to
31160-438: The late 1980s that continues into today. The Bronx was a mostly rural area for many generations, with small farms supplying the city markets. In the late 19th century, however, it grew into a railroad suburb. 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. The South Bronx
31365-595: The late 1990s and continuing to the present day. The Bronx was called Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape (also known historically as the Delawares ), while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck . It was divided by the Aquahung River (now known in English as the Bronx River ). The Bronx was named after Jonas Bronck ( c. 1600–1643 ), a European settler whose precise origins are disputed. Documents indicate he
31570-517: The mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement of New Haarlem (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 . The American poet William Bronk
31775-402: The majority of rooms. In general, the interior has a Georgian-style design and layout, and the rooms had fireplaces on their north walls and windows on at least one of the other three walls. Elaborately carved woodwork is used throughout the house, and there are several fireplaces with Dutch tiles. Unlike other urban mansions, but typical of rural estates, the formal entertaining rooms (such as
31980-414: The mansion at a cost of $ 26,424; the fence had been relocated from the median of Delancey Street in Manhattan. During the late 1950s, a group led by New York State Assembly member Mildred F. Taylor found that the building was still in good condition. After various members of the Colonial Dames provided donations "to make the mansion a more authoritative eighteenth-century home", the Colonial Dames closed
32185-687: The mansion, serving lobsters from the Long Island Sound and hams from the estate's grounds. Slaves performed many of the tasks around the house, including laundry, cleaning, and cooking. The Van Cortlandt family land served as a neutral ground during the American Revolutionary War and was used by both the Loyalists and the Patriots . On May 30, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress placed James Van Cortlandt on
32390-496: The mansion, with a canal on three sides, a fountain in the center, and four square sections around it. The garden has since been replaced with trees and a herb garden. Prior to European settlement, the Lenape Native Americans occupied the site of the Van Cortlandt Mansion, and there was a nearby Native American village known as Keskeskick. Adriaen van der Donck , a Dutch settler, was the first European to occupy
32595-459: The maternal line, and women elders could remove leaders of whom they disapproved. Agricultural land was managed by women and allotted according to the subsistence needs of their extended families. Newlywed couples would live with the bride's family, where her mother and sisters could also assist her with her growing family. By 1682, when William Penn arrived to his American commonwealth, the Lenape had been so reduced by disease, famine, and war that
32800-480: The museum's exhibits and the house's architecture. The house's facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks , and the building is a National Historic Landmark . The Van Cortlandt House is located at the southwestern corner of Van Cortlandt Park , near the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City . It is surrounded by the park's Parade Ground to the north, the Memorial Grove to
33005-609: The north and west such as the Susquehannocks and Confederation of the Iroquois became comparatively well-armed. They defeated the Lenape, and some scholars believe that the Lenape may have become tributaries to the Susquehannock. After the warfare, the Lenape referred to the Susquehannock as "uncles". The Iroquois Confederacy added the Lenape to the Covenant Chain in 1676 and the Lenape were tributary to
33210-442: The north of the mansion, was created in 1749, and Frederick was interred there. After its completion, the Van Cortlandt House was often called the manor house, although this was a misnomer, as the "manor" name applied to the Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, New York . The mansion was also called "Lower Cortlandt's" to reduce confusion with Frederick Van Cortlandt's farm, "Upper Cortlandt's", west of Broadway. The family used
33415-419: The north wall is painted blue and is paneled, while the three other walls are made of white plaster with a baseboard , a dado rail , and a molding at the ceiling. The south wall has three windows. There was a group of seats next to the window on the south wall. To the right (east) of the front hall is the eastern parlor, which was intended as a formal room. It was likely used for tea and card games. Each wall
33620-437: The northern portion of the grounds, creating a C-shaped structure. The window openings are surrounded by brick frames and contain sash windows with twelve panes over twelve. The original windows were transparent but, by the end of the 19th century, had gained the appearance of ground glass . The windowsills were incorporated into the outer walls, and the sills on the second story are of a slightly different design from those on
33825-422: The nuts of Aesculus glabra in the pocket for rheumatism , and an infusion of ground nuts mixed with sweet oil or mutton tallow for earaches. They also grind the nuts and use them to poison fish in streams. They also apply a poultice of pulverized nuts with sweet oil for earache. The first recorded European contact with people presumed to have been the Lenape was in 1524. The explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano
34030-502: The official maps of the city. Since the late 1980s, significant development has occurred in the Bronx, first stimulated by the city's "Ten-Year Housing Plan" 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 began to rebuild areas in
34235-426: The only residents, and military officers used the house once a year during field day activities in the park. Until 1896, the mansion also served as a barracks for the New York State Police , which had been assigned to guard the bison that roamed Van Cortlandt Park. The New York City Police Department and the New York National Guard used the house as well, and the bison themselves stayed there until they were moved to
34440-675: The other slightly forwards then backwards, yet so as to advance gradually". A number of linear measures were used. Small units of measure were the distance from the thumb and first finger, and the distance from first finger to pit of elbow. Travel distance was measured in the distance one could comfortably travel from sun-up to sun-down. Lenape herbalists , who have been primarily women, use their extensive knowledge of plant life to help heal their community's ailments, sometimes through ceremony. The Lenape found uses in trees like black walnut which were used to cure ringworm and with persimmons which were used to cure ear problems. The Lenape carry
34645-490: The parlors were repainted in their original colors. The renovation, which cost $ 571,900, reopened in December 1988 to celebrate Van Cortlandt Park's 100th anniversary. The Van Cortlandt Mansion was one of the founding members of the Historic House Trust , established in 1989. At the time, the house's roof needed to be replaced. By the early 1990s, the house was open five days a week and charged admission fees at all times. Students from Brooklyn College conducted excavations around
34850-427: The post war period, many exacerbated social problems remain including high rates of violent crime, substance abuse, overcrowding, and substandard housing conditions. The Bronx has the highest rate of poverty in New York City, and the greater South Bronx is the poorest area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , Bronx County has a total area of 57 square miles (150 km ), of which 42 square miles (110 km )
35055-547: The property. Augustus, his wife, another woman, and 10 slaves were recorded as living on the estate in 1800. The census of 1810 showed that Augustus's household consisted of six free people and 15 slaves; at the time, the farm may have still been operated as a plantation. Augustus Van Cortlandt continued to own the house until he died in 1823; he had no male children to which he could pass down the house. As such, his son-in-law Henry White (who had married Augustus's daughter Anna) received his life estate , and Henry's son Augustus White
35260-448: The property. Washington returned to the house in 1781 to strategize with Rochambeau while their troops waited outside on what is now the Parade Ground and Vault Hill. Although Washington had wanted to scout British forts in Upper Manhattan , his troops instead headed south to Virginia, defeating the British in the siege of Yorktown . Washington lit campfires outside the house to deceive the British into thinking that his troops were still on
35465-445: The roof. Seven dormer windows protrude from the roof: three facing east, one facing west, and three facing south. Each dormer contains a six-over-six sash window, and there is a triangular pediment above each window. The house contained multiple brick chimney stacks, similar to manors in the Hudson Valley . At the time of the house's construction, not many houses used multiple stacks, but this arrangement allowed heat to be provided to
35670-427: The same dialect, and finally, with those in the surrounding area who spoke mutually comprehensible languages, including the Nanticoke people who lived to their south and west in present western Delaware and eastern Maryland . Among many Algonquian peoples along the East Coast , the Lenape were considered the grandfathers from whom other Algonquian -speaking peoples originated. The Lenape had three clans at
35875-416: The second story featured furniture from Washington's time at the house, such as his bed, a mahogany footrest, a carved clock, and bed steps. The eastern bedroom had a chest, printing press, and cradle, while the spinning room featured several tools used for needlework. Other objects displayed throughout the house included a set of wooden vultures that once belonged to a Spanish privateer, and two cannons outside
36080-494: The south end of the building. Doorways with eared frames lead to parlors on the west and east walls. The front hall's floor is made of yellow pine boards covered by a canvas-painted cloth. The western wall of the front hall contains a U-shaped stairway, which ascends to the second and third stories. The inner portion of the stairway has a railing with turned balusters, a round newel at the bottom, and square newels on each landing. The stairway's outer wall has paneled wainscoting . At
36285-491: The south, the Palisades to the west, and Tibbetts Brook to the east; the view to the south was interrupted by hills in Fordham, Bronx , and in Manhattan . Originally, there was a driveway from the side entrance to the front entrance. The driveway was paved with stones, so the house's occupants could hear visitors on the driveway before they arrived. The house's approach is flanked by gateposts that were once topped by wooden bird sculptures; these sculptures were later moved into
36490-402: 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
36695-409: The stairway's first landing, there is a niche containing a large window. The stairway's high ceiling was intended as a symbol of wealth when the house was built. Behind the front hall is the rear hall, which has a simple stairway and leads both to the dining room and to a servants' entrance. The rear hall was added shortly after Frederick Van Cortlandt died, when the house was being finished, and provided
36900-412: The sub-clan mothers had reluctantly resolved to consolidate their families into the main clan family. This is why William Penn and all those after him believed that the Lenape clans had always only had three divisions (Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf) when, in fact, they had over thirty on the eve of European contact. Members of each clan were found throughout Lenape territory, and while clan mothers controlled
37105-405: The third floor, there was a nursery with children's objects such as a bed and tea dishes. By the 1970s, the western parlor featured a snuff box from Peter Stuyvesant , pistols from Aaron Burr , and an Armenian rug. The eastern parlor had a cello, spinet , and piecrust table; the dining room had plates, set for a meal; and the kitchen had various utensils, as well as objects like a powder horn and
37310-406: The three towns were soon abolished in the process. 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 parts of Eastchester and Pelham. The nautical community of City Island voted to join
37515-447: The time, could support. Scholars have estimated that at the time of European settlement, around much of the current New York City area alone, there may have been about 15,000 Lenape in approximately 80 settlement sites. In 1524, Lenape in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano , the first European explorer to enter New York Harbor . European settlers and traders from the 17th-century colonies of New Netherland and New Sweden traded with
37720-402: The transaction (not that they wanted to "share" the land). After the Dutch arrival and brief establishment of Fort Nassau (along the bank of the Delaware River in present day Gloucester City, New Jersey ) in the 1620s, the Lenape were successful in restricting Dutch settlement until the 1660s to no further than Pavonia in present-day Jersey City along the Hudson. The Dutch finally established
37925-421: The war. When the war began, Killbuck found the Lenape caught between the British and their Indian allies in the West and the Americans in the East. The Lenape were living in numerous villages around their main village of Coshocton , between the western frontier strongholds of the British and the Patriots. The Americans had Fort Pitt (present-day Pittsburgh) and the British, along with Indian allies, controlled
38130-414: The west, a swimming pool and the Van Cortlandt Stadium to the south, and a burial ground and Van Cortlandt Lake to the east. The nearest street is Broadway to the west; the New York City Subway 's Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station is located on Broadway just outside the park. The Van Cortlandt House's site was a salt marsh along Tibbetts Brook until the 1690s, when the nearby Van Cortlandt Lake
38335-428: The windows. The western room was known as the Washington bedroom and had furniture used by Washington. The north wall of the Washington bedroom has a fireplace flanked by closets, similar to the cupboards on the first-floor western parlor. Behind the eastern bedroom was a spinning room. A third bedroom to the northeast has a fireplace with allegorical Dutch tiles. One of the bedrooms was named the Monroe room because one of
38540-410: Was a Swedish-born immigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland , Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the present-day Bronx and built a farm named "Emmaus" close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in Mott Haven . He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of
38745-418: Was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Bronck's son or his younger brother, but most probably a nephew or cousin, as there was an age difference of 16 years. Much work on the Swedish claim has been undertaken by Brian G. Andersson, former Commissioner of New York City's Department of Records, who helped organize a 375th Anniversary celebration in Bronck's hometown in 2014. The Bronx is referred to with
38950-416: 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. At the end of World War I , the Bronx hosted the rather small 1918 World's Fair at 177th Street and DeVoe Avenue. The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of
39155-524: Was allowed to have the house if he changed his surname to Van Cortlandt. Augustus White Van Cortlandt moved the mill on the estate to the shore of Van Cortlandt Lake in 1823. The estate's slaves were freed in 1827, when slavery in New York became illegal. The younger Augustus owned the house until his death on April 1, 1839, upon which he bequeathed the house to his brother Henry White Van Cortlandt, who had no children and survived only until October 1839. Neither Augustus White nor Henry White had male heirs, so
39360-414: Was allowed to live in the house rent-free, the city admonished her for trying to add a satellite dish. The Colonial Dames was still operating the Van Cortlandt House Museum in the early 21st century. Brooklyn College students undertook further archeological excavations at the site in 2003, and the house was open six days a week during the 2000s. The house's dining room was restored in 2015; the work involved
39565-441: Was also involved in the house's maintenance, although the Colonial Dames still operated the house and provided decorations and furniture. The grounds of the house were landscaped during 1980, and the house itself was closed in 1986 for a renovation. The work included a new 150-seat auditorium under the house; an expansion of the cellar for taller guests; new bathrooms; and mechanical, structural, and fire-safety upgrades. In addition,
39770-411: 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. In the 1970s, parts of the Bronx were plagued by a wave of arson. The burning of buildings was predominantly in the poorest communities, such as the South Bronx. One explanation of this event
39975-416: 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. The Bronx adjoins: There are two primary systems for dividing the Bronx into regions, which do not necessarily agree with one another. One system
40180-554: Was brought to the Bronx in 1903 and installed next to the mansion. By 1908, the mansion was easily accessible from the rest of the city via the New York City Subway 's Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station . The Colonial Dames began raising money in the early 1910s for an expansion of the museum's collection. The Dames also announced plans to build an annex to the house, but Park Board landscape architect Charles Downing Lay vetoed these plans in April 1912. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) received bids for
40385-423: Was continued in the "Borough of The Bronx", created in 1898, which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1895. The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers. A time-worn story purportedly explaining the use of the definite article in the borough's name says it stems from the phrase "visiting the Broncks", referring to the settler's family. The capitalization of
40590-407: Was formed along the brook's course. When the house was built in 1748, it stood on the eastern slope of a set of hills along the eastern bank of the Hudson River . The house and surrounding landscape are preserved as part of Van Cortlandt Park, although the fields around the mansion date from the Parade Ground's construction in the late 19th century. The grounds overlooked the Spuyten Duyvil valley to
40795-417: Was found for the first time outside of Asia , here, at the Bronx Zoo. Over the next 40 years it spread throughout eastern North America and killed back essentially every American Chestnut ( Castanea dentata ), causing ecological and economic devastation. 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
41000-408: Was greeted by local Lenape who came by canoe, after his ship entered what is now called Lower New York Bay . At the time of sustained European contact in the 17th through the 19th centuries, the Lenape were a powerful Native American nation who inhabited a region on the mid-Atlantic coast spanning the latitudes of southern Massachusetts to the southern extent of Delaware in what anthropologists call
41205-401: Was in use until 1889. Records indicate that the family held events in the house as late as 1890, when Augustus Bibby Van Cortlandt married Ethyle Wilson there. The New York Herald Tribune described the house and surrounding property as having "for generations symbolized the vast wealth in real estate amassed by Oloff and Jacobus Van Cortlandt". A portion of the Van Cortlandt estate was sold to
41410-470: Was planted in front of the mansion in 1938, replacing an older tree underneath which Washington had once stood. The guns outside the Van Cortlandt House were scrapped in 1942 after then–parks commissioner Robert Moses found that the weaponry was "of neither historic nor esthetic value". The New York Herald Tribune reported in the mid-1940s that the Van Cortlandt House had 100,000 annual visitors. NYC Parks announced plans in 1953 to install an iron fence around
41615-403: Was signed between the Lenape and European colonists. In it, the Lenape were required to move westward out of present-day New York and New Jersey, progressing into Pennsylvania and then to present-day Ohio and beyond. Through the 18th century, many Lenape moved west into the relatively depopulated upper Ohio River basin, but they also sporadically launched violent raids on settlers far outside
41820-402: Was simultaneously part of the Borough of Manhattan (not the Borough of the Bronx) and part of Bronx County (not New York County) and the matter was definitively settled later that year when the New York Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan and made this clarification retroactive to 1938, as reflected on
42025-423: Was that landlords decided to burn their low property-value buildings and take the insurance money, as it was easier for them to get insurance money than to try to refurbish a dilapidated building or sell a building in a severely distressed area. The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx. There were cases where tenants set fire to
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