11 Things You Didn't Know About THE BRONX

11 Things You Didn't Know About THE BRONX

ATTRIBUTIONS

Thumbnail: ”149th. Street and 3rd. Avenue, The Bronx, New York, 12 Feb. 2008” by Phillip Capper CC0 2.0 - Flickr

1. “Jennifer Lopez | Pop Music Festival | 23.06.2012” by Ana Carolina Kley Vita - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
2. “the bronx streets” by Dreig - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
3. “Riverdale train station” by Anthony22 - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
5. “William E Dodge House, Bronx NY” by Dmadeo - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
6. “Lou Gehrig Home Delafield Avenue” by Anthony22 - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
7. “JFK House Independence Avenue” by Anthony22 - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
8. “Arthur Avenue Retail Market” by Leonard J. DeFrancisci - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
9. “Arthur Avenue between 184th and 186th Street in the Bronx, New York City 001 crop” by Leonard J. DeFrancisci - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
10. “Ann and Tony, Five Generations,” by kim snyder - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
11. “Fulton Fish Market 2008ds” by Doc Searls - CC0 2.0 - Wikimedia Commons
12. “Fulton Fish Market” by Eden, Janine and Jim - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
14. “1520 Sedgwick Avenue” by Stephanie Morillo - CC0 2.0 - Wikimedia Commons
15. “Dj Kool Herc-03” by Mika Väisänen - CC0 4.0 - Wikimedia Commons
16. “Herc on the Wheels of Steel” by Bigtimepeace - no conditions - Wikimedia Commons
17. “Kool Herc” by Richard Alexander Caraballo - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
18. “Bronx River, Muskrat Cove, Bronx Park” by Kristine Paulus - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
19. “Pelham Bay Park” by Kristine Paulus - CC0 2.0 - Wikimedia Commons
20. “Pelhambay1” by Peter J. Romano 2nd - no conditions - Wikimedia Commons
21. “New York Botanical Garden October 2016 013” by King of Hearts - CC0 4.0 - Wikimedia Commons
22. “Van Cortlandt Park entrance from Norwood” by Hugo L. Gonzalez- CC0 4.0 - Wikimedia Commons
24. “WSTM Free Culture NYU 0145” by Free Culture NYU - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
25. “Orchardbeachny2” by Gabriel Liendo - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
26. “Pelham Bay Park (2547803421)” by Bogdan Migulski - CC0 2.0 - Wikimedia Commons
27. “NY Bronx-Pelham City Island Hart Island IMG 1952” by Bjoertvedt - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
28. “orchard-beach-13” by Dan DeLuca- CC0 2.0 - Flickr
29. “10222017 tour de bronx” by Ruben Diaz Jr. - CC0 2.0 - Flickr
32. “A WORKER IN FRONT OF THE FURNACE AT AN IRON FOUNDRY IN THE HAIFA BAY” by National Photo Collection of Israel, Photography dept. Goverment Press Office - no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
33. “Iron Foundry of Janes & Kirtland Used to Cast Iron for Dome” by USCapitol - no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
34. “United States Capitol with Charles Bulfinch dome, 1846” by John Plumbe Library of Congress - no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
35. “High Bridge, New York City, 1900” by Library of Congress - no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
36. “Stone steps at High Bridge, New York City (1886)” by Scientific American- no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
37. “View of the High Bridge, NY 1861” by NYC Department of Records & Information Services - no copyright - Wikimedia Commons
38. “HighbridgeNewYork” by Assavedra32 - CC0 3.0 - Wikimedia Commons
40. “High Bridge 20160917-jag9889” by jag9889 - CC0 4.0 - Wikimedia Commons

LINKS TO CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSES

[julianbermudez]

I was born and raised here in The Bronx and you can't mention "The Bronx" with out mentioning City Island.

[RobertTevere]

I came from Palermo, Sicily at the age of 14 in 1969 with my family. I grew up on 187th Street and Arthur Avenue. I loved The Bronx and the Neighborhood. Growing up on Arthur Avenue was an experience that I will never forget. Married and have three kids and 2 beautiful grandchildren. I live an hour away and still go and Visit THE BRONX!!

[nexstory]

I grew up in NY during the 1940s and 50's when The Bronx was "The Bronx". For those who grew up during that same time period, you already know what I mean. You just had to be there to live it because trying to describe it would be generationally impossible. It was the center of the universe, or at least it felt that way. With Yankee Stadium, The Bronx Zoo, Jerome Avenue, The Grand Concourse, Fordham Road, Van Courtland Park, Orchid Beach The New York Botanical Gardens and more, The Bronx was a whole continent all to its own. Back then, us kids ruled the streets, the parks, the sidewalks, and the schoolyards, with our mothers all housekeeping at home and our fathers out working five days a week from 9 to 5. Stickball, slug, johnny on the pony, ring o' levio, skully and more, were among the many games and sports we played. Could you today imagine dozens of kids ages four and five playing out on the sidewalks and riding their tricycles up and down completely safe and unsupervised! Each age group from kindergarten up through high school each had their own turf and pecking order of popular and popular friends. Everyone wanted to be a major league baseball player, a scientist, teacher or rock n' roll star. The Bronx back then always scored in the 99 percentile on the SAT's. As teenagers, we would sometimes venture out into the other boroughs, but The Bronx was always our home. Anyway, fondest memories of a world we thought would last forever until the day that it was... gone!

[jasminerivera]

I am a proud Bronx wannabe native for about 30 years though I was born and raised in Brooklyn, moved after my divorce. I loved the Bronx's diversity, it's foods, the beautiful landscape of each neighborhood, it's abundance of breathtaking parks with bird watching, canoing, great hiking and biking trails, antiquated churches and walkable bridges, many highways taking you in every direction. Before the pandemic you had free trollies you can ride, or get tours to Woodlawn cemetery where Celia, jazz musicians and famous people are resting. My favorite is walking under the number 6 train along Westchester Ave where you find the coolest art murals on buildings, garage doors walls restaurants. I am quick to defend any nay sayers when putting down the Bronx. I am proud to say I live in the Bronx.


. I

[damselinadress]

Before relocating to NYC. I had only heard negative things about The Bronx. I have come to explore it more and have found that The Bronx has some really beautiful neighborhoods. It ranges from city to suburban to rural. Pelham Bay Park is beautiful and expansive. Don't rely on stereotypes.

[gaspalito]

The Bronx had the first theme park before Disney on the east side it was called freedom land. Co-op city was built at the site after the park closed

[BrentWilkins]

As a Bronx native, I've always considered Riverdale to be the Beverly Hills of The Bronx.

[Jr-El]

The Bronx

Wherever I go, I carry the pride of my borough. Even when there's days when I get irritated with noise, traffic, and crime, I still have a mindset where I have a responsibility to represent where I come from. Some people like to look down on it. I like proving them wrong with success, and that I'm not a product of my environment perse, but neighborly and goal oriented. No matter where I go, it's a place that gives you courage, confidence and life lessons. It's hard to explain.

[njlauren]

Some other neat facts:
The Grand Concourse was patterned after the Champs Elysee in Paris, it is why it is so wide. The apartment buildings on it were luxury housing in the pre war period, lot of those buildings had marble interiors, sunken living rooms and floor to ceiling windows. When my dad was growing up in the Bronx (he would be 98 if he was alive today) they used to call it Jewish fifth Ave, a lot of well off Jewish folks had high end apartments there, co ops and rental, bc before WWII Jews were not allowed to live in buildings on Park or 5th Avenue due to discrimination.

Before the second world war the Bronx still had farms (what is called west farms square today was farms), used to be farms along gun hill road. The northeast part of the Bronx was relatively unbuilt up.until after WWII

What is now Bronx Community college was once the uptown campus of NYU, actually was its main campus. It included a school of engineering that developed a lot of key technology for the military in WWII. NYU sold it to the city in the early 70s when they were forced by a financial crisis to consolidate downtown. Ironically, the engineering school merged w Brooklyn Poly, and around 10 yrs ago NYU took over Poly. Back in the day NYU was a div 1 basketball powerhouse.That campus had like 80, 000 students.unlike today NYU back.then was aimed at helping students from working class backgrounds to go to college, it wasn't the overpriced pseudo ivy it pretends to be today.

The Marble Hill section of the Bronx, which is across the Henry Hudson parkway from Riverdale, was once part of Manhattan. At one point they rerouted the Harlem river and most of the neighborhood ended up.in the Bronx.

The Bronx was once part of Westchester county, then was together with Manhattan
Until 1898 until it became a borough of greater NY

The old TV show 'car 54 where are you' was filmed and set in the South Bronx ( I am sure you can stream it). It was filmed in the streets in the area and also there was a tv studio called Biograph studios where the interior scenes were shot, I think it was 161st street. Looking at it it is sad to realize that within 10 years the whole South Bronx would become the symbol of urban decay.

Louis Tiffany, the famous stained glass artisan, had a studio in the Bronx where a lot of his works were created

The trees along the Bronx River in the Botanical Garden is one of only 2 old growth forests left in NYC ( the other one is along the Henry Hudson parkway at the top of Manhattan.

The Bronx was one of the largest manufacturing hubs in the world
Hunts point was home to everything from iron foundries to a mint that.made coins for foreign countries as well as wire makers, furniture, customized steel, furniture. The rail yards and dicks there were busy 24 hours a day. Port Morris in the deep south Bronx was like that as well.
General Colin Powell was a Bronx guy, graduated from Morris High, (same school my mom graduated from in the early 40s and a great uncle graduated from as part of it's first graduating class in 1900

[jam-rockrider]

The Bronx also has The Bronx River, the only pure fresh body of water in NYC. I volunteer to keep it clean twice a month

Edit: Damn, all these responses lmao. Keep in mind people I never said the river was clean enough to take your kids for some summer fun. It’s NYC, of course there’s disgusting things in the water which is why I help to remove things from time to time. Regardless it’s still the only *naturally fresh* body of water in the city.

[miguelmercedes]

The Kingsbridge Armory, also known as the Eighth Regiment Armory, built-in 1910 is located in The Bronx and is possibly the largest armory in the world.

[Ladytee]

Born and raised in The Bronx and it has been a teaching ground and a place where many lessons are learned and you grow and set goals for yourself and I wouldn't trade living in The Bronx for anything because it's my foundation, where my family has been

[alvarodelateja]

I lived in Cayuga Avenue in the Riverdale area of "The Bronx" for more than three (3) years. What you failed to mention, no criticism is why it is called
The Bronx. Here is why:

Back in the 1600 hundres there was a family that emigrated from Holland to the borough we are talking about. Needless to say it was a very wealthy family, and he decided the purchase the entire county of The Bronx, since land was extremely cheap.

The name of the gentleman who purchased it was Jonas Bronck. So when the rellatives and friends went to visit them they would say :

Let's go visit the Broncks, from one generation to another it became The Bronx.

Hope you share it with your followers.

P.S. I lived for over 40 years in New-York city and Nassau county. I really Love New-York.

Alvaro

[Single.White.Female]

I thing I never think about when thinking of "The Bronx" is Jennifer Lopez 🙄 There's so much more to that place than one person.

[nycgoodfriend]

City Island in the Bronx has some of the best seafood in all of New York City.

[katsujinkin]

I was born in the Old Lincoln Hospital at Bruckner and Southern Boulevards 68 years ago. It was built in 1868 as a retirement home for ex-slaves. I grew up with the elevated train right outside my window. It was a real conversation stopper. I went to P.S. 50, J.H.S. 98, and Bronx Science. The Bronx in the 50's was a very diverse place to grow up. There were all kinds of people, and for the most part, we all got along very well. It broke my heart to see what happened to it in the 1970's. It is now experiencing a renaissance!

[benv]

It's called "DA Bronx "

[juneindabx]

Born and raised in “THE BRONX” I appreciate this vid!!

[ericayala]

I knew I wasn't BUGGING when I said why Pelham Bay feel dumb big!

[happyexpat]

Thank you for showing everyone that the Bronx has its own history and has changed, a lot, since the 70’s. I had a gr8 apartment, huge with sunken living room and total Art Deco motifs, for a fraction of what it would cost elsewhere and now with the ferry service from the new Fulton Fish Market to Manhattan’s East Side, it’s a delightful commute. Every subway goes up to the Bronx, practically. It’s not a new cultural hub, like Brooklyn, but it’s quiet and affordable and simple to get to....especially using the D and 4 trains..both express, into Manhattan’s west and east sides. No more Fort Apache.