FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER 15 NEGATIVES 1940 J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC LOT 459A WOW

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER 15 NEGATIVES 1940 J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC LOT 459A WOW 2

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER 15 NEGATIVES 1940 J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC LOT 459A WOW

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (809) 97.3%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US, Item: 176325538088 FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER 15 NEGATIVES 1940 J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC LOT 459A WOW.

FANTASTIC 15 NEGATIVES EACH MEASURING 4X5 INCHES BY FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER DAN ISRAEL 15 1940 James J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC Dan Isreal Old Photo Negative Lot 459A James J. Lyons (February 12, 1890 – January 7, 1966) was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as Borough President of the Bronx from 1934–1962.

James J. Lyons (February 12, 1890 – January 7, 1966) was an American Democratic Party politician, who served as Borough President of the Bronx from 1934–1962. Early life James Lyons was born in Manhattan's old Ninth Ward. His father was in the produce business and the family decided to move to the Bronx when Lyons was 3. He once reminisced in an interview that he used to drive a pony and a cart under High Bridge and sell fruit to the locals. When he graduated from Public School 11 at age 13, he went to go work as an office boy in the office of the Surpass Leather Company. He would later regret not staying in school and graduating from High School. He eventually moved his way up in the ranks of the company and became a Salesman. Lyons told his men that with the right approach, anything could be sold to anyone. To drive his point home, in his career he sold enough leather to cover four million pairs of women's feet. Political career This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Lyons was president of the Bronx Grand Jurors Association and only moderately interested in politics. When he got a call from the Bronx Democratic Party leader, Edward J. Flynn, in 1932 asking him to become the Democrats' nomination for the Borough President, he was shocked. But he went on to run for the position and won overwhelmingly in the heavily Democratic Borough. Eventually he would go on to be Borough President for seven terms. Lyons once stated that being a politician in New York City was like being in business, and New York was like a corporation. He ran his office like a tight ship, but was known to have a humorous side. It was his ability to combine the responsibilities of being in charge with being humorous that made him able to never lose an election in his life. He was annoyed that the comedians of the time only had to mention the Bronx to get a laugh. This was because most people only thought the Bronx was good for its famous Bronx Cheer. He devised a plan to call the Bronx the "Borough of Universities" and to play up that the Bronx Cheer came from the hospitality of the founders of the Bronx, instead of the common idea that it was just the attitude of the unsociable people of the Bronx. He was once chided by Deputy Mayor Henry Curran for using the word contact as a verb. He then decided he would set up the "Henry Curran University" in order to correct all grammar mistakes made in the city, in an effort to mock the Deputy Mayor. Lyons had his people send grammar corrections to all of the politicians in the city when they made mistakes. At one point he got the New York City Police Chief to apologize for putting up signs that were not incorrect. Despite these lighter moments in office, Lyons was a very hard worker. He would attend up to 10 meetings a night, and was always present at the opening of a new institution in the Bronx. When Long Beach Airport was being built in Queens, Lyons was instrumental in getting it to be named after Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. In 1914 the unused bend of the Harlem River was filled in, physically connecting Marble Hill, a part of Manhattan, to the borough of The Bronx. The result of the filling-in was the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, now the main channel connecting the Harlem River to the Hudson River. In 1939, when a judge found Marble Hill to be legally still a part of the borough of Manhattan (and the County of New York), Lyons declared it "the Bronx Sudetenland", referencing Hitler's 1938 annexation of a region of Czechoslovakia, because he wished it to be part of the Bronx.[1] Family life In 1917 James J Lyons wed Gertrude O'Brien. They had three children: James J. Lyons Jr., William Lyons and Gertrude Lyons. He later wed Josephine Lyons in a common law marriage. Lyons was the sister of Bella Salomon and the sister-in-law of Bronx attorney H. Bennett Salomon who briefly represented Bruno Richard Hauptmann convicted of kidnapping aviator Charles Lindbergh's twenty month old son in what was called the crime of the century. James Lyons was a lifelong friend of Joseph Kennedy and was instrumental in getting his son William a job with President John F. Kennedy. It was later known that the reason Lyons never ran for an 8th term was because he overheard a phone conversation from President in which the President said that an "important Federal Position" awaited him at the Capitol. The Bronx (/brɒŋks/) is a 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 the East River. The Bronx has a land area of 42 square miles (109 km2) and a population of 1,472,654 in the 2020 census.[1] If each borough were ranked as a city, the Bronx would rank as the ninth-most-populous in the U.S. Of the five boroughs, it has the fourth-largest area, fourth-highest population, and third-highest population density.[4] It is the only borough of New York City not primarily on an island. With a population that is 54.8% Hispanic as of 2020, it is the only majority-Hispanic county in the Northeastern United States and the fourth-most-populous nationwide.[5] The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, and 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.[6] Bronx County was separated from New York County in 1914.[7] About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space,[8] including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old; it is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city.[9] 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 the first European settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639.[10][11][12] 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 the Dominican Republic), and immigrants from West Africa, particularly from Ghana and Nigeria), African American migrants from the Southern United States, Panamanians, Hondurans, and South Asians.[13] The Bronx contains the poorest congressional district in the United States, New York's 15th. There are, however, some upper-income, as well as middle-income neighborhoods such as Riverdale, Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, Schuylerville, Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Morris Park, and Country Club.[14][15][16] Parts of 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.[17] The South Bronx, in particular, experienced severe urban decay. The borough began experiencing new population growth starting in the late 1990s and continuing to the present day.[18] Etymology and naming Early names Map of southern Westchester County in 1867. This, along with the southern part of the former Town of Yonkers, became the Bronx. The Bronx was called Rananchqua[19] by the native Siwanoy[20] band of Lenape (also known historically as the Delawares), while other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck.[21] 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 was a Swedish-born immigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish, in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639.[12][22][23][24][25][26] 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.[27] He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of 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.[22] The American poet William Bronk 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.[28] 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.[29] Use of definite article The Bronx is referred to with the definite article as "the Bronx" or "The Bronx", both legally and colloquially.[30][31] 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.[32] The region was apparently named after the Bronx River and first appeared in the "Annexed District of The Bronx", created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County. It was continued in the "Borough of The Bronx", 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.[33][34] 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.[35] The capitalization of 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.[36] However, some people and groups refer to the borough with a capital letter at all times, such as Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan,[37] The Bronx County Historical Society, and the Bronx-based organization Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, arguing the definite article is part of the proper name.[38][39] 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'".[39] History For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Bronx. The first published book of Bronx history: History of Bronx Borough, City of New York by Randall Comfort European colonization of the Bronx began in 1639. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County, but it was ceded to New York County in 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. Before 1914 See also: List of former municipalities in New York City The Bronx's development 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.[40] Local farmers on both sides of the creek resented the tolls, and in 1759, Jacobus Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer led them in building a free bridge across the Harlem River.[41] After the American Revolutionary War, the King's Bridge toll was abolished.[42][40] 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, 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 famous settlers in 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.[43] The consolidation of the Bronx into New York City proceeded in two stages. In 1873, the state legislature annexed Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania to New York, effective in 1874; the three towns were soon abolished in the process.[44][45] 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.[6][44][46][47][48] The nautical community of City Island voted to join 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, the 62nd and last county to be created by the state, effective in 1914.[44][49] 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).[7] Marble Hill, Manhattan, was now connected to the Bronx by filling in the former waterway, but it did not become part of the borough or county.[50] After 1914 The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods: 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 the late 1980s that continues into today.[51] New York City expands Grand Concourse and 161st Street as they appeared around 1900 The Simpson Street elevated station was built in 1904 and opened on November 26, 1904. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 2004, reference #04001027. 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.[51] The South Bronx was a manufacturing center for many years and was noted as a center of piano manufacturing in the early part of the 20th century. In 1919, the Bronx was the site of 63 piano factories employing more than 5,000 workers.[52] At the end of World War I, the Bronx hosted the rather small 1918 World's Fair at 177th Street and DeVoe Avenue.[6][53] The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of the New York City Subway contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants came to the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction. Among these groups, many Irish Americans, Italian Americans, and especially Jewish Americans settled here. In addition, French, German, Polish, and other immigrants moved into the borough. As evidence of the change in population, by 1937, 592,185 Jews lived in the Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population),[54] 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.[55] Change 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.[citation needed] Police Commissioner Richard Enright said that speakeasies provided 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".[56] 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 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 the eastern and northwestern sections of the borough.[57] 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.[58] Another factor in the Bronx's decline may have been the development of high-rise housing projects, particularly in the South Bronx.[59] 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.[60][61][62] There was also much debate as to whether rent control laws had made it less profitable (or more costly) for landlords to maintain existing buildings with their existing tenants than to abandon or destroy those buildings.[citation needed] 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 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.[63] The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx.[64] There were cases where tenants set fire to 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 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.[64] Revitalization four-story houses along a city street Row houses on a location where there was once burnt rubble. The Bronx has since seen revitalization. Since the late 1980s, significant development has occurred in the Bronx, first stimulated by the city's "Ten-Year Housing Plan"[65][66] 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[67][68][69] began to rebuild areas in the South Bronx.[70] 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.[71][72][73][full citation needed][74] The Bronx – All-America City sign In 1997, the Bronx was designated an All America City by the National Civic League, acknowledging its comeback from the decline of the mid-century.[75] 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."[76] The borough has experienced substantial new building construction since 2002. Between 2002 and June 2007, 33,687 new units of housing were built or were under way and $4.8 billion has been invested in new housing. In the first six months of 2007 alone total investment in new residential development was $965 million and 5,187 residential units were scheduled to be completed. Much of the new development is springing up in formerly vacant lots across the South Bronx.[77] In addition there came a revitalization of the existing housing market in areas such as Hunts Point, the Lower Concourse, and the neighborhoods surrounding the Third Avenue Bridge as people buy apartments and renovate them.[78] Several boutique and chain hotels opened in the 2010s in the South Bronx.[79] New developments are underway. The Bronx General Post Office[80][81] 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.[82] The Kingsbridge Armory, often cited as 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 m2) of development and would cost US$350–500 million.[83] Despite significant investment compared to the post war period, many exacerbated social problems remain including high rates of violent crime, substance abuse, overcrowding, and substandard housing conditions.[84][85][86][87] The Bronx has the highest rate of poverty in New York City, and the greater South Bronx is the poorest area.[88][89] Geography Main article: Geography of New York City Location of the Bronx (red) within New York City (remainder white) Aerial view of the Bronx from the east at night Location and physical features According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bronx County has a total area of 57 square miles (150 km2), of which 42 square miles (110 km2) is land and 15 square miles (39 km2) (27%) is water.[90] 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.[91] The bedrock of the West Bronx is primarily Fordham gneiss, a high-grade heavily banded metamorphic rock containing significant amounts of pink feldspar.[92] Marble Hill – politically part of Manhattan but now physically attached to the Bronx – is so-called because of the formation of Inwood marble there as well as in Inwood, Manhattan and parts of the Bronx and Westchester County. The Hudson River separates the Bronx on the west from Alpine, Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, New Jersey; the Harlem River separates it from the island of Manhattan to the southwest; the East River separates it from Queens to the southeast; and to the east, Long Island Sound separates it from Nassau County in western Long Island. Directly north of the Bronx are (from west to east) the adjoining Westchester County communities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. There is also a short southern land boundary with Marble Hill in the Borough of Manhattan, over the filled-in former course of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek; Marble Hill's postal ZIP code, telephonic area codes and fire service, however, are shared with the Bronx and not Manhattan.[50] 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.[93] It separates the West Bronx from the schist of the East Bronx. A smaller river, the Hutchinson River (named after the religious leader Anne Hutchinson, killed along its banks in 1641), passes through the East Bronx and empties into Eastchester Bay. The Bronx also includes several small islands in the East River and Long Island Sound, such as City Island and Hart Island. Rikers Island in the East River, home to the large jail complex for the entire city, is also part of the Bronx. See also: List of smaller islands in New York City 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.[94] 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 the coastline, Rodman's Neck lies between Pelham Bay Park in the northeast and City Island. The Bronx's irregular shoreline extends for 75 square miles (194 km2).[95] Parks and open space See also: Category:Parks in the Bronx Northern tip of Hunter Island in Pelham Bay Park Sample of open spaces and parks in the Bronx Acquired Name acres sq. mi. hectares 1863 Woodlawn Cemetery 400 0.6 162 1888 Pelham Bay Park 2,772 4.3 1,122 Van Cortlandt Park 1,146 1.8 464 Bronx Park 718 1.1 291 Crotona Park 128 0.2 52 St. Mary's Park 35 0.05 14 1890 Jerome Park Reservoir 94 0.15 38 1897 St. James Park 11 0.02 4.6 1899 Macombs Dam Park † 28 0.04 12 1909 Henry Hudson Park 9 0.01 4 1937 Ferry Point Park 414 0.65 168 Soundview Park 196 0.31 79 1962 Wave Hill 21 0.03 8.5 Land area of the Bronx in 2000 26,897 42.0 10,885 Water area 9,855 15.4 3,988 Total area[90] 36,752 57.4 14,873 † closed in 2007 to build a new park & Yankee Stadium[96] Main source: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation An 1896 New York Times map of parks and transit in the newly annexed Bronx. Marble Hill is in pink, cut off by water from the rest of Manhattan in orange. Van Cortlandt, Pelham Bay and Crotona Parks are light green, as is Bronx Park (now home to the New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo), Woodlawn Cemetery medium green, sports facilities dark green, the not-yet-built Jerome Park Reservoir light blue, St. John's College (now Fordham University) violet, and the city limits of the newly expanded New York red.[97] Although Bronx County was the third most densely populated county in the United States as of 2006 (after Manhattan and Brooklyn),[4] 7,000 acres (28 km2) of the Bronx—about one fifth of the Bronx's area, and one quarter of its land area—is given over to parkland.[8][98] The vision of a system of major Bronx parks connected by park-like thoroughfares is usually attributed to John Mullaly. Woodlawn Cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in New York City, sits on the western bank of the Bronx River near Yonkers. It opened in 1863, in what was then the town of Yonkers, at the time a rural area. The borough's northern side includes the largest park in New York City—Pelham Bay Park, which includes Orchard Beach—and the third-largest, Van Cortlandt Park, which is west of Woodlawn Cemetery and borders Yonkers.[99] Also in the northern Bronx, Wave Hill, the former estate of George W. Perkins—known for a historic house, gardens, changing site-specific art installations and concerts—overlooks the New Jersey Palisades from a promontory on the Hudson in Riverdale. Nearer the borough's center, and along the Bronx River, is Bronx Park; its northern end houses the New York Botanical Gardens, which preserve the last patch of the original hemlock forest that once covered the county, and its southern end the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoological gardens in the United States.[100] In 1904 the Chestnut Blight pathogen (Cryphonectria parasitica) was found for the first time outside of Asia, here, at the Bronx Zoo.[101] 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.[101] Just south of Van Cortlandt Park is the Jerome Park Reservoir, surrounded by 2 miles (3 km) of stone walls and bordering several small parks in the Bedford Park neighborhood; the reservoir was built in the 1890s on the site of the former Jerome Park Racetrack.[102] Further south is Crotona Park, home to a 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) lake, 28 species of trees, and a large swimming pool.[103] 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.[104] Some of the acquired land was set aside for the Grand Concourse and Pelham Parkway, the first of a series of boulevards and parkways (thoroughfares lined with trees, vegetation and greenery). Later projects included the Bronx River Parkway, which developed a road while restoring the riverbank and reducing pollution, Mosholu Parkway and the Henry Hudson Parkway. In 2006, a five-year, $220-million program of capital improvements and natural restoration in 70 Bronx parks was begun (financed by water and sewer revenues) as part of an agreement that allowed a water filtration plant under Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park. One major focus is on opening more of the Bronx River's banks and restoring them to a natural state.[105] Neighborhoods See also: List of Bronx neighborhoods, Bronx Community Board, and Timeline of town creation in Downstate New York The number, locations, and boundaries of the Bronx's neighborhoods (many of them sitting on the sites of 19th-century villages) have become unclear with time and successive waves of newcomers. In 2006, Manny Fernandez of The New York Times wrote, According to a Department of City Planning map of the city's neighborhoods, the Bronx has 49. The map publisher Hagstrom identifies 69. The borough president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., says 61. The Mayor's Community Assistance Unit, in a listing of the borough's community boards, names 68.[106] Notable Bronx neighborhoods include the South Bronx; Little Italy on Arthur Avenue in the Belmont section; and Riverdale. Regions of the Bronx Generally speaking, there are two major, often-conflicting systems for dividing the Bronx into regions. One is based on the Bronx River, while the other strictly separates South Bronx from the rest of the borough. The older of the two systems is based on the Bronx River and is arguably a more accurate reflection of the area's history: West Bronx: all parts of the Bronx west of the Bronx River (as opposed to Jerome Avenue – this street is simply the "east-west" divider for designating numbered streets as "east" or "west." As the Bronx's numbered streets continue from Manhattan to south, on which the street numbering system is based, Jerome Avenue actually represents a longitudinal halfway point for Manhattan, not the Bronx.)[107] East Bronx: all parts of the Bronx east of the Bronx River (as opposed to Jerome Avenue)[107][108] The Bronx River divides the borough nearly perfectly in half, putting the earlier-settled, more urban, and hillier sections in the western lobe and the newer, more suburbanesque coastal sections in the eastern lobe. It is an accurate reflection on the Bronx's history considering that the towns that existed in 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. Using this system, the Bronx can be further divided into the following regions: Northwest Bronx: the northern half of the West Bronx; the area north of Fordham Road and west of the Bronx River Southwest Bronx: the southern half of the West Bronx; the area south of Fordham Road and west of the Bronx River Northeast Bronx: the northern half of the East Bronx; the area north of Pelham Parkway and east of the Bronx River Southeast Bronx: the southern half of the East Bronx; the area south of Pelham Parkway and east of the Bronx River A second system divides the borough first and foremost into the following sections: North Bronx: all areas not in the South Bronx (Southwest Bronx) – i.e. the Northwest Bronx, Northeast Bronx, and Southeast Bronx South Bronx: the Southwest Bronx – south of Fordham Road and west of the Bronx River. This includes the areas traditionally considered part of the South Bronx. As of 2012, listed are the Bronx neighborhoods organized and outlined: East Bronx Main article: East Bronx (Bronx Community Districts 9 [south central], 10 [east], 11 [east central] and 12 [north central])[109] The neighborhood of Co-op City is the largest cooperative housing development in the world. East of the Bronx River, the borough is relatively flat and includes four large low peninsulas, or 'necks,' of low-lying land which jut into the waters of the East River and were once saltmarsh: Hunts Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck (Castle Hill Point) and Throgs Neck. The East Bronx has older tenement buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multifamily homes, as well as single family homes. It includes New York City's largest park: Pelham Bay Park along the Westchester-Bronx border. Neighborhoods include: Clason's Point, Harding Park, Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester (Community District 9); Throggs Neck, Country Club, City Island, Pelham Bay, Edgewater Park, Co-op City (Community District 10); Westchester Square, Van Nest, Pelham Parkway, Morris Park (Community District 11); Williamsbridge, Eastchester, Baychester, Edenwald and Wakefield (Community District 12). City Island and Hart Island Main articles: City Island, Bronx and Hart Island (Bronx) A sunken boat off the shore of City Island (Bronx Community District 10) City Island is east of Pelham Bay Park in Long Island Sound and is known for its seafood restaurants and private waterfront homes.[110] City Island's single shopping street, City Island Avenue, is reminiscent of a small New England town. It is connected to Rodman's Neck on the mainland by the City Island Bridge. East of City Island is Hart Island, which is uninhabited and not open to the public. It once served as a prison and now houses New York City's potter's field for unclaimed bodies.[111] West Bronx Main article: West Bronx Grand Concourse at East 165th Street (Bronx Community Districts 1 to 8, progressing roughly from south to northwest) The western parts of the Bronx are hillier and are dominated by a series of parallel ridges, running south to north. The West Bronx has older apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, multifamily homes in its lower income areas as well as larger single family homes in more affluent areas such as Riverdale and Fieldston.[112] It includes New York City's third-largest park: Van Cortlandt Park along the Westchester-Bronx border. The Grand Concourse, a wide boulevard, runs through it, north to south. Northwestern Bronx (Bronx Community Districts 7 [between the Bronx and Harlem Rivers] and 8 [facing the Hudson River] – plus part of Board 12) Neighborhoods include: Fordham-Bedford, Bedford Park, Norwood, Kingsbridge Heights (Community District 7), Kingsbridge, Riverdale (Community District 8), and Woodlawn Heights (Community District 12). (Marble Hill, Manhattan is now connected by land to the Bronx rather than Manhattan and is served by Bronx Community District 8.) South Bronx Main article: South Bronx (Bronx Community Districts 1 to 6 plus part of CD 7—progressing northwards, CDs 2, 3 and 6 border the Bronx River from its mouth to Bronx Park, while 1, 4, 5 and 7 face Manhattan across the Harlem River) Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the South Bronx has no official boundaries. The name has been used to represent poverty in the Bronx and is applied to progressively more northern places so that by the 2000s, Fordham Road was often used as a northern limit. The Bronx River more consistently forms an eastern boundary. The South Bronx has many high-density apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multi-unit homes. The South Bronx is home to the Bronx County Courthouse, Borough Hall, and other government buildings, as well as Yankee Stadium. The Cross Bronx Expressway bisects it, east to west. The South Bronx has some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, as well as very high crime areas. Neighborhoods include: The Hub (a retail district at Third Avenue and East 149th Street), Port Morris, Mott Haven (Community District 1), Melrose (Community District 1 & Community District 3), Morrisania, East Morrisania [also known as Crotona Park East] (Community District 3), Hunts Point, Longwood (Community District 2), Highbridge, Concourse (Community District 4), West Farms, Belmont, East Tremont (Community District 6), Tremont, Morris Heights (Community District 5), University Heights. (Community District 5 & Community District 7). Adjacent counties The Bronx adjoins:[113] Westchester County – north Nassau County, New York – southeast (across the East River) Queens County, New York (Queens) – south (across the East River) New York County, New York (Manhattan) – southwest Bergen County, New Jersey – west (across the Hudson River) Climate Climate data for The Bronx Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °F (°C) 39.7 (4.3) 42.6 (5.9) 50.3 (10.2) 61.4 (16.3) 72.3 (22.4) 80.9 (27.2) 86.1 (30.1) 84.1 (28.9) 77.1 (25.1) 65.8 (18.8) 54.1 (12.3) 44.8 (7.1) 63.3 (17.4) Average low °F (°C) 27.3 (−2.6) 28.7 (−1.8) 34.6 (1.4) 44.4 (6.9) 54.6 (12.6) 64.3 (17.9) 70.6 (21.4) 69.1 (20.6) 62.1 (16.7) 50.7 (10.4) 41.3 (5.2) 33.1 (0.6) 48.4 (9.1) Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.74 (95) 3.19 (81) 4.37 (111) 3.95 (100) 4.06 (103) 4.55 (116) 4.37 (111) 4.82 (122) 4.55 (116) 4.13 (105) 3.45 (88) 4.67 (119) 49.85 (1,266) Average snowfall inches (cm) 8.4 (21) 8.9 (23) 4.3 (11) 0.5 (1.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.4 (1.0) 4.1 (10) 26.6 (68) Source: NOAA[114] Demographics Main article: Demographics of the Bronx Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1790 1,781 — 1800 1,755 −1.5% 1810 2,267 29.2% 1820 2,782 22.7% 1830 3,023 8.7% 1840 5,346 76.8% 1850 8,032 50.2% 1860 23,593 193.7% 1870 37,393 58.5% 1880 51,980 39.0% 1890 88,908 71.0% 1900 200,507 125.5% 1910 430,980 114.9% 1920 732,016 69.8% 1930 1,265,258 72.8% 1940 1,394,711 10.2% 1950 1,451,277 4.1% 1960 1,424,815 −1.8% 1970 1,471,701 3.3% 1980 1,168,972 −20.6% 1990 1,203,789 3.0% 2000 1,332,650 10.7% 2010 1,385,108 3.9% 2020 1,472,654 6.3% Sources: 1790–1990;[115] New York City's five boroughsvte Jurisdiction Population Land area Density of population GDP † Borough County Census (2020) square miles square km people/ sq. mile people/ sq. km billions (2012 US$) 2 The Bronx Bronx 1,472,654 42.2 109.3 34,920 13,482 $38.726 Brooklyn Kings 2,736,074 69.4 179.7 39,438 15,227 $92.300 Manhattan New York 1,694,251 22.7 58.8 74,781 28,872 $651.619 Queens Queens 2,405,464 108.7 281.5 22,125 8,542 $88.578 Staten Island Richmond 495,747 57.5 148.9 8,618 3,327 $14.806 City of New York 8,804,190 302.6 783.8 29,095 11,234 $885.958 State of New York 20,215,751 47,126.4 122,056.8 429 166 $1,514.779 † GDP = Gross Domestic Product Sources:[116][117][118][119] and see individual borough articles. Race, ethnicity, language, and immigration See also: List of people from the Bronx Race 2021[120] 2020[121] 2010[122] 1990[123] 1970[123] 1950[123] White 14.3% 14.1% 27.9% 35.7% 73.4% 93.1% —Non-Hispanic 9.0% 8.9% 10.9% 22.6% N/A N/A Black or African American 33.8% 33.1% 36.5% 37.3% 24.3% 6.7% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 56.4% 54.8% 53.5% 43.5% 27.7%[124] N/A Asian 4.7% 4.7% 3.6% 3% 0.5% 0.1% Two or more races 3.8% 13.0% 5.3% N/A N/A N/A Ethnic origins in the Bronx 2018 estimates The borough's most populous racial group, white, declined from 99.3% in 1920 to 14.9% in 2018.[123] The Bronx has 532,487 housing units, with a median value of $371,800, and with an owner-occupancy rate of 19.7%, the lowest of the five boroughs. There are 495,356 households, with 2.85 persons per household. 59.3% of residents speak a language besides English at home, the highest rate of the five boroughs. In the Bronx, the population is 7.2% under 5, 17.6% 6–18, 62.4% 19–64, and 12.8% over 65. 52.9% of the population is female. 35.3% of residents are foreign born. The per capita income is $19,721, while the median household income is $36,593, both being the lowest of the five boroughs. 27.9% of residents live below the poverty line, the highest of the five boroughs. 2010 census According to the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race); 30.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.9% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 3.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 1.2% of two or more races (non-Hispanic), and 0.6% from some other race (non-Hispanic). As of 2010, 46.29% (584,463) of Bronx residents aged five and older spoke Spanish at home, while 44.02% (555,767) spoke English, 2.48% (31,361) African languages, 0.91% (11,455) French, 0.90% (11,355) Italian, 0.87% (10,946) various Indic languages, 0.70% (8,836) other Indo-European languages, and Chinese was spoken at home by 0.50% (6,610) of the population over the age of five. In total, 55.98% (706,783) of the Bronx's population age five and older spoke a language at home other than English.[125] A Garifuna-speaking community from Honduras and Guatemala also makes the Bronx its home.[126] 2009 community survey This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) According to the 2009 American Community Survey, White Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-fifth (22.9%) of the Bronx's population. However, non-Hispanic whites formed under one-eighth (12.1%) of the population, down from 34.4% in 1980.[127] Out of all five boroughs, the Bronx has the lowest number and percentage of white residents. 320,640 whites called the Bronx home, of which 168,570 were non-Hispanic whites. The majority of the non-Hispanic European American population is of Italian and Irish descent. People of Italian descent numbered over 55,000 individuals and made up 3.9% of the population. People of Irish descent numbered over 43,500 individuals and made up 3.1% of the population. German Americans and Polish Americans made up 1.4% and 0.8% of the population respectively. The Bronx has the largest Albanian community in the United States.[128] The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a Hispanic majority,[129] many of whom are Puerto Ricans and Dominicans.[130] At the 2009 American Community Survey, Black Americans made the second largest group in the Bronx after Hispanics and Latinos. Black people of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-third (35.4%) of the Bronx's population. Black people of non-Hispanic origin made up 30.8% of the population. Over 495,200 Black people resided in the borough, of which 430,600 were non-Hispanic Black people. Over 61,000 people identified themselves as "Sub-Saharan African" in the survey, making up 4.4% of the population.[citation needed] Multiracial Americans are also a sizable minority in the Bronx. People of multiracial heritage number over 41,800 individuals and represent 3.0% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and African American heritage number over 6,850 members and form 0.5% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Native American heritage number over 2,450 members and form 0.2% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Asian heritage number over 880 members and form 0.1% of the population. People of mixed African American and Native American heritage number over 1,220 members and form 0.1% of the population.[citation needed] Older estimates The Census of 1930 counted only 1.0% (12,930) of the Bronx's population as Negro (while making no distinct counts of Hispanic or Spanish-surname residents).[131] Foreign or overseas birthplaces of Bronx residents, 1930 and 2000 1930 United States Census[131] 2000 United States Census[132] Total population of the Bronx 1,265,258 Total population of the Bronx 1,332,650 All born abroad or overseas‡ 524,410 39.4% Puerto Rico 126,649 9.5% Foreign-born Whites 477,342 37.7% All foreign-born 385,827 29.0% White persons born in Russia 135,210 10.7% Dominican Republic 124,032 9.3% White persons born in Italy 67,732 5.4% Jamaica 51,120 3.8% White persons born in Poland 55,969 4.4% Mexico 20,962 1.6% White persons born in Germany 43,349 3.4% Guyana 14,868 1.1% White persons born in the Irish Free State † 34,538 2.7% Ecuador 14,800 1.1% Other foreign birthplaces of Whites 140,544 11.1% Other foreign birthplaces 160,045 12.0% † now the Republic of Ireland ‡ beyond the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Population and housing Poverty concentrations within the Bronx, by Census Tract As of the 2010 Census, there were 1,385,108 people living in the Bronx, a 3.9% increase since 2000. As of the United States Census[133] of 2000, there were 1,332,650 people, 463,212 households, and 314,984 families residing in the borough. The population density was 31,709.3 inhabitants per square mile (12,243.0 inhabitants/km2). There were 490,659 housing units at an average density of 11,674.8 per square mile (4,507.7/km2).[133] Census estimates place total population of Bronx county at 1,392,002 as of 2012.[134] There were 463,212 households, out of which 38.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.4% were married couples living together, 30.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.37.[133] The age distribution of the population in the Bronx were as follows: 29.8% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.0 males.[133] Individual and household income This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2017) The 1999 median income for a household in the borough was $27,611, and the median family income was $30,682. Men had a median income of $31,178 versus $29,429 for women. The per capita income for the borough was $13,959. About 28.0% of families and 30.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.5% of those under age 18 and 21.3% of those age 65 or over. More than half of the neighborhoods in the Bronx are high poverty or extreme poverty areas.[135][136] From 2015 Census data, the median income for a household was (in 2015 dollars) $34,299. Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2015 dollars): $18,456 with persons in poverty at 30.3%. Per the 2016 Census data, the median income for a household was $35,302. Per capita income was cited at $18,896.[137][138] Culture and institutions See also: Culture of New York City; Music of New York City; List of people from the Bronx; and List of Registered Historic Places in Bronx County, New York The Bronx Zoo is the largest zoo in New York City, and among the largest in the country. The Bronx's P.L.A.Y.E.R.S. Club Steppers performing at the 2007 Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival in Brooklyn. (Note the T-shirts' inscription "I ♥ BX" [Bronx], echoing the ubiquitous slogan "I ♥ NY" [I Love New York] ).[139][140] Author Edgar Allan Poe spent the last years of his life (1846 to 1849) in the Bronx at Poe Cottage, now at Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. A small wooden farmhouse built around 1812, the cottage once commanded unobstructed vistas over the rolling Bronx hills to the shores of Long Island.[141] Poe moved there to get away from the Manhattan city air and crowding in hope that the then rural area would be beneficial for his wife's tuberculosis. It was in the Bronx that Poe wrote one of his most famous works, "Annabel Lee".[142] More than a century later, the Bronx would evolve from a hot bed of Latin jazz to an incubator of hip hop as documented in the award-winning documentary, produced by City Lore and broadcast on PBS in 2006, "From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale."[143] Hip hop first emerged in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. The New York Times has identified 1520 Sedgwick Avenue "an otherwise unremarkable high-rise just north of the Cross Bronx Expressway and hard along the Major Deegan Expressway" as a starting point, where DJ Kool Herc presided over parties in the community room.[144][145] The 2016 Netflix series The Get Down is based on the development of hip hop in 1977 in the South Bronx.[146] Ten years earlier, the Bronx Opera had been founded. Founding of hip-hop On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc was a D.J. and M.C. at a party in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx adjacent to the Cross Bronx Expressway.[147] While it was not the actual "Birthplace of Hip Hop" – the genre developed slowly in several places in the 1970s – it was verified to be the place where one of the pivotal and formative events occurred.[147] Specifically: [Cool Herc] extended an instrumental beat (mixing or scratching) to let people dance longer (B-boying) and began MC'ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing. ... [This] helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution. — History Detectives[147] KRS-One is one of the most notable hip hop artists from the Bronx. Beginning with the advent of beat match DJing, in which Bronx disc jockeys including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Kool Herc extended the breaks of funk records, a major new musical genre emerged that sought to isolate the percussion breaks of hit funk, disco and soul songs. As hip hop's popularity grew, performers began speaking ("rapping") in sync with the beats, and became known as MCs or emcees. The Herculoids, made up of Herc, Coke La Rock, and Clark Kent,[a] were the earliest to gain major fame. The Bronx is referred to in hip-hop slang as "The Boogie Down Bronx", or just "The Boogie Down". This was hip-hop pioneer KRS-One's inspiration for his group BDP, or Boogie Down Productions, which included DJ Scott La Rock. Newer hip hop artists from the Bronx include Big Pun, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, Camp Lo, Swizz Beatz, Drag-On, Fat Joe, Terror Squad, Cory Gunz, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, French Montana, Cardi B, and Ice Spice among others.[148] Hush Hip Hop Tours, a tour company founded in 2002 by local licensed sightseeing tour guide Debra Harris,[149] has established a sightseeing tour of the Bronx showcasing the locations that helped shape hip hop culture, and features some of the pioneers of hip hop as tour guides. The Bronx's recognition as an important center of African-American culture has led Fordham University to establish the Bronx African-American History Project (BAAHP).[150] Sports New Yankee Stadium at 161st and River Avenue The Bronx is the home of the New York Yankees, nicknamed "the Bronx Bombers", of Major League Baseball.[151] The original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 on 161st Street and River Avenue, a year that saw the Yankees bring home the first of their 27 World Series Championships. With the famous façade, the short right field porch and Monument Park, Yankee Stadium has been home to many of baseball's greatest players including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.[152] The original stadium was the scene of Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech in 1939, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Roger Maris' record breaking 61st home run in 1961, and Reggie Jackson's 3 home runs to clinch Game 6 of the 1977 World Series. The Stadium was the former home of the New York Giants of the National Football League from 1956 to 1973. It would be renovated during the Yankees' 1974 and 1975 seasons, while they played at Shea Stadium in Queens, then the home stadium of the New York Mets; the refurbished Yankee Stadium opened in 1976, and saw its first three seasons end in World Series appearances (a loss in 1976, and wins in 1977 and 1978). The original Yankee Stadium closed in 2008 to make way for a new Yankee Stadium in which the team started play in 2009. It is north-northeast of the 1923 Yankee Stadium, on the former site of Macombs Dam Park. The current Yankee Stadium is also the home of New York City FC of Major League Soccer, who began play in 2015. The Yankees won 26 World Series titles while playing at the first Yankee Stadium; they added a 27th at the end of their first season in their current home. Off-Off-Broadway Main article: Off-Off-Broadway The Bronx is home to several Off-Off-Broadway theaters, many staging new works by immigrant playwrights from Latin America and Africa. The Pregones Theater, which produces Latin American work, opened a new 130-seat theater in 2005 on Walton Avenue in the South Bronx. Some artists from elsewhere in New York City have begun to converge on the area, and housing prices have nearly quadrupled in the area since 2002. However, rising prices directly correlate to a housing shortage across the city and the entire metro area. Arts The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, founded in 1998 by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez, provides dance, theatre and art workshops, festivals and performances focusing on contemporary and modern art in relation to race, gender and sexuality. It is home to the Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, a contemporary dance company, and the Bronx Dance Coalition. The academy was formerly in the American Bank Note Company Building before relocating to a venue on the grounds of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.[153] The Bronx Museum of the Arts, founded in 1971, exhibits 20th century and contemporary art through its central museum space and 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) of galleries. Many of its exhibitions are on themes of special interest to the Bronx. Its permanent collection features more than 800 works of art, primarily by artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and mixed media. The museum was temporarily closed in 2006 while it underwent an expansion designed by the architectural firm Arquitectonica that would double the museum's size to 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2).[154] The Bronx has also become home to a peculiar poetic tribute in the form of the "Heinrich Heine Memorial", better known as the Lorelei Fountain. After Heine's German birthplace of Düsseldorf had rejected, allegedly for anti-Semitic motives, a centennial monument to the radical German-Jewish poet (1797–1856), his incensed German-American admirers, including Carl Schurz, started a movement to place one instead in Midtown Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. However, this intention was thwarted by a combination of ethnic antagonism, aesthetic controversy and political struggles over the institutional control of public art.[155] In 1899, the memorial by Ernst Gustav Herter was placed in Joyce Kilmer Park, near the Yankee Stadium. In 1999, it was moved to 161st Street and the Concourse. Maritime heritage The peninsular borough's maritime heritage is acknowledged in several ways. The City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum occupies a former public school designed by the New York City school system's turn-of-the-last-century master architect C. B. J. Snyder. The state's Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (on the southeastern shore) houses the Maritime Industry Museum.[156] In addition, the Harlem River is reemerging as "Scullers' Row"[157] due in large part to the efforts of the Bronx River Restoration Project,[158] a joint public-private endeavor of the city's parks department. Canoeing and kayaking on the borough's namesake river have been promoted by the Bronx River Alliance. The river is also straddled by the New York Botanical Gardens, its neighbor, the Bronx Zoo, and a little further south, on the west shore, Bronx River Art Center.[159] Community celebrations "Bronx Week", traditionally held in May, began as a one-day celebration. Begun by Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan and supported by then borough president Robert Abrams, the original one-day program was based on the "Bronx Borough Day" festival which took place in the 1920s. The following year, at the height of the decade's civil unrest, the festival was extended to a one-week event. In the 1980s the key event, the "Bronx Ball", was launched. The week includes the Bronx Week Parade as well as inductions into the "Bronx Walk of Fame."[160] Various Bronx neighborhoods conduct their own community celebrations. The Arthur Avenue "Little Italy" neighborhood conducts an annual Autumn Ferragosto Festival that celebrates Italian culture.[161] Hunts Point hosts an annual "Fish Parade and Summer Festival" at the start of summer.[162] Edgewater Park hosts an annual "Ragamuffin" children's walk in November.[163] There are several events to honor the borough's veterans.[164] Albanian Independence Day is also observed.[165] There are also parades to celebrate Dominican, Italian, and Irish heritage.[166][167][168] Press and broadcasting The Bronx is home to several local newspapers and radio and television studios. Newspapers The Bronx has several local newspapers, including The Bronx Daily, The Bronx News,[169] Parkchester News, City News, The Norwood News, The Riverdale Press, Riverdale Review, The Bronx Times Reporter, Inner City Press[170] (which now has more of a focus on national issues) and Co-op City Times. Four non-profit news outlets, Norwood News, Mount Hope Monitor, Mott Haven Herald and The Hunts Point Express serve the borough's poorer communities. The editor and co-publisher of The Riverdale Press, Bernard Stein, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his editorials about Bronx and New York City issues in 1998. (Stein graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1959.) The Bronx once had its own daily newspaper, The Bronx Home News, which started publishing on January 20, 1907, and merged into the New York Post in 1948. It became a special section of the Post, sold only in the Bronx, and eventually disappeared from view. Radio and television One of New York City's major non-commercial radio broadcasters is WFUV, a National Public Radio-affiliated 50,000-watt station broadcasting from Fordham University's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The radio station's antenna was relocated to the top an apartment building owned by Montefiore Medical Center, which expanded the reach of the station's signal.[171] The City of New York has an official television station run by NYC Media and broadcasting from Bronx Community College, and Cablevision operates News 12 The Bronx, both of which feature programming based in the Bronx. Co-op City was the first area in the Bronx, and the first in New York beyond Manhattan, to have its own cable television provider. The local public-access television station BronxNet originates from Herbert H. Lehman College, the borough's only four year CUNY school, and provides government-access television (GATV) public affairs programming in addition to programming produced by Bronx residents.[172] Economy See also: Economy of New York City Shopping malls and markets in the Bronx include: Bay Plaza Shopping Center Bronx Terminal Market Hunts Point Cooperative Market Shopping districts The Hub on Third Avenue Renovated Prow Building, part of the original Bronx Terminal Market An aerial view of the Bronx, Harlem River, Harlem, Hudson River and George Washington Bridge Morris Heights, a Bronx neighborhood of over 45,000 Street scene on Fordham Road, a major street in the Bronx Prominent shopping areas in the Bronx include Fordham Road, Bay Plaza in Co-op City, The Hub, the Riverdale/Kingsbridge shopping center, and Bruckner Boulevard. Shops are also concentrated on streets aligned underneath elevated railroad lines, including Westchester Avenue, White Plains Road, Jerome Avenue, Southern Boulevard, and Broadway. The Bronx Terminal Market contains several big-box stores, which opened in 2009 south of Yankee Stadium. The Bronx has three primary shopping centers: The Hub, Gateway Center and Southern Boulevard. The Hub–Third Avenue Business Improvement District (B.I.D.), in The Hub, is the retail heart of the South Bronx, where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues.[173] It is primarily inside the neighborhood of Melrose but also lines the northern border of Mott Haven.[174] The Hub has been called "the Broadway of the Bronx", being likened to the real Broadway in Manhattan and the northwestern Bronx.[175] It is the site of both maximum traffic and architectural density. In configuration, it resembles a miniature Times Square, a spatial "bow-tie" created by the geometry of the street.[176] The Hub is part of Bronx Community Board 1. The Bronx Terminal Market, in the West Bronx, formerly known as Gateway Center, is a shopping center that encompasses less than one million square feet of retail space, built on a 17 acres (7 ha) site that formerly held a wholesale fruit and vegetable market also named Bronx Terminal Market as well as the former Bronx House of Detention, south of Yankee Stadium. The $500 million shopping center, which was completed in 2009, saw the construction of new buildings and two smaller buildings, one new and the other a renovation of an existing building that was part of the original market. The two main buildings are linked by a six-level garage for 2,600 cars. The center's design has earned it a LEED "Silver" designation.[177] Government and politics Local government Main article: Government of New York City Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, the New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor–council system has governed the Bronx. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in the Bronx. Borough Presidents of the Bronx Name Party Term † Louis F. Haffen Democratic 1898 – Aug. 1909 John F. Murray Democratic Aug. 1909–1910 Cyrus C. Miller Democratic 1910–1914 Douglas Mathewson Republican- Fusion 1914–1918 Henry Bruckner Democratic 1918–1934 James J. Lyons Democratic 1934–1962 Joseph F. Periconi Republican- Liberal 1962–1966 Herman Badillo Democratic 1966–1970 Robert Abrams Democratic 1970–1979 Stanley Simon Democratic 1979 – April 1987 Fernando Ferrer Democratic April 1987 – 2002 Adolfo Carrión, Jr. Democratic 2002 – March 2009 Rubén Díaz, Jr. Democratic May 2009 – 2021 Vanessa Gibson Democratic 2022 – † Terms begin and end in January where the month is not specified. The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.[178] Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Until March 1, 2009, the Borough President of the Bronx was Adolfo Carrión Jr., elected as a Democrat in 2001 and 2005 before retiring early to direct the White House Office of Urban Affairs Policy. His successor, Democratic New York State Assembly member Rubén Díaz, Jr. — after winning a special election on April 21, 2009, by a vote of 86.3% (29,420) on the "Bronx Unity" line to 13.3% (4,646) for the Republican district leader Anthony Ribustello on the "People First" line,[179][180] — became Borough President on May 1, 2009. In 2021, Rubén Díaz's Democratic successor, Vanessa Gibson was elected (to begin serving in 2022) with 79.9% of the vote against 13.4% for Janell King (Republican) and 6.5% for Sammy Ravelo (Conservative). All of the Bronx's currently elected public officials have first won the nomination of the Democratic Party (in addition to any other endorsements). Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. Controversial political issues in the Bronx include environmental issues, the cost of housing, and annexation of parkland for new Yankee Stadium.[181] Since its separation from New York County on January 1, 1914, the Bronx, has had, like each of the other 61 counties of New York State, its own criminal court system[7] and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Darcel D. Clark has been the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016. Her predecessor was Robert T. Johnson, the District Attorney from 1989 to 2015. He was the first African-American District Attorney in New York State.[182] The Bronx also has twelve Community Boards, appointed bodies that advise on land use and municipal facilities and services for local residents, businesses and institutions. Politics U.S. Presidential elections United States presidential election results for Bronx County, New York[183][184][185][186] Year Republican Democratic Third party No.  % No.  % No.  % 2020 67,740 15.88% 355,374 83.29% 3,579 0.84% 2016 37,797 9.46% 353,646 88.52% 8,079 2.02% 2012 29,967 8.08% 339,211 91.45% 1,760 0.47% 2008 41,683 10.93% 338,261 88.71% 1,378 0.36% 2004 56,701 16.53% 283,994 82.80% 2,284 0.67% 2000 36,245 11.77% 265,801 86.28% 6,017 1.95% 1996 30,435 10.52% 248,276 85.80% 10,639 3.68% 1992 63,310 20.73% 225,038 73.67% 17,112 5.60% 1988 76,043 25.51% 218,245 73.22% 3,793 1.27% 1984 109,308 32.76% 223,112 66.86% 1,263 0.38% 1980 86,843 30.70% 181,090 64.02% 14,914 5.27% 1976 96,842 28.70% 238,786 70.77% 1,763 0.52% 1972 196,754 44.60% 243,345 55.16% 1,075 0.24% 1968 142,314 32.02% 277,385 62.40% 24,818 5.58% 1964 135,780 25.16% 403,014 74.69% 800 0.15% 1960 182,393 31.76% 389,818 67.88% 2,071 0.36% 1956 257,382 42.81% 343,823 57.19% 0 0.00% 1952 241,898 37.34% 392,477 60.59% 13,420 2.07% 1948 173,044 27.80% 337,129 54.17% 112,182 18.03% 1944 211,158 31.75% 450,525 67.74% 3,352 0.50% 1940 198,293 31.77% 418,931 67.11% 6,980 1.12% 1936 93,151 17.61% 419,625 79.35% 16,042 3.03% 1932 76,587 19.15% 281,330 70.35% 42,002 10.50% 1928 98,636 28.68% 232,766 67.67% 12,545 3.65% 1924 79,583 36.73% 72,840 33.62% 64,234 29.65% 1920 106,050 56.61% 45,741 24.42% 35,538 18.97% 1916 40,938 42.55% 47,870 49.76% 7,396 7.69% After becoming a separate county in 1914, the Bronx has supported only two Republican presidential candidates. It voted heavily for the winning Republican Warren G. Harding in 1920, but much more narrowly on a split vote for his victorious Republican successor Calvin Coolidge in 1924 (Coolidge 79,562; John W. Davis, Dem., 72,834; Robert La Follette, 62,202 equally divided between the Progressive and Socialist lines). Since then, the Bronx has always supported the Democratic Party's nominee for president, starting with a vote of 2–1 for the unsuccessful Al Smith in 1928, followed by four 2–1 votes for the successful Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Both had been Governors of New York, but Republican former Gov. Thomas E. Dewey won only 28% of the Bronx's vote in 1948 against 55% for Pres. Harry Truman, the winning Democrat, and 17% for Henry A. Wallace of the Progressives. It was only 32 years earlier, by contrast, that another Republican former Governor who narrowly lost the Presidency, Charles Evans Hughes, had won 42.6% of the Bronx's 1916 vote against Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's 49.8% and Socialist candidate Allan Benson's 7.3%.)[187] Elections for Mayor of New York The Bronx has often shown striking differences from other boroughs in elections for Mayor. The only Republican to carry the Bronx since 1914 was Fiorello La Guardia in 1933, 1937, and 1941 (and in the latter two elections, only because his 30% to 32% vote on the American Labor Party line was added to 22% to 23% as a Republican).[188] The Bronx was thus the only borough not carried by the successful Republican re-election campaigns of Mayors Rudy Giuliani in 1997 and Michael Bloomberg in 2005. The anti-war Socialist campaign of Morris Hillquit in the 1917 mayoral election won over 31% of the Bronx's vote, putting him second and well ahead of the 20% won by the incumbent pro-war Fusion Mayor John Purroy Mitchel, who came in second (ahead of Hillquit) everywhere else and outpolled Hillquit citywide by 23.2% to 21.7%.[189] The Bronx County vote for President and Mayor since 1952 President and Vice President of the United States Mayor of the City of New York Year Republican, Conservative & Independence Democratic, Liberal & Working Families Won the Bronx Elected President Year Candidate carrying the Bronx Elected Mayor 2020 15.9% 67,740 83.4% 355,374 Joe Biden Joe Biden 2021 Eric Adams, D Eric Adams, D 2016 9.5% 37,797 88.5% 353,646 Hillary Clinton Donald Trump 2017 Bill de Blasio, D-Working Families Bill de Blasio, D-Working Families 2012 8.1% 29,967 91.5% 339,211 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2013 Bill de Blasio, D-Working Families Bill de Blasio, D-Working Families 2008 10.9% 41,683 88.7% 338,261 Barack Obama Barack Obama 2009 Bill Thompson, D-Working Families Michael Bloomberg, R–Indep'ce/Jobs & Educ'n 2004 16.3% 56,701 81.8% 283,994 John Kerry George W. Bush 2005 Fernando Ferrer, D Michael Bloomberg, R/Lib-Indep'ce 2000 11.8% 36,245 86.3% 265,801 Al Gore George W. Bush 2001 Mark Green, D-Working Families Michael Bloomberg, R-Independence 1996 10.5% 30,435 85.8% 248,276 Bill Clinton Bill Clinton 1997 Ruth Messinger, D Rudy Giuliani, R-Liberal 1992 20.7% 63,310 73.7% 225,038 Bill Clinton Bill Clinton 1993 David Dinkins, D Rudy Giuliani, R-Liberal 1988 25.5% 76,043 73.2% 218,245 Michael Dukakis George H. W. Bush 1989 David Dinkins, D David Dinkins, D 1984 32.8% 109,308 66.9% 223,112 Walter Mondale Ronald Reagan 1985 Ed Koch, D-Indep. Ed Koch, D-Independent 1980 30.7% 86,843' 64.0% 181,090 Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan 1981 Ed Koch, D-R Ed Koch, D-R 1976 28.7% 96,842 70.8% 238,786 Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter 1977 Ed Koch, D Ed Koch, D 1972 44.6% 196,756 55.2% 243,345 George McGovern Richard Nixon 1973 Abraham Beame, D Abraham Beame, D 1968 32.0% 142,314 62.4% 277,385 Hubert Humphrey Richard Nixon 1969 Mario Procaccino, D-Nonpartisan-Civil Svce Ind. John Lindsay, Liberal 1964 25.2% 135,780 74.7% 403,014 Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson 1965 Abraham Beame, D-Civil Service Fusion John Lindsay, R-Liberal-Independent Citizens 1960 31.8% 182,393 67.9% 389,818 John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy 1961 Robert F. Wagner Jr., D-Liberal-Brotherhood Robert F. Wagner Jr., D-Liberal-Brotherhood 1956 42.8% 256,909 57.2% 343,656 Adlai Stevenson II Dwight D. Eisenhower 1957 Robert F. Wagner Jr., D-Liberal-Fusion Robert F. Wagner Jr., D-Liberal-Fusion 1952 37.3% 241,898 60.6% 309,482 Adlai Stevenson II Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953 Robert F. Wagner Jr., D Robert F. Wagner Jr., D Republican and Democratic columns for presidential elections also include their candidates' votes on other lines, such as the New York State Right to Life Party and the Working Families Party. For details of votes and parties in a particular election, click the year or see New York City mayoral elections. Education See also: Education in New York City, List of public elementary schools in New York City, and Category:Charter schools in New York (state) Education in the Bronx is provided by a large number of public and private institutions, many of which draw students who live beyond the Bronx. The New York City Department of Education manages the borough's public noncharter schools.[190] In 2000, public schools enrolled nearly 280,000 of the Bronx's residents over 3 years old (out of 333,100 enrolled in all pre-college schools).[191] There are also several public charter schools. Private schools range from élite independent schools to religiously affiliated schools run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Jewish organizations. A small portion of land between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park, with 35 houses, is a part of the Bronx, but is cut off from the rest of the borough due to the county boundaries; the New York City government pays for the residents' children to go to Pelham Union Free School District schools, including Pelham Memorial High School, since that is more cost effective than sending school buses to take the students to New York City schools. This arrangement has been in place since 1948.[192] Educational attainment In 2000, according to the United States Census, out of the nearly 800,000 people in the Bronx who were then at least 25 years old, 62.3% had graduated from high school and 14.6% held a bachelor's or higher college degree. These percentages were lower than those for New York's other boroughs, which ranged from 68.8% (Brooklyn) to 82.6% (Staten Island) for high school graduates over 24, and from 21.8% (Brooklyn) to 49.4% (Manhattan) for college graduates. (The respective state and national percentages were [NY] 79.1% & 27.4% and [US] 80.4% & 24.4%.)[193] High schools See also: List of high schools in New York City § Bronx The Bronx High School of Science In the 2000 Census, 79,240 of the nearly 95,000 Bronx residents enrolled in high school attended public schools.[191] Many public high schools are in the borough including the elite Bronx High School of Science, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, DeWitt Clinton High School, High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx Leadership Academy 2, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, the Morris Academy for Collaborative Study, Wings Academy for young adults, The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, Validus Preparatory Academy, The Eagle Academy For Young Men, Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School, Bronx Academy of Letters, Herbert H. Lehman High School and High School of American Studies. The Bronx is also home to three of New York City's most prestigious private, secular schools: Fieldston, Horace Mann, and Riverdale Country School. High schools linked to the Catholic Church include: Saint Raymond's Academy for Girls, All Hallows High School, Fordham Preparatory School, Monsignor Scanlan High School, St. Raymond High School for Boys, Cardinal Hayes High School, Cardinal Spellman High School, The Academy of Mount Saint Ursula, Aquinas High School, Preston High School, St. Catharine Academy, Mount Saint Michael Academy, and St. Barnabas High School. The SAR Academy and SAR High School are Modern Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva coeducational day schools in Riverdale, with roots in Manhattan's Lower East Side. In the 1990s, New York City began closing the large, public high schools in the Bronx and replacing them with small high schools. Among the reasons cited for the changes were poor graduation rates and concerns about safety. Schools that have been closed or reduced in size include John F. Kennedy, James Monroe, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Evander Childs, Christopher Columbus, Morris, Walton, and South Bronx High Schools. Fordham University's Keating Hall Colleges and universities See also: List of colleges and universities in New York City In 2000, 49,442 (57.5%) of the 86,014 Bronx residents seeking college, graduate or professional degrees attended public institutions.[191] Several colleges and universities are in the Bronx. Fordham University was founded as St. John's College in 1841 by the Diocese of New York as the first Catholic institution of higher education in the northeast. It is now officially an independent institution, but strongly embraces its Jesuit heritage. The 85-acre (340,000 m2) Bronx campus, known as Rose Hill, is the main campus of the university, and is among the largest within the city (other Fordham campuses are in Manhattan and Westchester County).[100] Three campuses of the City University of New York are in the Bronx: Hostos Community College, Bronx Community College (occupying the former University Heights Campus of New York University)[194] and Herbert H. Lehman College (formerly the uptown campus of Hunter College), which offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The College of Mount Saint Vincent is a Catholic liberal arts college in Riverdale under the direction of the Sisters of Charity of New York. Founded in 1847 as a school for girls, the academy became a degree-granting college in 1911 and began admitting men in 1974. The school serves 1,600 students. Its campus is also home to the Academy for Jewish Religion, a transdenominational rabbinical and cantorial school. Manhattan College is a Catholic college in Riverdale which offers undergraduate programs in the arts, business, education, engineering, and science. It also offers graduate programs in education and engineering. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, part of the Montefiore Medical Center, is in Morris Park. The coeducational and non-sectarian Mercy College—with its main campus in Dobbs Ferry—has a Bronx campus near Westchester Square. The State University of New York Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (Throggs Neck)—at the far southeastern tip of the Bronx—is the national leader in maritime education and houses the Maritime Industry Museum. (Directly across Long Island Sound is Kings Point, Long Island, home of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the American Merchant Marine Museum.) As of 2017, graduates from the university earned an average annual salary of $144,000, the highest of any university graduates in the United States.[195] In addition, the private, proprietary Monroe College, focused on preparation for business and the professions, started in the Bronx in 1933 and now has a campus in New Rochelle (Westchester County) as well the Bronx's Fordham neighborhood.[196] Transportation See also: Transportation in New York City Roads and streets Bronx–Whitestone Bridge Surface streets The Bronx street grid is irregular. Like the northernmost part of upper Manhattan, the West Bronx's hilly terrain leaves a relatively free-style street grid. Much of the West Bronx's street numbering carries over from upper Manhattan, but does not match it exactly; East 132nd Street is the lowest numbered street in the Bronx. This dates from the mid-19th century when the southwestern area of Westchester County west of the Bronx River, was incorporated into New York City and known as the Northside. The East Bronx is considerably flatter, and the street layout tends to be more regular. Only the Wakefield neighborhood picks up the street numbering, albeit at a misalignment due to Tremont Avenue's layout. At the same diagonal latitude, West 262nd Street in Riverdale matches East 237th Street in Wakefield. Three major north–south thoroughfares run between Manhattan and the Bronx: Third Avenue, Park Avenue, and Broadway. Other major north–south roads include the Grand Concourse, Jerome Avenue, Sedgwick Avenue, Webster Avenue, and White Plains Road. Major east-west thoroughfares include Mosholu Parkway, Gun Hill Road, Fordham Road, Pelham Parkway, and Tremont Avenue. Most east–west streets are prefixed with either East or West, to indicate on which side of Jerome Avenue they lie (continuing the similar system in Manhattan, which uses Fifth Avenue as the dividing line).[197] The historic Boston Post Road, part of the long pre-revolutionary road connecting Boston with other northeastern cities, runs east–west in some places, and sometimes northeast–southwest. Mosholu and Pelham Parkways, with Bronx Park between them, Van Cortlandt Park to the west and Pelham Bay Park to the east, are also linked by bridle paths. As of the 2000 Census, approximately 61.6% of all Bronx households do not have access to a car. Citywide, the percentage of autoless households is 55%.[198] Highways Several major limited access highways traverse the Bronx. These include: the Bronx River Parkway the Bruckner Expressway (I-278/I-95) the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95/I-295) the New England Thruway (I-95) the Henry Hudson Parkway (NY-9A) the Hutchinson River Parkway the Major Deegan Expressway (I-87) Bridges and tunnels An aerial view of the Throgs Neck Bridge Thirteen bridges and three tunnels connect the Bronx to Manhattan, and three bridges connect the Bronx to Queens. These are, from west to east: To Manhattan: the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Broadway Bridge, the University Heights Bridge, the Washington Bridge, the Alexander Hamilton Bridge, the High Bridge, the Concourse Tunnel, the Macombs Dam Bridge, the 145th Street Bridge, the 149th Street Tunnel, the Madison Avenue Bridge, the Park Avenue Bridge, the Lexington Avenue Tunnel, the Third Avenue Bridge (southbound traffic only), and the Willis Avenue Bridge (northbound traffic only). To both Manhattan and Queens: the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, formerly known as the Triborough Bridge. To Queens: the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and the Throgs Neck Bridge. Mass transit Middletown Road subway station on the 6 and <6> trains NYC Transit bus operating on the Bx40 route in University Heights The Bronx is served by seven New York City Subway services along six physical lines, with 70 stations in the Bronx:[199] IND Concourse Line (B and D trains) IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (1 train) IRT Dyre Avenue Line (5 train) IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4 train) IRT Pelham Line (6 and <6> trains) IRT White Plains Road Line (2 and 5 trains) There are also many MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes in the Bronx. This includes local and express routes as well as Bee-Line Bus System routes.[200] Two Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines (the Harlem Line and the Hudson Line) serve 11 stations in the Bronx. (Marble Hill, between the Spuyten Duyvil and University Heights stations, is actually in the only part of Manhattan connected to the mainland.) In addition, some trains serving the New Haven Line stop at Fordham Plaza. As part of Penn Station Access, the 2018 MTA budget funded construction of four new stops along the New Haven Line to serve Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park, and Co-op City.[201] In 2018, NYC Ferry's Soundview line opened, connecting the Soundview landing in Clason Point Park to three East River locations in Manhattan. On December 28, 2021; the Throgs Neck Ferry landing at Ferry Point Park in Throgs Neck was opened providing an additional stop on the Soundview line.[202] The ferry is operated by Hornblower Cruises.[203] In popular culture Film and television See also: List of films set in New York City and List of television shows set in New York City Mid-20th century Mid-20th century movies set in the Bronx portrayed densely settled, working-class, urban culture. From This Day Forward (1946), set in Highbridge, occasionally delved into Bronx life. The most notable examinations of working class Bronx life were Paddy Chayefsky's Academy Award-winning Marty[204] and his 1956 film The Catered Affair. Other films that portrayed life in the Bronx are: the 1993 Robert De Niro/Chazz Palminteri film, A Bronx Tale, Spike Lee's 1999 movie Summer of Sam, which focused on an Italian-American Bronx community in the 1970s, 1994's I Like It Like That which takes place in the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood of the South Bronx, and Doughboys, the story of two Italian-American brothers in danger of losing their bakery thanks to one brother's gambling debts. The Bronx's gritty urban life had worked its way into the movies even earlier, with depictions of the "Bronx cheer", a loud flatulent-like sound of disapproval, allegedly first made by New York Yankees fans. The sound can be heard, for example, on the Spike Jones and His City Slickers recording of "Der Fuehrer's Face" (from the 1942 Disney animated film of the same name), repeatedly lambasting Adolf Hitler with: "We'll Heil! (Bronx cheer) Heil! (Bronx cheer) Right in Der Fuehrer's Face!"[205][206] Symbolism Starting in the 1970s, the Bronx often symbolized violence, decay, and urban ruin. The wave of arson in the South Bronx in the 1960s and 1970s inspired the observation that "The Bronx is burning": in 1974 it was the title of both an editorial in The New York Times and a BBC documentary film.[207] The line entered the pop-consciousness with Game Two of the 1977 World Series, when a fire broke out near Yankee Stadium as the team was playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. As the fire was captured on live television, announcer Howard Cosell is wrongly remembered to have said something like, "There it is, ladies and gentlemen: the Bronx is burning". Historians of New York City often point to Cosell's remark as an acknowledgement of both the city and the borough's decline.[208] A feature-length documentary film by Edwin Pagán called Bronx Burning chronicled what led up to the many arson-for-insurance fraud fires of the 1970s in the borough.[209][210] Bronx gang life was depicted in the 1974 novel The Wanderers by Bronx native Richard Price and the 1979 movie of the same name. They are set in the heart of the Bronx, showing apartment life and the then-landmark Krums ice cream parlor. In the 1979 film The Warriors, the eponymous gang go to a meeting in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and have to fight their way out of the borough and get back to Coney Island in Brooklyn. A Bronx Tale (1993) depicts gang activities in the Belmont "Little Italy" section of the Bronx. The 2005 video game adaptation features levels called Pelham, Tremont, and "Gunhill" (a play off the name Gun Hill Road). This theme lends itself to the title of The Bronx Is Burning, an eight-part ESPN TV mini-series (2007) about the New York Yankees' drive to winning baseball's 1977 World Series. The TV series emphasizes the team's boisterous nature, led by manager Billy Martin, catcher Thurman Munson and outfielder Reggie Jackson, as well as the malaise of the Bronx and New York City in general during that time, such as the blackout, the city's serious financial woes and near bankruptcy, the arson for insurance payments, and the election of Ed Koch as mayor. The 1981 film Fort Apache, The Bronx is another film that used the Bronx's gritty image for its storyline. The movie's title is from the nickname for the 41st Police Precinct in the South Bronx which was nicknamed "Fort Apache". Also from 1981 is the horror film Wolfen making use of the rubble of the Bronx as a home for werewolf type creatures. Knights of the South Bronx, a true story of a teacher who worked with disadvantaged children, is another film also set in the Bronx released in 2005. The Bronx was the setting for the 1983 film Fuga dal Bronx, also known as Bronx Warriors 2 and Escape 2000, an Italian B-movie best known for its appearance on the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. The plot revolves around a sinister construction corporation's plans to depopulate, destroy and redevelop the Bronx, and a band of rebels who are out to expose the corporation's murderous ways and save their homes. The film is memorable for its almost incessant use of the phrase, "Leave the Bronx!" Many of the movie's scenes were filmed in Queens, substituting as the Bronx. Rumble in the Bronx, filmed in Vancouver, was a 1995 Jackie Chan kung-fu film, another which popularized the Bronx to international audiences. Last Bronx, a 1996 Sega game played on the bad reputation of the Bronx to lend its name to an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where crime and gang warfare is rampant. Literature See also: List of books set in New York City Books The Bronx has been featured significantly in fiction literature. All of the characters in Herman Wouk's City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder (1948) live in the Bronx, and about half of the action is set there. Kate Simon's Bronx Primitive: Portraits of a Childhood (1982) is directly autobiographical, a warm account of a Polish-Jewish girl in an immigrant family growing up before World War II, and living near Arthur Avenue and Tremont Avenue.[211] In Jacob M. Appel's short story, "The Grand Concourse" (2007),[212] a woman who grew up in the iconic Lewis Morris Building returns to the Morrisania neighborhood with her adult daughter. Similarly, in Avery Corman's book The Old Neighborhood (1980),[213] an upper-middle class white protagonist returns to his birth neighborhood (Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse), and learns that even though the folks are poor, Hispanic and African-American, they are good people. By contrast, Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities (1987)[214] portrays a wealthy, white protagonist, Sherman McCoy, getting lost off the Bruckner Expressway in the South Bronx and having an altercation with locals. A substantial piece of the last part of the book is set in the resulting riotous trial at the Bronx County Courthouse. However, times change, and in 2007, The New York Times reported that "the Bronx neighborhoods near the site of Sherman's accident are now dotted with townhouses and apartments." In the same article, the Reverend Al Sharpton (whose fictional analogue in the novel is "Reverend Bacon") asserts that "twenty years later, the cynicism of The Bonfire of the Vanities is as out of style as Tom Wolfe's wardrobe."[215] Don DeLillo's Underworld (1997) is also set in the Bronx and offers a perspective on the area from the 1950s onward.[216] Poetry In poetry, the Bronx has been immortalized by one of the world's shortest couplets: The Bronx? No Thonx Ogden Nash, The New Yorker, 1931 Nash repented 33 years after his calumny, penning in 1964 the following prose poem to the Dean of Bronx Community College:[217] I can't seem to escape the sins of my smart-alec youth; Here are my amends. I wrote those lines, "The Bronx? No thonx"; I shudder to confess them. Now I'm an older, wiser man I cry, "The Bronx? God bless them!"[76] In 2016, W. R. Rodriguez published Bronx Trilogy—consisting of the shoe shine parlor poems et al, concrete pastures of the beautiful bronx, and from the banks of brook avenue. The trilogy celebrates Bronx people, places, and events. DeWitt Clinton High School, St. Mary's Park, and Brook Avenue are a few of the schools, parks, and streets Rodriguez uses as subjects for his poems.[218] Nash's couplet "The Bronx? No Thonx" and his subsequent blessing are mentioned in Bronx Accent: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough, edited by Llyod Ultan and Barbara Unger and published in 2000. The book, which includes the work of Yiddish poets, offers a selection from Allen Ginsberg's Kaddish, as his Aunt Elanor and his mother, Naomi, lived near Woodlawn Cemetery. Also featured is Ruth Lisa Schecther's poem, "Bronx", which is described as a celebration of the borough's landmarks. There is a selection of works from poets such as Sandra María Esteves, Milton Kessler, Joan Murray, W. R. Rodriguez, Myra Shapiro, Gayl Teller, and Terence Wynch.[219] "Bronx Migrations" by Michelle M. Tokarczyk is a collection that spans five decades of Tokarczyk's life in the Bronx, from her exodus in 1962 to her return in search of her childhood tenement.[220][221] Bronx Memoir Project Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 1 is a published anthology by the Bronx Council on the Arts and brought forth through a series of workshops meant to empower Bronx residents and shed the stigma on the Bronx's burning past.[222] The Bronx Memoir Project was created as an ongoing collaboration between the Bronx Council on the Arts and other cultural institutions, including the Bronx Documentary Center, the Bronx Library Center, the (Edgar Allan) Poe Park Visitor Center, Mindbuilders, and other institutions and funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.[223][224] The goal was to develop and refine memoir fragments written by people of all walks of life that share a common bond residing within the Bronx.[223] Songs See also: List of songs about New York City "Jenny from the Block" (2002) by[225]Jennifer Lopez,[226] from the album This is me...Then is specifically about the South Bronx, where Lopez grew up.[227] In Marc Ferris's 5-page, 15-column list of "Songs and Compositions Inspired by New York City" in The Encyclopedia of New York City (1995),[228] only a handful refer to the Bronx; most refer to New York City proper, especially Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ferris's extensive but selective 1995 list mentions only four songs referring specifically to the Bronx: "On the Banks of the Bronx" (1919), by William LeBaron & Victor Jacobi; "Bronx Express" (1922), by Henry Creamer, Ossip Dymow & Turner Layton; "The Tremont Avenue Cruisewear Fashion Show" (1973), by Jerry Livingston & Mark David; and "I Love the New York Yankees" (1987), by Paula Lindstrom. Theater Clifford Odets's play Awake and Sing is set in 1933 in the Bronx. The play, first produced at the Belasco Theater in 1935, concerns a poor family living in small quarters, the struggles of the controlling parents and the aspirations of their children.[229] René Marqués The Oxcart (1959), concerns a rural Puerto Rican family who immigrate to the Bronx for a better life.[230] A Bronx Tale is an autobiographical one-man show written and performed by Chazz Palminteri. It is a coming-of-age story set in the Bronx. It premiered in Los Angeles in the 1980s and then played on Off-Broadway. After a film version involving Palminteri and Robert De Niro, Palminteri performed his one-man show on Broadway and on tour in 2007.[231] See also flag New York City portal Bronx Borough Hall Bronx court system delays List of counties in New York List of people from the Bronx National Register of Historic Places listings in the Bronx Wildlife in the Bronx Water Tower, Prospect Park, c. 1903–1910. Eugene Wemlinger Water Tower, Prospect Park, c. 1903–1910. Eugene Wemlinger Early 20th century 1901 map of Prospect Park, published in the Parks Department's 1902 Annual Report The city of Brooklyn merged with Manhattan and other outlying boroughs in 1898, creating the City of Greater New York. By the end of the century, Prospect Park saw about 15 million visitors per year.[30] Though people were officially banned from hosting picnics and other large eating events in Prospect Park, the rule was not enforced for several years until 1903, when a surge of visitors from Manhattan led to an increase in luncheons being hosted.[52] In 1907, lights were installed to deter couples from kissing or other intimate activity within the park.[53] At the same time, the city embarked on an improvement program at Prospect Park by cleaning out the landscape, constructing the Bartel-Pritchard Square entrance, and removing an old boathouse that had been supplanted by the Boathouse on the Lullwater.[54] The construction of structures continued in the first decade of the 20th century. The neoclassical Peristyle (1904), Boathouse (1905), Tennis House (1910), and Willink Comfort Station (1912) were all designed by Helmle, Hudswell and Huberty, alumni and proteges of McKim, Mead, and White.[8]: 130 [51] The entrances into Prospect Park that were constructed during this time were also in the neoclassical style.[8]: 130 [15] Two now-demolished structures were also constructed on the peninsula, the Model Yacht Club House (1900–1956) and a shelter (1915 – c. 1940s).[15] Olmsted was said to have been "distressed" by these modifications to the park's original plan.[30] From World War I to the mayoral administration of Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930s, investment in park infrastructure declined. A two-story brick building was opened in the Menagerie in 1916, housing monkeys, some small mammals, and several birds.[55] After the end of World War I, a memorial commemorating fallen soldiers was proposed;[56] it was dedicated in 1921.[57] The only other structures to be built during this period were the Picnic House (1927) and a small comfort station at the Ocean Avenue entrance (1930), both designed by J. Sarsfield Kennedy.[15] A golf course was proposed for the Long Meadow in the 1920s, but eventually, it was built on the Peninsula, abutting the Lake at the park's southern end.[36] In 1932, a faux Mount Vernon was built in Prospect Park to commemorate the bicentennial of George Washington's birthday.[58] However, Prospect Park was in stasis for the most part, and like many of the city's parks, it was run year-after-year with declining budgets. The New York Times observed that by the 1930s, "generations of Parks Department officials had lived well and got rich by diverting maintenance funds, and the park showed the result of a half century of abuse and neglect."[59] Robert Moses era In January 1934, newly elected Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appointed Robert Moses as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks (NYC Parks), a new organization that eliminated borough park commissioners.[60] Moses would remain commissioner for the next twenty-six years, leaving significant impacts on the city's parks. Moses used federal monies made available to relieve Depression-era unemployment, and this resulted in a boom in construction at Prospect Park.[21][61] The Prospect Park Zoo opened in 1935 on the east side of the park, replacing the former Menagerie.[61] The Bandshell and five playgrounds were also constructed toward the end of the 1930s.[21][61] In addition, the Carousel was opened in 1949 as a gift from the foundation of the late philanthropist Michael Friedsam.[62][63] Moses also enacted new policies at the park, including a ban on sheep grazing at the Long Meadow.[22]: 16 [64] During World War II, Prospect Park hosted a portion of the city's antiaircraft defense. Three hundred soldiers manned batteries, underground ammunition dumps, observation towers, repair shops and barracks around Swan Lake in the Long Meadow. Though the defenses were disbanded in 1944, traces of slit trenches and sandbagged gun emplacements could still be found several years afterward.[65] The Boathouse on the Lullwater, which was almost demolished in 1964 In 1959, the southern third of the Long Meadow was graded and fenced off for ballfields.[15][66] Plans for the Kate Wollman Memorial Rink were approved the following year,[67] and the rink opened in December 1961.[68] The rink was built on a filled-in portion of Prospect Lake, necessitating the removal of Music Island and the panoramic view of the lake created by Olmsted and Vaux.[67] The playgrounds, ballfields, and skating rink reflected Moses' commitment to modernity and athletic recreation, coupled with only a limited appreciation of the park as a work of landscape architecture.[15] To make the park more visually appealing, NYC Parks also began to clear the area of weeds and invasive species, though this had the unintended effect of hastening erosion.[15][66][69] It was not unusual in the Moses years, and especially the decade after his departure, to quietly remove underutilized or redundant structures. To do so was regarded as economical and prudent management. Several structures had been destroyed by the time Moses left his position as NYC Parks commissioner in May 1960. These included the Dairy, destroyed 1935;[15] Concert Grove House, demolished 1949;[70] Music Island, razed 1960;[71][72] the Flower Garden;[14] the Thatched Shelter, destroyed in the 1940s;[15][73] the Model Yacht Club, burned down in 1956;[15][73] and the Greenhouse Conservatories, taken apart in 1955.[74] No park commissioner since Moses has been able to exercise the same degree of power, nor did NYC Parks remain as stable a position in the aftermath of his departure, with eight commissioners holding the office in the twenty years following. This instability, coupled with the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis, devastated the Parks Department. The department was staffed by 6,000 personnel in 1960, but consisted of just 2,800 permanent and 1,500 temporary workers by 1980. Much of Prospect Park suffered soil erosion and lack of maintenance caused the landscape to deteriorate. By 1979, park attendance dropped to two million, the lowest recorded level in the history of the park.[21] Late 20th century The demolition of Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan during 1963–1968 spawned a nascent historic preservation movement.[75] In September 1964, the Parks Department was within forty-eight hours of demolishing the Boathouse on the Lullwater.[15][76] At the time the structure was underutilized; the boat concession only operated on weekends and its peak traffic was fewer than ten people per hour.[77] However, the Boathouse shared many architectural design features with the famous station. A preservation group, The Friends of Prospect Park, including in its membership, poet and longtime Brooklyn resident Marianne Moore,[78] built public awareness over disappearing historical structures and threatened flora within the park. Public pressure induced Park Commissioner Newbold Morris to rescind the decision to demolish the Boathouse in December 1964.[79] Projects to restore Prospect Park were taken up by the late 1960s. In 1965, the city allocated $450,000 to renovate the Vale of Cashmere and the Rose Garden ahead of Brooklyn's 300th anniversary, and the park's 100th anniversary, the following year.[80] Another $225,000 was allocated to renovate the boathouse, and $249,000 was allotted to overall renovations.[81] The city renovated part of the Long Meadow on the northwest side of the park, as well as the children's farm. However, some of the contracts were delayed, including renovations to the Boathouse and the tennis courts, as well as a reconstruction of the Music Pagoda, which had burned down in 1968.[82] By 1971, the city had spent $4 million to renovate Prospect Park, including renovating the Boathouse and dredging the lake. The Rose Garden and the Vale of Cashmere had also been re-landscaped.[83] Also part of the renovation was a restoration of the Prospect Park Carousel from 1971 to 1974,[84] and the exterior of the Boathouse was restored in 1979.[85] By the 1970s, Prospect Park was beset by crime; a 1974 report found that 44 percent of city residents would warn people to stay away from the park under any circumstances.[36] The mayoral administration of Ed Koch formed plans in 1980 to turn over the administration of the troubled Prospect Park Zoo to the Wildlife Conservation Society.[86] Over the next seven years, the city invested $17 million in cleaning up the park,[87] including $10 million in federal funds from a Community Development Block Grant.[88] Annual visitor numbers had nearly tripled to 5 million between 1980 and 1987.[87] During this period, Prospect Park also received two historic designations: it was made a New York City Historic Landmark on November 25, 1975,[4] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1980.[3] The Prospect Park Alliance, a non-profit organization, was created in April 1987 based on the model of the Central Park Conservancy, which had helped restore Central Park in the 1980s. Shortly afterward, NYC Parks began entering into restoration projects with the organization.[87] The Alliance's first major project was the $550,000 restoration of the Carousel in 1987–1989. The carousel had not operated since 1983, and its original horse-shaped seats were removed during the restoration.[89] Nine years later, in 1996, it started a $4.5 million restoration of the Ravine.[12][36] The Boathouse was also restored again in the late 1990s due to deterioration of the exterior terracotta.[85] The National Audubon Society signed a lease for the Boathouse in 2000,[90] and the building became the site of the nation's first urban Audubon society.[91] The restoration of the Harmony Playground and Bandshell was completed the same year.[92] However, other parts of Prospect Park remained neglected, such as the eastern side of the park, where the surrounding community was generally poorer than the western side.[93] Early 21st century A promenade facing the lake, built in the first decade of the 21st century By 2000, the Wollman Rink was deteriorating, and there was a need to replace it.[94] The Alliance soon formed plans to restore Music Island and the original shoreline, both obliterated by the construction of the original rink in 1960.[95][96] Several Moses-era playgrounds and the Bandshell were retained because their venues were popular. Original rustic summer houses were restored or recreated on the shores of Prospect Park Lake, along the Lullwater and in the Ravine.[97] As part of the restoration plans, the Wollman Rink was to be replaced by two rinks in the new LeFrak Center, a year-round recreational facility.[97] Work on the LeFrak Center began in 2009, and the Wollman Rink had been demolished by 2011.[98] The Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Center at Lakeside was completed in December 2013 at a cost of $74 million.[99][100] As part of the Wollman Rink's replacement, plans for the restored Music Island were announced in 2009.[101] The Chaim Baier Music Island, and the Shelby White and Leon Levy Esplanade overlooking the island, were restored using a $10 million grant, and were officially rededicated in October 2012.[71][72] The Prospect Park Alliance subsequently completed or proposed more restoration projects for the park.[102] Long Meadow ball field 1 was rebuilt between 2013 and 2014.[103] The following year, the Alliance announced some projects on Prospect Park's eastern side, including the $200,000 restoration of Battle Pass. The Alliance also intended to restore the water-damaged Oriental Pavilion for $2 million and replace fencing on Flatbush Avenue for $2.4 million.[102] In 2016, the Alliance also received $3.2 million from NYC Parks' Parks Without Borders program to construct two new entrances on Flatbush Avenue, the park's first new entrances in over 70 years,[104][105] as well as rebuild the Willink entrance.[106] During the city's 2016 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2016, politicians also contributed funds toward various restoration projects in the park. These included $2.5 million for renovating Lefferts Historic House, $2 million to rebuild pathways, $1.75 million for replacing fencing on Ocean Avenue, $750,000 for renovating the ballfields on Long Meadow, and $500,000 for the Carousel's restoration. In addition, $100,000 was earmarked for the installation of an experimental running surface on Park Drive, and through a participatory budgeting program, residents of the surrounding communities allocated funds for other projects such as new drinking fountains, a dog run, community barbecue sites, and an aquatic weed harvester.[107][108] Also in 2016, as part of a project to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Prospect Park Alliance used goats to clean up the shrubbery in woodlands around the Vale of Cashmere,[109] then re-landscaped the sites at a cost of $727,000.[102] The Well House, located on the Lake, reopened in 2017 as a composting restroom,[110][111] and the Dog Beach along the watercourse's Upper Pool was renovated.[112] The same year, the Alliance received funds to renovate the Parade Ground, the Tennis House, and ball fields.[113] The Alliance also announced an upcoming renovation of the Rose Garden.[114] Ball fields 6 and 7 were renovated and reopened in 2017,[115] while ball fields 4 and 5 reopened in late 2020.[116] Construction started on the Flatbush Avenue fence repairs in 2018, and the new entrances were slated to start construction in early 2019.[105][117] Construction of a dog run in the Parade Ground also started in August 2019,[118] and the dog run opened in July 2020.[119] The Concert Grove Pavilion reopened in April 2021 after a one-year renovation.[120][121] That December, a $40 million renovation of the Vale of Cashmere was announced.[122][123] The last two ball fields on Long Meadow reopened in early 2023 after several years of renovations.[124][125] By mid-2023, the New York City government was considering erecting tents in Prospect Park to temporarily house asylum seekers. This move came after the federal government repealed an order authorizing Title 42 expulsions of migrants, which had been implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.[126][127] Geography MapWikimedia | © OpenStreetMap Map of notable buildings and structures at Prospect Park (note: not all entrances shown). Click on points for more details. This map: viewtalkedit Prospect Park occupies 526 acres (213 ha) in central Brooklyn. It is bound by Prospect Park West and the neighborhood of Park Slope to the northwest; Prospect Park Southwest and the Windsor Terrace neighborhood to the southwest and west; Parkside Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and the neighborhood of Flatbush to the south and southeast; and Grand Army Plaza and the neighborhood of Prospect Heights to the north.[5] Design Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux engineered Prospect Park to recreate in real space the pastoral, picturesque, and aesthetic ideals expressed in contemporary paintings.[4]: 3 [8]: 219–220 The overall design was inspired partially by Birkenhead Park in the United Kingdom.[36] Prospect Park had recent precedents in the pastoral style, notably Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston and Green-Wood Cemetery a few blocks away.[19] Olmsted and Vaux felt they had greater success in Brooklyn because of the lack of obstacles there, but they were also assisted in part by park commissioner James Stranahan's patronage and support of their plan.[8]: 219–220 The two designers wanted visitors to be able to traverse Prospect Park with a myriad of perspectives so that the features could be enjoyed in any order.[19] Olmsted was more involved with the general design of Prospect Park, while Vaux was more involved with specific details.[36] They created the large Long Meadow out of hilly upland pasture interspersed with peat bogs. They also moved and planted trees, hauled topsoil and created a vast unfolding turf with trees placed both separately and in groups. The designers wanted Lookout Hill to be a place of broad views out over Prospect Lake, the farmland beyond, and the bay and ocean in the distance.[15] To create an illusion of an expansive space, Olmsted and Vaux designed the paths in Prospect Park to be meandering.[36] Layout In Olmsted and Vaux's final plan for the park, it was divided into three distinct zones: an open section, a wooded section, and a waterside section. The Parade Ground at the far southwestern corner was excluded from the system of zones.[15][19][128] The first zone consisted of the Long Meadow, a wide open space along the west side of the park.[129] It contains two entrances through tunnels: Meadowport Arch and Endale Arch.[128] The Third Street Playground, Harmony Playground, bandshell, and the picnic and tennis houses are also located here. West Drive traverses this section of Prospect Park.[129] The second zone is the wooded area in the middle of the park called the Ravine, and contains the headwaters of the park's watercourse. In this zone, on the northeast side of the park, there are several points of interest: the Vale of Cashmere, the Rose Garden, the Zucker Natural Exploration Area, and the Prospect Park Zoo.[129] The area contains the Nethermead Arch, an elaborate triple-span bridge.[128] Quaker Hill and the Friends Cemetery are located near the southwest boundary of Prospect Park.[28] Lookout Hill, as well as a large open space called the Nethermead, are located to the south and east of Quaker Hill, respectively.[129] The Ravine also contains the Midwood, an old-growth forest incorporated into Prospect Park during its construction.[12][14][130] The third zone is along the park's south side and consists of Prospect Lake, as well as a peninsula jutting eastward from the lake's northern shore.[129] It is the outlet for the Lullwater, a meandering stream.[128] The Lullwater contains the classical-style Boathouse, a city- and federally-designated landmark, on the Lullwater's eastern shore. To the south, along the lake's eastern shore, are the White Levy Esplanade, as well as the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, a multipurpose recreation center.[129] The LeFrak Center at Lakeside consists of a pair of one-story structures, which share a planted roof. The rink's ceiling contains abstract light-colored streaks on a blue background, which are intended to represent skaters' movements. Also part of the LeFrak Center is a building with a cafe, offices, and event space.[131] Parkside Avenue, a roughly west–east street, divides the southwestern part of Prospect Park from the rest of the park. This detached sliver of parkland is bounded by Parkside Avenue to the north, Coney Island Avenue to the west, Caton Avenue to the south, and Parade Place to the east. It contains the Parade Ground, which has fifteen numbered courts and fields for various sports.[129] Landscape features Watercourse The Lake Summer Winter All of the waterways in Prospect Park are part of a single man-made watercourse. A winding naturalistic stream channel with several ponds feeds a 60-acre (24 ha) lake at the south end of the park.[129] In designing the watercourse, Olmsted and Vaux also took advantage of the preexisting glacier-formed kettle ponds and lowland outwash plains to create a drainage basin centered around the waterway. They crafted the watercourse to include a steep, forested Ravine with significant river edge flora and fauna habitats.[15][132] As a result, the watercourse is able to accommodate significant bird and fish populations.[133] Much of the watercourse is lined with vegetation that is designed to absorb precipitation and additional water flow.[132] Olmsted also included an expansive drainage system, which is still in use and extends under the Long Meadow, Ravine, and Nethermead.[36] About two-thirds of Prospect Park Lake's water typically evaporates. However, to prevent flooding after heavy precipitation, Prospect Park employees can control the outflow of water from the lake using a valve.[132][134] By the mid-20th century, these artificial waterways and the steep slopes around them had lost their original design character. In 1994 the Prospect Park Alliance launched a 25-year $43-million restoration project for the watercourse.[12] Smaller waterways Binnen waterfall The water in Prospect Park originates at the top of Fallkill Falls in the center of the park, just north of Quaker Hill and east of Long Meadow.[50][129] The Well House on the north side of the Lake originally provided the water for the watercourse, and was connected to an underground aquifer.[15][132] The Well House became outdated when Prospect Park was connected to the New York City water supply system in the early 20th century.[50][111][135] Today, Fallkill Falls is fed by a pipe from the city's water system.[132][134] The water from Fallkill Falls runs into Fallkill Pool, past the Fallkill Bridge, through the Upper Pool and Lower Pool, where migratory birds rest and marsh and other water plants can be found.[50] The Upper Pool abuts a dog beach, while the Long Meadow is adjacent to the Lower Pool.[129] The water then passes under the Esdale Bridge, a footbridge over Ambergill Pond. The pond, and the Ambergill Falls just past it, was named by Olmsted and refers to the Old Norse word for "creek".[50] After passing through Ambergill Falls, the water flows under Rock Arch Bridge and past the Ravine, entering the Binnenwater, which is named after a Dutch word for "within".[22]: 64 [50] The waters then cascade beneath the Binnen Bridge to the Lullwater, a small pond that contains the Boathouse on its eastern bank. The water then flows under the Lullwater and Terrace bridges to the Peninsula, which is managed both as bird sanctuary and recreational field.[50][129] Lake Prospect Park's lake The mouth of Prospect Park's watercourse is the artificial, 60-acre Prospect Lake (also known as Prospect Park Lake).[133] Prospect Lake includes several islands and is home to over 20 species of fish. Every year, the lake hosts the R.H. Macy's Fishing Contest,[136] a tradition that dates to 1947.[137] Though NYC Parks generally allows licensed anglers to fish, it maintains a catch and release policy to prevent depletion of the fish population.[138] In addition, visitors may explore the lake in kayaks and pedal boats, available at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside,[139] or the Independence, a replica of the original electric launch which took day-trippers around the lake in the 20th century.[140] On the shore of the lake, there are several "rustic shelters" that provide scenic views of the water.[73] Ice skating, popularized in Central Park, was a key reason for including Prospect Lake in the design of the park's watercourse.[15] In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, red balls raised on the fronts of trolley cars signified that the ice was at least four inches thick.[141] Red flags were also placed at Grand Army Plaza to indicate the ice's sufficient thickness.[142] Later, green flags were used to indicate that the ice was thick enough, and red flags indicated that the ice was too thin. Since then, safety concerns have ended skating on the lake; as a result of climate change, winters have become warmer in the 21st century compared to the 19th century, the ice on the lake has become too thin to accommodate skaters.[94] Ice skating moved to the Kate Wollman Rink in 1960, and again to the Lakeside Center in 2012.[97] The Ravine View of the watercourse inside the Ravine A 146-acre (59 ha) section of Prospect Park's interior is known as the Ravine. The region contains the headwaters of the park's water system, as well as Brooklyn's only remaining old-growth forest, the Midwood.[12][14][130] Olmsted and Vaux saw the Ravine as the heart of Prospect Park and the centerpiece of mountainous tableaux similar to the Adirondack Mountains,[143] and designed it in a similar fashion to their Ramble in Central Park.[50] The perimeter of the area is a steep, narrow 100-foot (30 m) gorge. The watercourse goes through the Ravine en route to the Boathouse.[144] The original design of the Ravine was more aesthetic than functional, and decades of deferred maintenance had degraded the Ravine and made it hard to drain. During the 1970s, the brush was trimmed in order to make it harder for muggers to hide, and by the 1990s, the stream had dried up.[36] In 1996, still recovering from decades of overuse that caused soil compaction and erosion, the Ravine and surrounding woodlands underwent a $4.5 million restoration.[12][69] The Ravine was opened for tours two years later.[69][144] By 2002, the Ravine had been partially restored and the restored section had been opened to the public.[144] Directly south of the Ravine is a meadow called the Nethermead, which occupies much of the space along the western bank of the watercourse between Center and Wellhouse Drive.[129] To the southwest of the Nethermead is Lookout Hill, which occupies the remaining area between Center and Wellhouse Drives.[15][129] Southward view from the Nethermead Arches toward the Nethermead Long Meadow A man and his dog enter Long Meadow from the west The Long Meadow stretches down the western side of Prospect Park.[129] The meadow contains two playgrounds, the Tennis House, the Picnic House, a bandshell, a dog beach, and NYC Parks maintenance facilities.[15] In a contrast with the Ravine and the watercourse, the Long Meadow is mostly flat open space. As designed, it provided a visual buffer between the neighborhoods to the west and the interior of the park. During construction, Olmsted laid out hundreds of trees in meticulous patterns around the meadow.[15][64] Originally, the Long Meadow hosted sports such as archery,[36] croquet,[41] bowling, football, baseball, and tennis.[15] To preserve the meadow's pastoral quality, sheep grazed on the meadow until the 1930s.[22]: 16 [64] Today, much of the Long Meadow is used for a variety of purposes.[22]: 16 [145] The southern part of the Long Meadow contains seven baseball fields.[129][145] Fauna and flora Prospect Park's Camperdown Elm As of 2018, Prospect Park had 30,000 trees, comprising around 200 unique species.[146] With few exceptions, the trees in Prospect Park were mostly planted manually. In its earliest years, Prospect Park had maintained a nursery of trees and plants, from which over a hundred thousand specimens were eventually taken.[15][147] Now, Prospect Park Alliance regularly maintains the park's flora, removing invasive species and adding native plants.[147] Prospect Park contains four "great trees" that are specially recognized by NYC Parks. These include a Camperdown Elm south of the Boathouse, among the first planted in the United States; an American Hornbeam and a Japanese Pagodatree located near the Camperdown Elm; and an English Elm along West Drive.[147][148][149] In late 2011, an oak tree was planted in the park as a memorial to Brooklyn native Peter Steele, a member of the band Type O Negative who had died in 2010.[150] An oak tree was planted in memory of Type O Negative's Peter Steele in 2011 in Prospect Park. Fans of the band have hung tributes. Prospect Park also accommodates a significant bird population. Each year, hundreds of migratory bird species stop at the park, and during winters, urban birdwatchers have reported seeing 60 unique species at the park on a good day, and 100 unique species over a typical season.[22]: 94 Over the years, a total of 298 species have been recorded at Prospect Park, including 11 not seen at other city parks.[151]: 35 Though there are no official lists of birds that have been seen at the park, the Brooklyn Bird Club has kept records of the avian species seen there between 1967 and 1990.[151]: 34–35 Popular spots for birds included Lookout and Quaker Hills, the Ravine, the Vale of Cashmere, and Lily Pond.[15] There are other fauna species in Prospect Park as well. In particular, the watercourse includes waterfowl, turtles, bullfrogs, fish, and crustacean species. In addition, squirrels are commonly seen in the park's trees.[15][22]: 94 [133] Sightings of butterflies are also common, and since the 1990s and 2000s, increasing numbers of bats have been seen in Prospect Park.[22]: 94 Landmarks and structures Plazas and entrances The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in Grand Army Plaza The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch in Grand Army Plaza The columns at the park entrance outside Bartel-Pritchard Square Prospect Park is shaped roughly like a concave hexagon. There are three circles or plazas on the exterior corners of Prospect Park, all of which contain "major" park entrances.[15][152]: 7 (PDF p. 8) Major entrances Grand Army Plaza is an oval plaza at the northern corner, at the junction of Prospect Park West, Flatbush Avenue, Eastern Parkway, and several side streets. Olmsted and Vaux had intended for the plaza to be the park's main entrance, and it was constructed along with the park during the late 1860s.[153][154] Grand Army Plaza's largest feature is the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, a large triumphal arch in the center of the oval, which was dedicated in 1892. The plaza also includes four Doric columns, built 1894–1896; the Bailey Fountain, constructed 1929–1932 on the site of two former fountains; and several statues of famous figures.[154] Bartel-Pritchard Square, which is actually a circle, is at the far western corner of Prospect Park, at the junction of Prospect Park West and Southwest, Ninth Avenue, and 15th Street. Dedicated with its present name in 1923, it is named after Brooklyn residents Emil Bartel and William Pritchard, who died in combat during World War I.[155] The park entrance from the square was designed by Stanford White in 1896.[22]: 48 Machate Circle is at the southwestern corner, at the junction of Prospect Park West, Ocean Parkway, and Parkside Avenue. Originally named Park Circle, it was renamed in 1989 in honor of a police officer killed in the line of duty. The park entrance from Machate Circle was also designed by Stanford White.[156] Additional "major" entrances exist at the Parade Ground, on the park's south side; Parkside and Ocean Avenues, at the park's southeast corner; and Willink Hill, at Flatbush and Ocean Avenues on the eastern border.[152]: 7 (PDF p. 8) [157] The Ocean/Parkside and Willink entrances were designed in the neoclassical style by McKim, Mead and White, and were built in the 1890s and 1900s. The Willink entrance is flanked by a pair of granite turrets, while the Ocean/Parkside entrance is located between the two portions of a curved granite colonnade.[15] Opposite the Willink entrance, there are the Flatbush Trees, three concrete cylinders with green sheet metal canopies, installed in 1979 and redecorated in 2015.[158] Other entrances There are numerous other entrances spaced out along the park's border. These include five entrances on Prospect Park West, four on Prospect Park Southwest, and three on Ocean Avenue on the park's eastern border. In total, there are eighteen park entrances.[157] Of these, the Third, Ninth, and 16th Street and Lincoln Road entrances are considered "major entrances", and are flanked by memorials or other decorations.[152]: 7 (PDF p. 8) No entrances to Prospect Park have been built since the 1940s,[117] but two entrances were proposed for the Flatbush Avenue side in 2016 and are expected to be completed in mid-2020.[117][159] Bridges Arches Arches Clockwise from top left: Endale Arch (restored in 2020), East Wood Arch, Meadowport Arch, and Cleft Ridge Span Prospect Park originally included several arched bridges to provide grade-separated crossings for pedestrian and vehicular traffic; usually, the vehicular drive was located on top of the arch, and the pedestrian path was below.[15][160] This contrasted with other parks at the time, which did not contain such separations. The arches were designed to be as small and natural-looking as possible so they did not interfere with the scenery.[4]: 6 [31]: 39–40 For the most part, the spaces under the arches were originally outfitted with benches, while the arches themselves blended with the foliage.[31]: 40 Five arched bridges were ultimately built, all during the late 1860s and early 1870s.[15] Endale Arch, also known as Enterdale Arch, is located under East Drive, slightly south of the Grand Army Plaza entrance on the north side of the park, and adjacent to the northeast side of Long Meadow.[129][161] It was one of the first two arches to be completed, in 1868. Its exterior contained interspersed yellow Ohio sandstone and red New Jersey brownstone.[4]: 6 [15] The interior was composed of brick set between alternately black and yellow wooden stripes, designed as such to prevent condensation from dripping downward.[15][31]: 39–40 Endale Arch contained seats underneath it, but these were later removed.[160][162] In 2014, the Prospect Park Alliance began a five-year restoration of the arch,[163] which was completed in 2020.[162][164] East Wood Arch (or Eastwood Arch) is also located under East Drive, connecting the Nethermead Arch to the Willink Hill entrance on the eastern side of Prospect Park.[4]: 6 It was the second of the two arches to be completed in 1868. East Wood Arch had a similar design to the Endale Arch, but had a simpler semicircular shape.[15][161] Meadowport Arch is located on the northwest side of Long Meadow and passes under West Drive.[129][161] It was completed in 1870.[15][161] There were two portals at its eastern end, perpendicular to each other, creating a cross-vault. The arch had Ohio sandstone and wooden lining inside, and the portals contained circular cornices, outward-facing piers, and octagonal domed finials.[4]: 6 [15] Meadowport Arch was restored in the 1980s, but has since fallen into disrepair.[160] Nethermead Arch, also completed c. 1870,[15] carries Center Drive through the center of the park.[129][161] The bridge contains three arches: one each above the Ambergill, the park path, and the bridle path.[161] The span is made of Ohio sandstone and contains a trim of granite.[4]: 6 [15] Unlike some of the other arches, Nethermead did not have any interior wood, but instead, had patterned red brick.[160] The New York Times described its triple span as "one of the most astonishing structures in any city park."[128] Cleft Ridge Span is located under Wellhouse Drive, at Breeze Hill, on the eastern side of Prospect Park.[4]: 6 [129] It was the final arch span to be opened, in 1872. The span was distinctive in its use of red, ochre, and pale gray concrete blocks called "Béton Coignet".[15][160][165] Cleft Ridge might have been the first concrete arch span in the United States.[165] Both the interior and exterior designs were elaborate, though these have since eroded.[15] Other spans Lullwater Bridge Terrace Bridge Lullwater Bridge and Terrace Bridge are the only bridges across the watercourse that were built to handle automobile traffic.[50] Lullwater Bridge is located just downstream of the Boathouse, on Prospect Park's eastern side.[129] The current metal span, built in 1905, replaces an oak bridge on the site that was originally constructed in 1868.[22]: 68–69 [161] Further downstream, Terrace Bridge carries Well House Drive over the watercourse just before it empties into the lake.[129] Built in 1890, Terrace Bridge also replaced an earlier wooden span, and it contains cast-iron tracery and brick vaults underneath, which have since deteriorated.[22]: 70–71 [161] It was so named because it was supposed to overlook the unbuilt Refectory, which had been canceled following the 1873 financial crisis.[15][50] From northwest to southeast, the Fallkill, Esdale, Nethermead Arch, Rock Arch, Music Grove, and Binnen Bridges also cross the watercourse upstream of the Lullwater Bridge. Fallkill, Esdale, and Rock Arch Bridges are located northwest of Nethermead Arch, while Music Grove and Binnen Bridges are located southeast of the arch.[129][161] At the source of the watercourse, Fallkill and Esdale Bridges are both intended to look like wooden bridges, though are made of steel and concrete frames.[22]: 55 [161] Rock Arch Bridge, a boulder-lined span, crosses over Ambergill Falls; the waterfall had once been buried by the bridge's stonework, but was restored in the late 20th century when the bridge was rehabilitated.[22]: 56 [161] To the south, Binnen Bridge and Music Grove Bridge were both designed as wood bridges.[50] Binnen Bridge is located just north of the Lullwater, while Music Grove Bridge further upstream is located next to the Music Pagoda.[129] Drives and paths When it was built, Prospect Park did not have any transverse roadways. Instead, it was circled by a series of four scenic drives, named West, Center, Wellhouse, and East Drive.[4]: 6 The drives are paralleled by a more extensive system of pedestrian and bridle paths.[15][129] Several paths in the park, as well as East Drive, follow ancient Native American trails.[14][166] The drives were originally 40 feet (12 m) wide and paved with gravel. The main loop, composed of West and East Drives, meanders around the park just inside its boundaries.[15] The loops were paved with asphalt and opened to automobiles in 1918.[167] Over the following decades, the hours at which vehicles could use the park were slowly restricted.[168] Supporters of a car ban argued that the park should be a haven from the type of city stress that automobiles represent, and that having them use the park sacrifices the safety of those using the park for recreation,[168][169] while opponents worried that banning traffic in the park would increase traffic outside.[170] The park's West Drive was closed to traffic in 2015. Following a trial run in which the park was car-free during summer 2017, the city determined that there were no major effects on nearby routes, and cars were barred completely from the park beginning in January 2018.[167][171][172] All of the drives are designated as protected bike lanes.[173] There are also four hiking trails inside Prospect Park: the Lullwater, Midwood, Peninsula, and Waterfall trails. They range in length from 0.5 to 1.0 mile (0.80 to 1.61 km), and NYC Parks classifies all of the trails as "easy". The trails are named after the section of the park where they are located.[174] Monuments and statues Dongan Oak monument, marking a fighting site in Battle of Long Island Mozart monument, erected in 1897 The Lafayette Memorial by Daniel Chester French, 1917 Prospect Park contains dozens of monuments and statues to notable figures, including:[175] A bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, sculpted by Henry Kirke Brown in 1869. Originally situated in Grand Army Plaza, it was relocated to the Concert Grove in Prospect Park in 1896, and restored in the late 1980s.[176] With the Concert Grove's restoration in the 2010s, it was proposed to move the statue back to its original position,[177] but As of 2016, it was still located in the Concert Grove.[178] A bronze-on-marble statue of James S.T. Stranahan, sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies and located near the Grand Army Plaza entrance.[179] It was dedicated in 1891 and honors Stranahan, one of the key figures in the park's development.[40] The Lafayette Memorial, a bas-relief on granite at the Ninth Street entrance on the park's west side. The monument, which honors Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was sculpted by Daniel Chester French and was completed in 1917.[15][180] The Maryland Monument, a Corinthian column near Terrace Bridge. It was created by Stanford White and dedicated in 1895.[181] The column commemorates the Maryland 400, members of the 1st Maryland Regiment who charged British forces on Lookout Hill in the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolution, despite being outnumbered.[182] The Prospect Park War Memorial, along the eastern shore of the lake. Sculpted by Henry Augustus Lukeman, it was dedicated in 1921. The memorial consists of two bronze figures in front of a curved wall with memorial plaques, containing the names of 2,800 people who died during World War I.[15][57] Monuments to classical composers, including Beethoven, Mozart, and von Weber, in Concert Grove.[130][183] The surrounding area also contains tributes to poet Thomas Moore, writer Washington Irving, and classical composer Edvard Grieg.[183] A proposed monument of Shirley Chisholm at the Parkside and Ocean Avenues entrance. It will be designed by artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous.[184] Notable structures West side and Long Meadow Litchfield Villa, on the west side of the park Litchfield Villa, on the west side of the park The Picnic House is located in Long Meadow on Prospect Park's west side.[129] Built in 1927, it replaced an earlier rustic structure that had burned down the previous year.[185] The structure was designed by J. Sarsfield Kennedy.[15] The Litchfield Villa is located near the intersection of 5th Street and Prospect Park West, directly west of the Picnic House.[129] The building was originally a private residence built in 1854–1857 in the Italianate style. NYC Parks has used Litchfield Villa as a maintenance and office building since the late 19th century.[15] The villa was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1977.[186] A garage compound used by NYC Parks abuts the villa directly to the south.[15][129] The Tennis House, constructed in 1909–1910 by Helmle, Hudswell and Huberty, is located on the Long Meadow at West Drive, west of approximately 8th Street.[129] The structure is a neoclassical structure made of limestone and brick, with a red tile roof.[8]: 130 It was first used as a locker room for tennis players, but later was converted into a non-public NYC Parks facility.[15] By the 2000s, the structure had become dilapidated. In 2017, it was announced that the Tennis House would be renovated and converted into restrooms as part of a $5.1 million, 4-year project.[113][187] Roughly southeast of the Tennis House is the Dog Beach, on the western shore of the Fallkill section of the watercourse.[129] It is often used by dogs and their owners during summers, since Prospect Park has an "off-leash" policy that allows unleashed dogs during early mornings and late evenings.[188] The beach was restored in 2017.[112] Bandshell At 10th Street, to the west of West Drive, is the Harmony Playground and Bandshell.[129] The bandshell, designed by Aymar Embury II, was built in 1939 on the site of a former "zoological site", which was used for archery and hockey. The bandshell and the adjacent playground were restored in 2000 and given a musical theme.[92] In June 2021, the Prospect Park Bandshell was renamed the Lena Horne Bandshell to honor Lena Horne, a successful entertainer and Brooklyn native, as well as to show solidarity with the black community.[189][190] Northeast side The Rose Garden is located next to Flatbush Avenue, on the north side of Prospect Park southwest of the Grand Army Plaza entrance.[129] It was built on the site of the Playground, a lawn that had been the first part of Prospect Park to open.[15] During the late 19th and early 20th century, the garden had roses and a goldfish pond.[130] The Rose Garden was renovated in the 1960s,[83] after which the garden did not host any roses.[114][130] In 2017, the Prospect Park Alliance announced plans to restore the garden,[191] and in the meantime, it placed 7,000 pinwheels in an effort to attract visitors.[114] To the west, adjacent to the Rose Garden, is another garden called the Vale of Cashmere. The garden was named after Thomas Moore's poem "Lalla Rookh",[73][130] which in turn referred to Kashmir in what was then northern India.[192] The Vale of Cashmere was once used frequently by the well-to-do.[193] It contains a fountain that originally had a sculpture of a nude youth and six turtles in the center, though the sculpture was stolen in 1941.[73] The Vale became overgrown during the 20th century, and its fountain was abandoned. The Vale of Cashmere later became a popular spot for gay cruising, as documented in the book In the Vale of Cashmere by Thomas Roma.[130] The woods around the vale were damaged in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy and were subsequently restored.[102] The Prospect Park Zoo occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) plot[194] slightly south of the Rose Garden across Flatbush Avenue from Brooklyn Botanic Garden.[129] The zoo was opened in 1935[15] and has been operated by the Wildlife Conservation Society since 1980.[195] As of 2016, Prospect Park Zoo had 864 animals representing 176 species.[196] East side Eastern facade of the Boathouse on the Lullwater The oldest structure in Prospect Park, the Lefferts Historic House, is located south of the zoo, near the intersection of Ocean Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, and Empire Boulevard.[129] It was built in 1783 and was originally located near the Willink Hill entrance. The structure was relocated in 1920 to make way for the Willink entrance.[197] The house is a New York City designated landmark and operates as a children's museum of Brooklyn family life during the 19th century.[198] The Prospect Park Carousel is located immediately west of the Lefferts Historic House.[129] The carousel contains 53 horses, created by master horse carver Charles Carmel in 1912, as well as three carvings of other animals and two chariots.[199] The carousel opened in October 1952,[62][63] superseding another carousel that had burned down over twenty years earlier.[200] It was subsequently restored from 1971 to 1974,[84] and again from 1987 to 1989.[89] Prior to the opening of the current carousel, three separate wooden carousels had been built throughout the park's history, and were located in different parts of the park.[15] The Willink Hill entrance contains the neoclassical Willink Entrance Comfort Station.[129] The structure opened in 1912 and is designed similarly to the Tennis House.[8]: 130 [15] Further south of the Willink entrance is the Boathouse on the Lullwater, on the Lullwater's eastern shore.[129] Built in 1905–1907, it was the first structure in the park built by McKim, Mead and White, and was also constructed in the neoclassical style.[8]: 130 After being saved from destruction in 1964,[15][130] it was listed on the NRHP in 1972.[201] A path leading to the Oriental Pavilion South of the Boathouse, past the Cleft Ridge Arch, is the Concert Grove, located on the northeast edge of the Lake.[129] Originally built in 1847,[202] it was designed so park patrons could hear music being played on the later-demolished Music Island. The grove's style complements that of the Central Park Mall but was laid out radially.[15] The grove also contains busts of classical composers.[130] A statue of Abraham Lincoln is located at the Concert Grove.[176] In the middle of the grove is the Concert Grove Pavilion, also known as the Oriental Pavilion, measuring 40 by 80 feet (12 by 24 m) with a roof and columns in a Middle Eastern or Indian style;[15][130] it formerly served as a restaurant but has since fallen into disrepair.[102][202] In 2021, the Concert Grove Pavilion was restored.[120][121] The Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Center at Lakeside is located immediately south of the Concert Grove.[129] It was completed in December 2013 and replaces the former Wollman Rink.[99][100] The multipurpose, year-round facility is used for ice-skating, boating, biking, and roller-skating, as well as winter sports such as hockey and curling.[145][203] The LeFrak Center accommodates over 200,000 visitors annually.[97] Nethermead and Lookout Hill Rebuilt Music Pagoda The Music Pagoda is located in the Nethermead, on the east side of the park along the watercourse's west shore.[129] The original pagoda, built in 1887, was a wooden structure with an octagonal roof and a stone base. It replaced a "temporary" music stand near the Lullwood.[15] The Music Pagoda was used for concerts until it burned down in 1968. The current pagoda on the site is a re-creation of the original, built in 1971.[204] The Well House is located on the northern shore of the Lake, abutting the southern slope of Lookout Hill on the southwestern side of Prospect Park.[73][129] It was the last structure in the park to be built by Olmsted and Vaux, having been built in 1869. It was made of gray stone and brick, and featured a hip roof and a doorway inside a Tudor arch. The house initially contained machinery that powered Prospect Park's watercourse, and at one point, pumped 750,000 U.S. gallons (2,800,000 liters) of water into the watercourse each day.[15] The water from the Well House was drawn from a 70-foot-deep (21 m) well, which led to the Brooklyn Aquifer.[50][132] Originally, there was a 60-foot-tall (18 m) smokestack behind the Well House, as well as a cistern in front of the building.[50][135] The machines became obsolete in the early 20th century when Prospect Park was connected to New York City's municipal water system.[111][135] Subsequently, the tower was demolished and the cistern was filled in.[135] In 2017, the Well House was restored and turned into a composting restroom.[110][111] South side The Peristyle The Prospect Park Peristyle, also known as the Grecian Shelter or Croquet Shelter, is located on the southwest corner of the park, south of the Lake.[129] Constructed by McKim, Mead and White in 1905, this peristyle was built on the site of the 1860s-era Promenade Drive Shelter. The Prospect Park Peristyle is actually designed in the Renaissance architectural style and consists of a rectangular colonnade with Corinthian columns.[15] It was rehabilitated in 1966 and listed on the NRHP in 1972.[205] Former structures The Dairy Cottage, seen circa 1870 The Dairy, c. 1870 The Dairy Cottage, or "the Dairy", was located near Boulder Bridge west of the zoo. It was a two-story stone cottage with two gabled wings; a public room and women's quarters on the first floor; and a single residence on the second floor.[15] The Dairy was built in 1869 or 1871 to sell fresh milk and other light refreshments to the public; a similar building was also built in Central Park. At the time, sheep and cows were allowed to pasture on the meadows of Prospect Park, and seven cows were purchased specifically to provide milk. However, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, news articles after 1879 do not make a mention of the Dairy providing milk.[206] The cottage later became part of the Menagerie, the precursor to the modern-day zoo, and was encircled by several other zoo buildings to its north and east. All of these buildings were demolished in 1935 when the zoo was built.[15] There were two unusual structures built in Prospect Park in its early years. The first was a camera obscura booth located on Breeze Hill's western slope, at the east end of the park, built in the early 1880s.[14][73] The second was the Circular Yacht or Rotary Yacht, a floating carousel with yacht-shaped vehicles. Located near the Long Meadow, the Circular Yacht was constructed by inventor David Smith in 1878 and could hold up to 220 people at once.[14][207] These structures were both demolished before the 1900s, and the camera obscura later became the site of the now-demolished Old Fashioned Flower Garden.[14][15] The park contained a Music Island near the east shore of the Lake.[15] The island was used by musicians who were performing for audiences in the nearby Concert Grove. It was demolished in 1960 to make way for the Wollman Rink. Following the rink's demolition in the early 2010s,[98] a replica of the island was constructed, and it opened in 2012.[71][72] Across the Lake, two structures were built on the peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Model Yacht Club House, built on the south side of the peninsula in 1900, was an octagonal wood-frame clubhouse that burned down in a fire in 1956. On the opposite or northern side of the peninsula, there was another shelter, similar in design to the Concert Grove Pavilion, which lasted from 1915 to around the 1940s.[15][73] On the west side of Prospect Park, there was a conservatory on the Long Meadow. It consisted of sixteen greenhouses located near Seventh Street and Prospect Park West.[208] Though it was a popular visitor attraction, it was supplanted by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden past the park's eastern edge. The conservatory's greenhouses were renovated in 1929–1930, but the cost of upkeep soon became exorbitant.[15] In 1955, the greenhouses were considered redundant and were demolished. At that point, the conservatory's main attraction was an annual Easter flower show.[74][209] Recreation LeFrak Center at Lakeside Entrance to the Parade Ground There are numerous sports hosted in Prospect Park, and specialized facilities exist for several sports. Seven baseball fields are located in the Long Meadow between 9th and 15th Streets. Two are major league-sized fields serving older age groups, while the other five are slightly smaller and intended for younger children, typically 8–12 years old.[129] In the winter, ice skating, cross-country skiing, figure skating, curling, hockey, and tennis are provided in the LeFrak Center at Lakeside.[203] The LeFrak Center also accommodates boating and biking.[145] The Parade Ground also contains a variety of fields for several sports.[210] Other sports are also played in Prospect Park. The Prospect Park Track Club, formed in the early 1970s, organizes regular training runs and races in and around the park's 3.33-mile-long (5.36 km) loop.[211] The Prospect Park Women's Softball League has been playing softball games on summer evenings in Prospect Park since 1973.[212] Circle rules football is also played seasonally inside the park.[213] Since the 1930s, the nearby Kensington Stables has hosted horse-riding lessons in Prospect Park.[214] Pedalboating is also open to the public on the lake.[139] Prospect Park's rolling hills also accommodate sledding during the winters.[215][216] The Bandshell hosts frequent concerts, most notably the "Celebrate Brooklyn!" Performing Arts Festival, a series of summer concerts founded in 1979 that draws performing artists from around the world. The festival is produced by BRIC Arts Media Bklyn.[217] Parade Ground The site of the present-day Parade Ground, at Prospect Park's southwest corner, was first proposed in 1866 and was to be used for training militia.[218] The state approved the acquisition of a 40-acre (16 ha) rectangular area just south of Parkside Avenue and handed control of the plot to the Prospect Park commissioners.[219] The Parade Ground was designated to be used for sports and military drills. It was set apart from the main section of the park in fear that the high level of activity would damage the grass and plants and disrupt the park's pastoral feel. Initially, the Parade Ground contained a long, wood-frame building, which included a two-story pavilion for officers' quarters, as well as a restroom to the south and a guard room to the north.[15] Other uses included a gathering on June 15, 1927, when the Parade Ground attracted over 200,000 people to greet pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh.[220][221] The militia no longer use the Parade Ground, but the plot is still an active athletic complex.[210] In its present form, the Parade Ground has fifteen numbered courts and fields, used for soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, and volleyball.[129][210] They encompass the Prospect Park Tennis Center, four baseball diamonds, two softball fields, a football field, a soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, the Paul Ricard Pétanque Court and three giant multi-use fields.[210] The Stewart Playground is also on the east side of the Parade Ground.[222] Many Major League Baseball stars got their start at the Parade Ground, including Joe Torre and Sandy Koufax.[210] In 2003, the Parade Ground had a netball court installed next to the basketball courts.[223] The next year, the Parade Ground underwent a $12.4 million restoration.[210] The netball court was replaced by an outdoor adult fitness center in 2019, due to a lack of use,[224] and a dog run in the Parade Ground opened in 2020.[119] Boathouse at the Lullwater Management A nonprofit organization called Prospect Park Alliance manages Prospect Park, while NYC Parks owns and operates the land and facilities. The Alliance's responsibilities include maintaining and restoring natural and recreational areas, as well as providing educational and cultural programs.[225] In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, the Alliance had net assets (own equity) of about $37.2 million and liabilities of $3.1 million, which amounted to total assets of $40.3 million. Net assets increased $5.9 million from the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.[226] Prior to the Prospect Park Alliance's founding, there was no private maintenance of the park. The Alliance was created in April 1987[87] after the city had spent $10 million in federal funds to renovate the park in the early 1980s.[88] The Alliance subsequently started new programs to reach out to the surrounding communities, and its renovation programs caused housing prices in the area to increase by the 1990s.[227] Transportation Entrance to the Prospect Park station There are four New York City Subway stations that directly serve the park.[228] The eastern side of Prospect Park is served by the park's eponymous station (B, Q, and S trains) and the Parkside Avenue station (Q train). The western side is served by 15th Street–Prospect Park (F, <F>, and G trains). Grand Army Plaza is served by the 2 and 3 trains at the plaza's eponymous station.[229] Bus service is provided on the western side by the B61, B67 and B69 buses, the southwestern side by the B68 bus; the eastern side by the B16, B41, B43 and B48 buses; and the southern side by the B16 bus.[229][230] Incidents Animals During the 1970s, there were multiple incidents involving animal injuries or deaths at the Prospect Park Zoo. This included the scalding death of a monkey in 1975, allegedly by a zoo employee, as well as an acting zoo director who was accused of shooting at pigeons and killing zoo animals.[231][232] A zoo employee also locked himself in a monkey enclosure for several hours in 1974 to protest the deaths of ten animals.[232][233] These incidents, as well as several others at the Central Park Zoo, prompted protests by animal-rights groups who wanted to close the two zoos and move the animals to the larger Bronx Zoo.[232] This directly led to the Wildlife Conservation Society's takeover of the Prospect Park Zoo in 1980.[86] In May 1987, an 11-year-old boy climbed into the polar bear enclosure after hours at the Prospect Park Zoo and was subsequently mauled by two of the bears; both bears were then fatally shot by police officers. The incident contributed to the Wildlife Conservation Society's decision to redesign the zoo to emphasize species more appropriate to its small size and to visitor interactions.[234] In July 2010, federal authorities captured 400 Canada geese in the park and gassed them to death due to air safety concerns brought up after the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in January 2009.[235] Crimes and deaths Several murders have occurred in Prospect Park during its history. In August 1975, a 15-year-old recent graduate of Ditmas Junior High School, was strangled with a belt in a wooded area of the Vale of Cashmere.[236] In June 1993, a 42-year-old man was shot to death while resisting a group of teenagers trying to steal his bicycle; the shooter received a maximum 25-year prison term.[237] In April 2006, a 61-year-old man was found stabbed to death in the Vale of Cashmere.[238] A 41-year-old homeless man was found beaten to death in a wooded area near a jogging path two years later, in June 2008.[239] A 23-year-old man was fatally shot at the Parade Ground in March 2011, having recently been jailed on charges of being an accomplice in another man's murder.[240] Other incidents have included the April 2018 suicide of lawyer and environmental activist David Buckel, who lit himself on fire to protest the use of fossil fuels.[241][242] Brooklyn is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most-densely-populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan).[5] Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough,[6] with 2,736,074 residents in 2020.[1] If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the third most populous in the U.S. after the rest of New York City and Los Angeles, and ahead of Chicago.[7] Named after the Dutch town of Breukelen, Brooklyn is located on the westernmost edge of Long Island and shares a border with the borough of Queens. It has several bridge and tunnel connections to the borough of Manhattan, across the East River, and is connected to Staten Island by way of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. With a land area of 70.82 square miles (183.4 km2) and a water area of 26 square miles (67 km2), Kings County is the state of New York's fourth-smallest county by land area and third smallest by total area. Brooklyn was founded by the Dutch in the 17th century and grew into a busy port city by the 19th century. On January 1, 1898, after a long political campaign and public-relations battle during the 1890s, in accordance to the new municipal charter of "Greater New York", Brooklyn was consolidated in and annexed (along with other areas) to form the current five-borough structure of New York City. The borough continues to maintain some distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves. Having a larger Jewish population than Jerusalem, the borough has been described as "the most Jewish spot on Earth", with Jews forming around a quarter of its population.[8][9] Brooklyn's official motto, displayed on the borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght, which translates from early modern Dutch as 'Unity makes strength'. In the first decades of the 21st century, Brooklyn has experienced a renaissance as a destination for hipsters,[10] with concomitant gentrification, dramatic house price increases, and a decrease in housing affordability.[11] Some new developments are required to include affordable housing units. Since the 2010s, parts of Brooklyn have evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship, high technology start-up firms,[12][13] postmodern art[14] and design.[13] Toponym The name Brooklyn is derived from the original Dutch town of Breukelen. The oldest mention of the settlement in the Netherlands is in a charter of 953 by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I as Broecklede.[15] This form is made up of the words broeck, meaning bog or marshland, and lede, meaning small (dug) water stream specifically in peat areas.[16] Breuckelen on the American continent was established in 1646, and the name first appeared in print in 1663.[17][18][19] Over the past two millennia, the name of the ancient town in Holland has been Bracola, Broccke, Brocckede, Broiclede, Brocklandia, Broekclen, Broikelen, Breuckelen, and finally Breukelen.[20] The New Amsterdam settlement of Breuckelen also went through many spelling variations, including Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn, Broucklyn, Brookland, Brockland, Brocklin, and Brookline/Brook-line. There have been so many variations of the name that its origin has been debated; some have claimed breuckelen means "broken land."[21] The current name, however, is the one that best reflects its meaning.[22][23] History For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Brooklyn. Part of a series on Long Island Long Island—Title.svg Topics GeographyHistoryEconomyEducationTransportationPoliticsPeopleTallest buildingsRecreationLaw enforcementViticulture Regions BrooklynQueens Nassau CountySuffolk County Municipalities North ShoreSouth Shore North ForkSouth Fork Long Island SoundBarrier islands vte New Netherland series The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizeable city in the 19th century and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to Manhattan and the Bronx), the remaining rural areas of Kings County, and the largely rural areas of Queens and Staten Island, to form the modern City of New York. Colonial era New Netherland The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle Long Island's western edge, which was then largely inhabited by the Lenape, an Algonquian-speaking American Indian tribe often referred to in European documents by a variation of the place name "Canarsie". Bands were associated with place names, but the colonists thought their names represented different tribes. The Breuckelen settlement was named after Breukelen in the Netherlands; it was part of New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company lost little time in chartering the six original parishes (listed here by their later English town names):[24] Gravesend: in 1645, settled under Dutch patent by English followers of Anabaptist Deborah Moody, named for 's-Gravenzande, Netherlands, or Gravesend, England; Brooklyn Heights: as Breuckelen in 1646, after the town now spelled Breukelen, Netherlands. Breuckelen was along Fulton Street (now Fulton Mall) between Hoyt Street and Smith Street (according to H. Stiles and P. Ross). Brooklyn Heights, or Clover Hill, is where the village of Brooklyn was founded in 1816; Flatlands: as Nieuw Amersfoort in 1647; Flatbush: as Midwout in 1652; Nieuw Utrecht in 1652, after the city of Utrecht, Netherlands; and Bushwick: as Boswijck in 1661. A dining table from the Dutch village of Brooklyn, c. 1664, in The Brooklyn Museum The colony's capital of New Amsterdam, across the East River, obtained its charter in 1653. The neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North America's first tide mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today. But the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furman's 1824 compilation.[25] Province of New York Village of Brooklyn and environs, 1766 Present-day Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the English captured the New Netherland colony in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo-Dutch War. New Netherland was taken in a naval action, and the English renamed the new capture for their naval commander, James, Duke of York, brother of the then monarch King Charles II and future king himself as King James II. Brooklyn became a part of the West Riding of York Shire in the Province of New York, one of the Middle Colonies of nascent British America. On November 1, 1683, Kings County was partitioned from the West Riding of York Shire, containing the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island,[26] as one of the "original twelve counties". This tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of a Brooklyn identity. Lacking the patroon and tenant farmer system established along the Hudson River Valley, this agricultural county unusually came to have one of the highest percentages of slaves among the population in the "Original Thirteen Colonies" along the Atlantic Ocean eastern coast of North America.[27] Revolutionary War Further information: Battle of Long Island and New York and New Jersey campaign The Battle of Long Island was fought across Kings County. On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island (also known as the 'Battle of Brooklyn') was fought, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the modern sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park, and Grand Army Plaza.[28] Washington, viewing particularly fierce fighting at the Gowanus Creek and Old Stone House from atop a hill near the west end of present-day Atlantic Avenue, was reported to have emotionally exclaimed: "What brave men I must this day lose!".[28] The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, leaving the British in control of New York Harbor. While Washington's defeat on the battlefield cast early doubts on his ability as the commander, the tactical withdrawal of all his troops and supplies across the East River in a single night is now seen by historians as one of his most brilliant triumphs.[28] The British controlled the surrounding region for the duration of the war, as New York City was soon occupied and became their military and political base of operations in North America for the remainder of the conflict. The British generally enjoyed a dominant Loyalist sentiment from the residents in Kings County who did not evacuate, though the region was also the center of the fledgling—and largely successful—Patriot intelligence network, headed by Washington himself. The British set up a system of prison ships off the coast of Brooklyn in Wallabout Bay, where more American patriots died there than in combat on all the battlefield engagements of the American Revolutionary War combined. One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, which was celebrated by New Yorkers into the 20th century. Post-independence era Urbanization Winter Scene in Brooklyn, c. 1819–20, by Francis Guy (Brooklyn Museum) The first half of the 19th century saw the beginning of the development of urban areas on the economically strategic East River shore of Kings County, facing the adolescent City of New York confined to Manhattan Island. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay (border between Fort Greene and Williamsburgh) during the 19th century and two-thirds of the 20th century. The first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a commuter town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York. Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. In a parallel development, the Town of Bushwick, farther up the river, saw the incorporation of the Village of Williamsburgh in 1827, which separated as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840 and formed the short-lived City of Williamsburgh in 1851. Industrial deconcentration in the mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the northern part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems. However, the East River shore was growing too fast for the three-year-old infant City of Williamsburgh; it, along with its Town of Bushwick hinterland, was subsumed within a greater City of Brooklyn in 1854. By 1841, with the appearance of The Brooklyn Eagle, and Kings County Democrat published by Alfred G. Stevens, the growing city across the East River from Manhattan was producing its own prominent newspaper.[29] It later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19, 1842,[30] and the paper was renamed The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Kings County Democrat on June 1, 1846.[31] On May 14, 1849, the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle;[32] on September 5, 1938, it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle.[33] The establishment of the paper in the 1840s helped develop a separate identity for Brooklynites over the next century. The borough's soon-to-be-famous National League baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, also assisted with this. Both major institutions were lost in the 1950s: the paper closed in 1955 after unsuccessful attempts at a sale following a reporters' strike, and the baseball team decamped for Los Angeles in a realignment of major league baseball in 1957. Agitation against Southern slavery was stronger in Brooklyn than in New York,[34] and under Republican leadership, the city was fervent in the Union cause in the Civil War. After the war the Henry Ward Beecher Monument was built downtown to honor a famous local abolitionist. A great victory arch was built at what was then the south end of town to celebrate the armed forces; this place is now called Grand Army Plaza. The number of people living in Brooklyn grew rapidly early in the 19th century. There were 4,402 by 1810, 7,175 in 1820 and 15,396 by 1830.[35] The city's population was 25,000 in 1834, but the police department comprised only 12 men on the day shift and another 12 on the night shift. Every time a rash of burglaries broke out, officials blamed burglars from New York City. Finally, in 1855, a modern police force was created, employing 150 men. Voters complained of inadequate protection and excessive costs. In 1857, the state legislature merged the Brooklyn force with that of New York City.[36] Civil War Fervent in the Union cause, the city of Brooklyn played a major role in supplying troops and materiel for the American Civil War. The most well-known regiment to be sent off to war from the city was the 14th Brooklyn "Red Legged Devils". They fought from 1861 to 1864, wore red the entire war, and were the only regiment named after a city. President Abraham Lincoln called them into service, making them part of a handful of three-year enlisted soldiers in April 1861. Unlike other regiments during the American Civil War, the 14th wore a uniform inspired by the French Chasseurs, a light infantry used for quick assaults. As a seaport and a manufacturing center, Brooklyn was well prepared to contribute to the Union's strengths in shipping and manufacturing. The two combined in shipbuilding; the ironclad Monitor was built in Brooklyn. Twin city Brooklyn is referred to as the twin city of New York in the 1883 poem, "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, which appears on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. The poem calls New York Harbor "the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame". As a twin city to New York, it played a role in national affairs that was later overshadowed by decades of subordination by its old partner and rival. During this period, the affluent, contiguous districts of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (then characterized collectively as The Hill) were home to such notable figures as Astral Oil Works founder Charles Pratt and his children, including local civic leader Charles Millard Pratt; Theosophical Society co-founder William Quan Judge; and Pfizer co-founders Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart. Brooklyn Heights remained one of the New York metropolitan area's most august patrician redoubts into the early 20th century under the aegis of such figures as abolitionist clergyman Henry Ward Beecher, educator-politician Seth Low, merchant-banker Horace Brigham Claflin, attorney William Cary Sanger (who served for two years as United States Assistant Secretary of War under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt) and publisher Alfred Smith Barnes. Economic growth continued, propelled by immigration and industrialization, and Brooklyn established itself as the third-most populous American city for much of the 19th century. The waterfront from Gowanus to Greenpoint was developed with piers and factories. Industrial access to the waterfront was improved by the Gowanus Canal and the canalized Newtown Creek. USS Monitor was the most famous product of the large and growing shipbuilding industry of Williamsburg. After the Civil War, trolley lines and other transport brought urban sprawl beyond Prospect Park (completed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1873 and widely heralded as an improvement upon the earlier Central Park) into the center of the county, as evinced by gradual settlement in comparatively rustic Windsor Terrace and Kensington. By century's end, Dean Alvord's Prospect Park South development in nearby Flatbush would serve as the template for contemporaneous "Victorian Flatbush" micro-neighborhoods and the post-consolidation emergence of outlying districts, such as Midwood and Marine Park. Along with Oak Park, Illinois, it also presaged the automobile and commuter rail-driven vogue for more remote prewar suburban communities, such as Garden City, New York and Montclair, New Jersey. Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, by Currier and Ives The rapidly growing population needed more water, so the City built centralized waterworks, including the Ridgewood Reservoir. The municipal Police Department, however, was abolished in 1854 in favor of a Metropolitan force covering also New York and Westchester Counties. In 1865 the Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) also gave way to the new Metropolitan Fire District. Throughout this period the peripheral towns of Kings County, far from Manhattan and even from urban Brooklyn, maintained their rustic independence. The only municipal change seen was the secession of the eastern section of the Town of Flatbush as the Town of New Lots in 1852. The building of rail links such as the Brighton Beach Line in 1878 heralded the end of this isolation. Sports in Brooklyn became a business. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms played professional baseball at Washington Park in the convenient suburb of Park Slope and elsewhere. Early in the next century, under their new name of Brooklyn Dodgers, they brought baseball to Ebbets Field, beyond Prospect Park. Racetracks, amusement parks, and beach resorts opened in Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and elsewhere in the southern part of the county. Currier and Ives print of Brooklyn, 1886 Toward the end of the 19th century, the City of Brooklyn experienced its final, explosive growth spurt. Park Slope was rapidly urbanized, with its eastern summit soon emerging as the city's third "Gold Coast" district alongside Brooklyn Heights and The Hill. East of The Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant coalesced as an upper middle class enclave for lawyers, shopkeepers, and merchants of German and Irish descent (notably exemplified by John C. Kelley, a water meter magnate and close friend of President Grover Cleveland), with nearby Crown Heights gradually fulfilling an analogous role for the city's Jewish population as development continued through the early 20th century. Northeast of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick (by now a working class, predominantly German district) established a considerable brewery industry; the so-called "Brewer's Row" encompassed 14 breweries operating in a 14-block area in 1890. On the southwestern waterfront of Kings County, railroads and industrialization spread to Sunset Park (then coterminous with the city's sprawling, sparsely populated Eighth Ward) and adjacent Bay Ridge (hitherto a resort-like subsection of the Town of New Utrecht). Within a decade, the city had annexed the Town of New Lots in 1886; the Towns of Flatbush, Gravesend and New Utrecht in 1894; and the Town of Flatlands in 1896. Brooklyn had reached its natural municipal boundaries at the ends of Kings County. Seth Low as mayor Low's time in office 1882-1885 was marked by a number of reforms:[37] Low's major achievement as mayor was to secure a degree of "home rule" of the city. Previously, the State Government dictated city policies, hiring, salaries, and other affairs. Low managed to secure an unofficial veto over all Brooklyn bills in the State Assembly. Low instituted a number of educational reforms. He was the first to integrate Brooklyn schools. He introduced free textbooks for all students, not just those who had taken a pauper's oath. He instituted a competitive examination for hiring teachers, instead of giving teaching jobs to pay political debts. He set aside $430,000 for the construction of new schools to accommodate 10,000 new students. Low introduced Civil Service Code to all city employees, eliminating patronage jobs. German Americans wanted to enjoy their local beer gardens on the Sabbath, in violation of state "dry" laws and the demands of local puritanical clergy. Low's compromise solution was that saloons could stay open as long as they were orderly. At the first sign of rowdiness, they would be closed. Low served as a member of the board of the New York Bridge Company, the company that built the Brooklyn Bridge, and led an unsuccessful effort to remove Washington Roebling as the chief engineer on that project.[38] Low raised the tax rate from $2.33 of $100 assessed valuation in 1881 to $2.59 in 1883.[37] He also went after property owners who had not paid back taxes. This increase in city revenue enabled him to reduce the city's debt and increase services. However, raising taxes proved extremely unpopular. Mayors of the City of Brooklyn See also: List of mayors of New York City and Brooklyn borough presidents Brooklyn elected a mayor from 1834 until consolidation in 1898 into the City of Greater New York, whose own second mayor (1902–1903), Seth Low, had been Mayor of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885. Since 1898, Brooklyn has, in place of a separate mayor, elected a Borough President. Mayors of the City of Brooklyn[39] Mayor Party Start year End year George Hall Democratic-Republican 1834 1834 Jonathan Trotter Democratic 1835 1836 Jeremiah Johnson Whig 1837 1838 Cyrus P. Smith Whig 1839 1841 Henry C. Murphy Democratic 1842 1842 Joseph Sprague Democratic 1843 1844 Thomas G. Talmage Democratic 1845 1845 Francis B. Stryker Whig 1846 1848 Edward Copland Whig 1849 1849 Samuel Smith Democratic 1850 1850 Conklin Brush Whig 1851 1852 Edward A. Lambert Democratic 1853 1854 George Hall Know Nothing 1855 1856 Samuel S. Powell Democratic 1857 1860 Martin Kalbfleisch Democratic 1861 1863 Alfred M. Wood Republican 1864 1865 Samuel Booth Republican 1866 1867 Martin Kalbfleisch Democratic 1868 1871 Samuel S. Powell Democratic 1872 1873 John W. Hunter Democratic 1874 1875 Frederick A. Schroeder Republican 1876 1877 James Howell Democratic 1878 1881 Seth Low Republican 1882 1885 Daniel D. Whitney Democratic 1886 1887 Alfred C. Chapin Democratic 1888 1891 David A. Boody Democratic 1892 1893 Charles A. Schieren Republican 1894 1895 Frederick W. Wurster Republican 1896 1897 New York City borough Further information: History of New York City (1898–1945) Brooklyn in 1897 In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, transportation to Manhattan was no longer by water only, and the City of Brooklyn's ties to the City of New York were strengthened. The question became whether Brooklyn was prepared to engage in the still-grander process of consolidation then developing throughout the region, whether to join with the county of Richmond and the western portion of Queens County, and the county of New York, which by then already included the Bronx, to form the five boroughs of a united City of New York. Andrew Haswell Green and other progressives said yes, and eventually, they prevailed against the Daily Eagle and other conservative forces. In 1894, residents of Brooklyn and the other counties voted by a slight majority to merge, effective in 1898.[40] Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties, but the loss of Brooklyn's separate identity as a city was met with consternation by some residents at the time. Many newspapers of the day called the merger the "Great Mistake of 1898", and the phrase still elicits Brooklyn pride among old-time Brooklynites.[41] Geography Location of Brooklyn (red) within New York City (remainder yellow) USGS map of Brooklyn (2019) Brooklyn is 97 square miles (250 km2) in area, of which 71 square miles (180 km2) is land (73%), and 26 square miles (67 km2) is water (27%); the borough is the second-largest by land area among the New York City's boroughs. However, Kings County, coterminous with Brooklyn, is New York State's fourth-smallest county by land area and third-smallest by total area.[6] Brooklyn lies at the southwestern end of Long Island, and the borough's western border constitutes the island's western tip. Brooklyn's water borders are extensive and varied, including Jamaica Bay; the Atlantic Ocean; The Narrows, separating Brooklyn from the borough of Staten Island in New York City and crossed by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge; Upper New York Bay, separating Brooklyn from Jersey City and Bayonne in the U.S. state of New Jersey; and the East River, separating Brooklyn from the borough of Manhattan in New York City and traversed by the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and numerous routes of the New York City Subway. To the east of Brooklyn lies the borough of Queens, which contains John F. Kennedy International Airport in that borough's Jamaica neighborhood, approximately two miles from the border of Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood. Climate Under the Köppen climate classification, using the 32 °F (0 °C) coldest month (January) isotherm, Brooklyn experiences a humid subtropical climate (Cfa),[42] with partial shielding from the Appalachian Mountains and moderating influences from the Atlantic Ocean. Brooklyn receives plentiful precipitation all year round, with nearly 50 in (1,300 mm) yearly. The area averages 234 days with at least some sunshine annually, and averages 57% of possible sunshine annually, accumulating 2,535 hours of sunshine per annum.[43] Brooklyn lies in the USDA 7b plant hardiness zone.[44] Climate data for JFK Airport, New York (1981–2010 normals,[45] extremes 1948–present) Climate data for Brooklyn, New York City (Avenue V) Boroughscape The Downtown Brooklyn skyline, the Manhattan Bridge (far left), and the Brooklyn Bridge (near left) are seen across the East River from Lower Manhattan at sunset in 2013. View of the Brooklyn skyline from the Gowanus Canal in 2021 Neighborhoods See also: List of Brooklyn neighborhoods and New York City ethnic enclaves Landmark 19th-century rowhouses on tree-lined Kent Street, in Greenpoint Historic District Park Slope 150–159 Willow Street, three original red-brick early 19th-century Federal Style houses in Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn's neighborhoods are dynamic in ethnic composition. For example, the early to mid-20th century, Brownsville had a majority of Jewish residents; since the 1970s it has been majority African American. Midwood during the early 20th century was filled with ethnic Irish, then filled with Jewish residents for nearly 50 years, and is slowly becoming a Pakistani enclave. Brooklyn's most populous racial group, white, declined from 97.2% in 1930 to 46.9% by 1990.[50] The borough attracts people previously living in other cities in the United States. Of these, most come from Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, and Seattle.[51][52][53][54][55][56][57] Community diversity Imatra Society, consisting of Finnish immigrants, celebrating its summer festival in Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, in 1894 Given New York City's role as a crossroads for immigration from around the world, Brooklyn has evolved a globally cosmopolitan ambiance of its own, demonstrating a robust and growing demographic and cultural diversity with respect to metrics including nationality, religion, race, and domiciliary partnership. In 2010, 51.6% of the population was counted as members of religious congregations.[58] In 2014, there were 914 religious organizations in Brooklyn, the 10th most of all counties in the nation.[59] Brooklyn contains dozens of distinct neighborhoods representing many of the major culturally identified groups found within New York City. Among the most prominent are listed below: Jewish American The world's largest metropolitan Hasidic Jewish community resides in Brooklyn. Main article: Jews in New York City Over 600,000 Jews, particularly Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, have become concentrated in such historically Jewish areas as Borough Park, Williamsburg, and Midwood, where there are many yeshivas, synagogues, and kosher restaurants, as well as many other Jewish businesses. Other notable religious Jewish neighborhoods with a longstanding cultural lineage include Kensington, Canarsie, Sea Gate, and Crown Heights, home to the Chabad world headquarters. Neighborhoods with largely defunct yet historically notable Jewish populations include Flatbush, East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York, Bensonhurst and Sheepshead Bay (particularly its Madison subsection). Many hospitals in Brooklyn were started by Jewish charities, including Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park and Brookdale Hospital in East Flatbush.[60][61] The predominantly Jewish, Crown Heights (and later East Flatbush)-based Madison Democratic Club served as the borough's primary "clubhouse" political venue for decades until the ascendancy of Meade Esposito's rival, Canarsie-based Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in the 1960s and 1970s, playing an integral role in the rise of such figures as Speaker of the New York State Assembly Irwin Steingut; his son, fellow Speaker Stanley Steingut; New York City Mayor Abraham Beame; real estate developer Fred Trump; Democratic district leader Beadie Markowitz; and political fixer Abraham "Bunny" Lindenbaum. Many non-Orthodox Jews (ranging from observant members of various denominations to atheists of Jewish cultural heritage) are concentrated in Ditmas Park and Park Slope, with smaller observant and culturally Jewish populations in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island. Chinese American 8th Avenue in Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown Main articles: Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Chinese Americans in New York City Over 200,000 Chinese Americans live throughout the southern parts of Brooklyn, primarily concentrated in Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Gravesend and Homecrest. Brooklyn is the borough that is home to the highest number of Chinatowns in New York City. The largest concentration is in Sunset Park along 8th Avenue, which has become known for its Chinese culture since the opening of the now-defunct Winley Supermarket in 1986 spurred widespread settlement in the area. It is called "Brooklyn's Chinatown" and originally it was a small Chinese enclave with Cantonese speakers being the main Chinese population during the late 1980s and 1990s, but since the 2000s, the Chinese population in the area dramatically shifted to majority Fuzhounese Americans, which immensely contributed to expanding this Chinatown very dramatically rendering this Chinatown with the nicknames "Fuzhou Town (福州埠), Brooklyn" or the "Little Fuzhou (小福州)" of Brooklyn. Many Chinese restaurants can be found throughout Sunset Park, and the area hosts a popular Chinese New Year celebration. Since the 2000s going forward, the growing concentration of the Cantonese speaking population in Brooklyn have dramatically shifted to Bensonhurst/Gravesend and Homecrest creating newer Chinatowns of Brooklyn and these newer Brooklyn Chinatowns are known as "Brooklyn's Little Hong Kong/Guangdong" due to their Chinese populations being overwhelmingly Cantonese populated.[62][63] Caribbean and African American Main article: Caribbeans in New York City The West Indian Day Parade marching by the Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn's African American and Caribbean communities are spread throughout much of Brooklyn. Brooklyn's West Indian community is concentrated in the Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Kensington, and Canarsie neighborhoods in central Brooklyn. Brooklyn is home to the largest community of West Indians outside of the Caribbean. Although the largest West Indian groups in Brooklyn are Jamaicans, Guyanese, and Haitians, there are West Indian immigrants from nearly every part of the Caribbean. Crown Heights and Flatbush are home to many of Brooklyn's West Indian restaurants and bakeries. Brooklyn has an annual, celebrated Carnival in the tradition of pre-Lenten celebrations in the islands.[64] Started by natives of Trinidad and Tobago, the West Indian Labor Day Parade takes place every Labor Day on Eastern Parkway. The Brooklyn Academy of Music also holds the DanceAfrica festival in late May, featuring street vendors and dance performances showcasing food and culture from all parts of Africa.[65][66] Since the opening of the IND Fulton Street Line in 1936, Bedford-Stuyvesant has been home to one of the most famous African American communities in the United States. Working-class communities remain prevalent in Brownsville, East New York and Coney Island, while remnants of similar communities in Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have endured amid widespread gentrification. Latino American Further information: Puerto Rican migration to New York City and Nuyorican In the aftermath of World War II and subsequent urban renewal initiatives that decimated longtime Manhattan enclaves (most notably on the Upper West Side), Puerto Rican migrants began to settle in various waterfront industrial neighborhoods (including Sunset Park, Red Hook, and Gowanus), near the shipyards and factories where they worked. The borough's Latino population diversified after the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act loosened restrictions on immigration from elsewhere in Latin America. Bushwick is the largest hub of Brooklyn's Latino American community. Like other Latino neighborhoods in New York City, Bushwick has an established Puerto Rican presence, along with an influx of many Dominicans, South Americans, Central Americans, and Mexicans. As nearly 80% of Bushwick's population is Latino, its residents have created many businesses to support their various national and distinct traditions in food and other items. Sunset Park's population is 42% Latino, made up of these various ethnic groups. Brooklyn's main Latino groups are Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Dominicans, and Ecuadorians; they are spread out throughout the borough. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are predominant in Bushwick, Williamsburg's South Side and East New York. Mexicans (especially from the state of Puebla) now predominate alongside Chinese immigrants in Sunset Park, although remnants of the neighborhood's once-substantial postwar Puerto Rican and Dominican communities continue to reside below 39th Street. Save for Red Hook (which remained roughly one-fifth Latino American as of the 2010 Census), the South Side and Sunset Park, similar postwar communities in other waterfront neighborhoods (including western Park Slope, the north end of Greenpoint[67] and Boerum Hill, long considered the northern subsection of Gowanus) largely disappeared by the turn of the century due to various factors, including deindustrialization, ensuing gentrification and suburbanization among more affluent Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. A Panamanian enclave exists in Crown Heights. Russian and Ukrainian American Main article: Russian Americans in New York City Brooklyn is also home to many Russians and Ukrainians, who are mainly concentrated in the areas of Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay. Brighton Beach features many Russian and Ukrainian businesses and has been nicknamed Little Russia and Little Odessa, respectively. In the 1970s, Soviet Jews won the right to immigrate, and many ended up in Brighton Beach. In recent years, the non-Jewish Russian and Ukrainian communities of Brighton Beach have grown, and the area is now home to a diverse collection of immigrants from across the former USSR. Smaller concentrations of Russian and Ukrainian Americans are scattered elsewhere in south Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Homecrest, Coney Island and Mill Basin. A growing community of Uzbek Americans have settled alongside them in recent years due to their ability to speak Russian.[68][69] Polish American Brooklyn's Polish are historically concentrated in Greenpoint, home to Little Poland. Other longstanding settlements in Borough Park and Sunset Park have endured, while more recent immigrants are scattered throughout the southern parts of Brooklyn alongside the Russian and Ukrainian American communities. Italian American Main article: Italians in New York City Despite widespread migration to Staten Island and more suburban areas in metropolitan New York throughout the postwar era, notable concentrations of Italian Americans continue to reside in the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bath Beach and Gravesend. Less perceptible remnants of older communities have persisted in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, where the homes of the remaining Italian Americans can often be contrasted with more recent upper middle class residents through the display of small Madonna statues, the retention of plastic-metal stoop awnings and the use of Formstone in house cladding. All of the aforementioned neighborhoods have retained Italian restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, pizzerias, cafes and social clubs. Arab/Muslim American In the early 20th century, many Lebanese and Syrian Christians settled around Atlantic Avenue west of Flatbush Avenue in Boerum Hill; more recently, this area has evolved into a Yemeni commercial district. More recent, predominantly Muslim Arab immigrants, especially Egyptians and Lebanese, have moved into the southwest portion of Brooklyn, particularly to Bay Ridge, where many Middle Eastern restaurants, hookah lounges, halal shops, Islamic shops and mosques line the commercial thoroughfares of Fifth and Third Avenues below 86th Street. Brighton Beach is home to a growing Pakistani American community, while Midwood is home to Little Pakistan along Coney Island Avenue recently renamed Muhammad Ali Jinnah way. Pakistani Independence Day is celebrated every year with parades and parties on Coney Island Avenue. Just to the north, Kensington is one of New York's several emerging Bangladeshi enclaves. Irish American Third-, fourth- and fifth-generation Irish Americans can be found throughout Brooklyn, with moderate concentrations[clarification needed] enduring in the neighborhoods of Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Marine Park and Gerritsen Beach. Historical communities also existed in Vinegar Hill and other waterfront industrial neighborhoods, such as Greenpoint and Sunset Park. Paralleling the Italian American community, many moved to Staten Island and suburban areas in the postwar era. Those that stayed engendered close-knit, stable working-to-middle class communities through employment in the civil service (especially in law enforcement, transportation, and the New York City Fire Department) and the building and construction trades, while others were subsumed by the professional-managerial class and largely shed the Irish American community's distinct cultural traditions (including continued worship in the Catholic Church and other social activities, such as Irish stepdance and frequenting Irish American bars).[citation needed] Indian American While not as extensive as the Indian American population in Queens, younger professionals of Asian Indian origin are finding Brooklyn to be a convenient alternative to Manhattan to find housing. Nearly 30,000 Indian Americans call Brooklyn home.[citation needed] Greek American Brooklyn's Greek Americans live throughout the borough. A historical concentration has endured in Bay Ridge and adjacent areas, where there is a noticeable cluster of Hellenic-focused schools, businesses and cultural institutions. Other businesses are situated in Downtown Brooklyn near Atlantic Avenue. As in much of the New York metropolitan area, Greek-owned diners are found throughout the borough. LGBTQ community Main article: LGBT culture in New York City § Brooklyn Brooklyn is home to a large and growing number of same-sex couples. Same-sex marriages in New York were legalized on June 24, 2011, and were authorized to take place beginning 30 days thereafter.[70] The Park Slope neighborhood spearheaded the popularity of Brooklyn among lesbians, and Prospect Heights has an LGBT residential presence.[71] Numerous neighborhoods have since become home to LGBT communities. Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender-rights demonstration in LGBTQ history, took place on June 14, 2020, stretching from Grand Army Plaza to Fort Greene, focused on supporting Black transgender lives, drawing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 participants.[72][73] Artists-in-residence Brooklyn became a preferred site for artists and hipsters to set up live/work spaces after being priced out of the same types of living arrangements in Manhattan. Various neighborhoods in Brooklyn, including Williamsburg, DUMBO, Red Hook, and Park Slope evolved as popular neighborhoods for artists-in-residence. However, rents and costs of living have since increased dramatically in these same neighborhoods, forcing artists to move to somewhat less expensive neighborhoods in Brooklyn or across Upper New York Bay to locales in New Jersey, such as Jersey City or Hoboken.[74] Demographics Main article: Demographics of Brooklyn Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1731 2,150 — 1756 2,707 +25.9% 1771 3,623 +33.8% 1786 3,966 +9.5% 1790 4,549 +14.7% 1800 5,740 +26.2% 1810 8,303 +44.7% 1820 11,187 +34.7% 1830 20,535 +83.6% 1840 47,613 +131.9% 1850 138,822 +191.6% 1860 279,122 +101.1% 1870 419,921 +50.4% 1880 599,495 +42.8% 1890 838,547 +39.9% 1900 1,166,582 +39.1% 1910 1,634,351 +40.1% 1920 2,018,356 +23.5% 1930 2,560,401 +26.9% 1940 2,698,285 +5.4% 1950 2,738,175 +1.5% 1960 2,627,319 −4.0% 1970 2,602,012 −1.0% 1980 2,230,936 −14.3% 1990 2,300,664 +3.1% 2000 2,465,326 +7.2% 2010 2,504,700 +1.6% 2020 2,736,074 +9.2% 1731–1786[75] U.S. Decennial Census[76] 1790–1960[77] 1900–1990[78] 1990–2000[79] 2010[80] 2020[1] Source: U.S. Decennial Census[81] New York City's five boroughsvte Jurisdiction Population Land area Density of population GDP † Borough County Census (2020) square miles square km people/ sq. mile people/ sq. km billions (2012 US$) 2 The Bronx Bronx 1,472,654 42.2 109.3 34,920 13,482 $38.726 Brooklyn Kings 2,736,074 69.4 179.7 39,438 15,227 $92.300 Manhattan New York 1,694,251 22.7 58.8 74,781 28,872 $651.619 Queens Queens 2,405,464 108.7 281.5 22,125 8,542 $88.578 Staten Island Richmond 495,747 57.5 148.9 8,618 3,327 $14.806 City of New York 8,804,190 302.6 783.8 29,095 11,234 $885.958 State of New York 20,215,751 47,126.4 122,056.8 429 166 $1,514.779 † GDP = Gross Domestic Product Sources:[82][83][84][85] and see individual borough articles. Racial composition 2020[86] 2010[87] 1990[50] 1950[50] 1900[50] White 37.6% 42.8% 46.9% 92.2% 98.3% —Non-Hispanic 35.4% 35.7% 40.1% n/a n/a Black or African American 26.7% 34.3% 37.9% 7.6% 1.6% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 18.9% 19.8% 20.1% n/a n/a Asian 13.6% 10.5% 4.8% 0.1% 0.1% Two or more races 8.7% 3.0% n/a n/a n/a At the 2020 census, 2,736,074 people lived in Brooklyn. The United States Census Bureau had estimated Brooklyn's population increased 2.2% to 2,559,903 between 2010 and 2019. Brooklyn's estimated population represented 30.7% of New York City's estimated population of 8,336,817; 33.5% of Long Island's population of 7,701,172; and 13.2% of New York State's population of 19,542,209.[88] In 2020, the government of New York City projected Brooklyn's population at 2,648,403.[89] The 2019 census estimates determined there were 958,567 households with an average of 2.66 persons per household.[90] There were 1,065,399 housing units in 2019 and a median gross rent of $1,426. Citing growth, Brooklyn gained 9,696 building permits at the 2019 census estimates program. Ethnic origins in Brooklyn Ethnic groups Ancestry in Brooklyn Borough (2014-2018)[91][92][93][not specific enough to verify] Origin percent African American (Does not include West Indian or African) 16.4% West Indian American (Except Hispanic Groups) 11.5% East Asian American (Includes Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) 8.4% English American (*Includes "American" ancestry) 7.6% Puerto Rican American 5.7% Italian American 4.8% Russian and Eastern European (Includes Russian, Ukrainian, Soviet Union, etc.) 4.3% Central European (Includes Slovakian, Slovenian, Slavic, Czech, etc.) 4.2% Mexican American 4.1% Irish American 3.8% Dominican American 3.5% German American 2.8% South Asian American 2.4% South American (Includes Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Argentinian, etc.) 2.3% Sub-Saharan African (Includes Ethiopian, Nigerian, etc.) 2% Central American (Includes Honduran, Salvadoran, Costa Rican, etc.) 1.9% Other[a] 14.7% The 2020 American Community Survey estimated the racial and ethnic makeup of Brooklyn was 35.4% non-Hispanic white, 26.7% Black or African American, 0.9% American Indian or Alaska Native, 13.6% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 4.1% two or more races, and 18.9% Hispanic or Latin American of any race.[94] According to the 2010 United States census, Brooklyn's population was 42.8% White, including 35.7% non-Hispanic White; 34.3% Black, including 31.9% non-Hispanic black; 10.5% Asian; 0.5% Native American; 0.0% (rounded) Pacific Islander; 3.0% Multiracial American; and 8.8% from other races. Hispanics and Latinos made up 19.8% of Brooklyn's population.[95] In 2010, Brooklyn had some neighborhoods segregated based on race, ethnicity, and religion. Overall, the southwest half of Brooklyn is racially mixed although it contains few black residents; the northeast section is mostly black and Hispanic/Latino.[96] Languages Brooklyn has a high degree of linguistic diversity. As of 2010, 54.1% (1,240,416) of Brooklyn residents ages 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 17.2% (393,340) spoke Spanish, 6.5% (148,012) Chinese, 5.3% (121,607) Russian, 3.5% (79,469) Yiddish, 2.8% (63,019) French Creole, 1.4% (31,004) Italian, 1.2% (27,440) Hebrew, 1.0% (23,207) Polish, 1.0% (22,763) French, 1.0% (21,773) Arabic, 0.9% (19,388) various Indic languages, 0.7% (15,936) Urdu, and African languages were spoken as a main language by 0.5% (12,305) of the population over the age of five. In total, 45.9% (1,051,456) of Brooklyn's population ages 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.[97] Culture Main article: Culture of Brooklyn See also: Culture of New York City, LGBT culture in New York City § Brooklyn, and Media of New York City The Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway Brooklyn Botanic Garden The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn has played a major role in various aspects of American culture including literature, cinema, and theater. The Brooklyn accent has often been portrayed as the "typical New York accent" in American media, although this accent and stereotype are supposedly fading out.[98] Brooklyn's official colors are blue and gold.[99] Cultural venues Brooklyn hosts the world-renowned Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the second-largest public art collection in the United States, housed in the Brooklyn Museum. The Brooklyn Museum, opened in 1897, is New York City's second-largest public art museum. It has in its permanent collection more than 1.5 million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art. The Brooklyn Children's Museum, the world's first museum dedicated to children, opened in December 1899. The only such New York State institution accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, it is one of the few globally to have a permanent collection – over 30,000 cultural objects and natural history specimens. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) includes a 2,109-seat opera house, an 874-seat theater, and the art-house BAM Rose Cinemas. Bargemusic and St. Ann's Warehouse are on the other side of Downtown Brooklyn in the DUMBO arts district. Brooklyn Technical High School has the second-largest auditorium in New York City (after Radio City Music Hall), with a seating capacity of over 3,000.[100] Media Local periodicals Brooklyn has several local newspapers: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Bay Currents (Oceanfront Brooklyn), Brooklyn View, The Brooklyn Paper, and Courier-Life Publications. Courier-Life Publications, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is Brooklyn's largest chain of newspapers. Brooklyn is also served by the major New York dailies, including The New York Times, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. Several others are now defunct, including the Brooklyn Union (1867-1937),[101][102] and the Brooklyn Times.[101] The borough is home to the arts and politics monthly Brooklyn Rail, as well as the arts and cultural quarterly Cabinet. Hello Mr. is also published in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Magazine is one of the few glossy magazines about Brooklyn. Several others are now defunct, including BKLYN Magazine (a bimonthly lifestyle book owned by Joseph McCarthy, that saw itself as a vehicle for high-end advertisers in Manhattan and was mailed to 80,000 high-income households), Brooklyn Bridge Magazine, The Brooklynite (a free, glossy quarterly edited by Daniel Treiman), and NRG (edited by Gail Johnson and originally marketed as a local periodical for Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, but expanded in scope to become the self-proclaimed "Pulse of Brooklyn" and then the "Pulse of New York").[103] Ethnic press Brooklyn has a thriving ethnic press. El Diario La Prensa, the largest and oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States, maintains its corporate headquarters at 1 MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn.[104] Major ethnic publications include the Brooklyn-Queens Catholic paper The Tablet, Hamodia, an Orthodox Jewish daily and The Jewish Press, an Orthodox Jewish weekly. Many nationally distributed ethnic newspapers are based in Brooklyn. Over 60 ethnic groups, writing in 42 languages, publish some 300 non-English language magazines and newspapers in New York City. Among them is the quarterly "L'Idea", a bilingual magazine printed in Italian and English since 1974. In addition, many newspapers published abroad, such as The Daily Gleaner and The Star of Jamaica, are available in Brooklyn.[citation needed] Our Time Press published weekly by DBG Media covers the Village of Brooklyn with a motto of "The Local paper with the Global-View". Television The City of New York has an official television station, run by NYC Media, which features programming based in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Community Access Television is the borough's public access channel.[105] Its studios are at the BRIC Arts Media venue, called BRIC House, located on Fulton Street in the Fort Greene section of the borough.[106] Events The annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade (mid-to-late June) is a costume-and-float parade.[107] Coney Island also hosts the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (July 4).[107] The annual Labor Day Carnival (also known as the Labor Day Parade or West Indian Day Parade) takes place along Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival runs annually around the second week of June.[108] Economy See also: Economy of New York City The USS North Carolina, launched at Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 1940 Newer buildings near East River State Park Brooklyn's job market is driven by three main factors: the performance of the national and city economy, population flows and the borough's position as a convenient back office for New York's businesses.[109] Forty-four percent of Brooklyn's employed population, or 410,000 people, work in the borough; more than half of the borough's residents work outside its boundaries. As a result, economic conditions in Manhattan are important to the borough's jobseekers. Strong international immigration to Brooklyn generates jobs in services, retailing and construction.[109] Since the late 20th century, Brooklyn has benefited from a steady influx of financial back office operations from Manhattan, the rapid growth of a high-tech and entertainment economy in DUMBO, and strong growth in support services such as accounting, personal supply agencies, and computer services firms.[109] Jobs in the borough have traditionally been concentrated in manufacturing, but since 1975, Brooklyn has shifted from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. In 2004, 215,000 Brooklyn residents worked in the services sector, while 27,500 worked in manufacturing. Although manufacturing has declined, a substantial base has remained in apparel and niche manufacturing concerns such as furniture, fabricated metals, and food products.[110] The pharmaceutical company Pfizer was founded in Brooklyn in 1869 and had a manufacturing plant in the borough for many years that employed thousands of workers, but the plant shut down in 2008. However, new light-manufacturing concerns packaging organic and high-end food have sprung up in the old plant.[111] First established as a shipbuilding facility in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed 70,000 people at its peak during World War II and was then the largest employer in the borough. The Missouri, the ship on which the Japanese formally surrendered, was built there, as was the Maine, whose sinking off Havana led to the start of the Spanish–American War. The iron-sided Civil War vessel the Monitor was built in Greenpoint. From 1968 to 1979 Seatrain Shipbuilding was the major employer.[112] Later tenants include industrial design firms, food processing businesses, artisans, and the film and television production industry. About 230 private-sector firms providing 4,000 jobs are at the Yard. Construction and services are the fastest growing sectors.[113] Most employers in Brooklyn are small businesses. In 2000, 91% of the approximately 38,704 business establishments in Brooklyn had fewer than 20 employees.[114] As of August 2008, the borough's unemployment rate was 5.9%.[115] Brooklyn is also home to many banks and credit unions. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, there were 37 banks and 26 credit unions operating in the borough in 2010.[116][117] The rezoning of Downtown Brooklyn has generated over US$10 billion of private investment and $300 million in public improvements since 2004. Brooklyn is also attracting numerous high technology start-up companies, as Silicon Alley, the metonym for New York City's entrepreneurship ecosystem, has expanded from Lower Manhattan into Brooklyn.[118] Parks and other attractions See also: Tourism in New York City Kwanzan Cherries in bloom at Brooklyn Botanic Garden Astroland in Coney Island Brooklyn Botanic Garden: adjacent to Prospect Park is the 52-acre (21 ha) botanical garden, which includes a cherry tree esplanade, a one-acre (0.4 ha) rose garden, a Japanese hill, and pond garden, a fragrance garden, a water lily pond esplanade, several conservatories, a rock garden, a native flora garden, a bonsai tree collection, and children's gardens and discovery exhibits. Coney Island developed as a playground for the rich in the early 1900s, but it grew as one of America's first amusement grounds and attracted crowds from all over New York. The Cyclone rollercoaster, built-in 1927, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1920 Wonder Wheel and other rides are still operational. Coney Island went into decline in the 1970s but has undergone a renaissance.[119] Floyd Bennett Field: the first municipal airport in New York City and long-closed for operations, is now part of the National Park System. Many of the historic hangars and runways are still extant. Nature trails and diverse habitats are found within the park, including salt marsh and a restored area of shortgrass prairie that was once widespread on the Hempstead Plains. Green-Wood Cemetery, founded by the social reformer Henry Evelyn Pierrepont in 1838, is an early Rural cemetery. It is the burial ground of many notable New Yorkers. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge: a unique Federal wildlife refuge straddling the Brooklyn-Queens border, part of Gateway National Recreation Area New York Transit Museum displays historical artifacts of Greater New York's subway, commuter rail, and bus systems; it is at Court Street, a former Independent Subway System station in Brooklyn Heights on the Fulton Street Line. Prospect Park is a public park in central Brooklyn encompassing 585 acres (2.37 km2).[120] The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who created Manhattan's Central Park. Attractions include the Long Meadow, a 90-acre (36 ha) meadow, the Picnic House, which houses offices and a hall that can accommodate parties with up to 175 guests; Litchfield Villa, Prospect Park Zoo, the Boathouse, housing a visitors center and the first urban Audubon Center;[121] Brooklyn's only lake, covering 60 acres (24 ha); the Prospect Park Bandshell that hosts free outdoor concerts in the summertime; and various sports and fitness activities including seven baseball fields. Prospect Park hosts a popular annual Halloween Parade. Fort Greene Park is a public park in the Fort Greene Neighborhood. The park contains the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, a monument to American prisoners during the revolutionary war. Sports Main article: Sports in Brooklyn Barclays Center in Pacific Park within Prospect Heights, home of the Nets and Liberty Brooklyn's major professional sports team is the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. The Nets moved into the borough in 2012, and play their home games at Barclays Center in Prospect Heights. Previously, the Nets had played in Uniondale, New York and in New Jersey.[122] In April 2020, the New York Liberty of the WNBA were sold to the Nets' owners and moved their home venue from Madison Square Garden to the Barclays Center. Barclays Center was also the home arena for the NHL's New York Islanders full-time from 2015 to 2018, then part-time from 2018 to 2020 (alternating with Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale). The Islanders had originally played at Nassau Coliseum full-time since their inception until 2015 when their lease at the venue expired and the team moved to Barclays Center. In 2020, the team returned to Nassau Coliseum full-time for one season before moving to the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York in 2021. Brooklyn also has a storied sports history. It has been home to many famous sports figures such as Joe Paterno, Vince Lombardi, Mike Tyson, Joe Torre, Sandy Koufax, Billy Cunningham and Vitas Gerulaitis. Basketball legend Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn though he grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the earliest days of organized baseball, Brooklyn teams dominated the new game. The second recorded game of baseball was played near what is today Fort Greene Park on October 24, 1845. Brooklyn's Excelsiors, Atlantics and Eckfords were the leading teams from the mid-1850s through the Civil War, and there were dozens of local teams with neighborhood league play, such as at Mapleton Oval.[123] During this "Brooklyn era", baseball evolved into the modern game: the first fastball, first changeup, first batting average, first triple play, first pro baseball player, first enclosed ballpark, first scorecard, first known African-American team, first black championship game, first road trip, first gambling scandal, and first eight pennant winners were all in or from Brooklyn.[124] Brooklyn's most famous historical team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, named for "trolley dodgers" played at Ebbets Field.[125] In 1947 Jackie Robinson was hired by the Dodgers as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball in the modern era. In 1955, the Dodgers, perennial National League pennant winners, won the only World Series for Brooklyn against their rival New York Yankees. The event was marked by mass euphoria and celebrations. Just two years later, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Walter O'Malley, the team's owner at the time, is still vilified, even by Brooklynites too young to remember the Dodgers as Brooklyn's ball club. After a 43-year hiatus, professional baseball returned to the borough in 2001 with the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league team that plays in MCU Park in Coney Island. They are an affiliate of the New York Mets. The New York Cosmos of the NASL began playing at MCU Park in 2017.[126] Brooklyn once had a National Football League team named the Brooklyn Lions in 1926, who played at Ebbets Field.[127] In Rugby union, Rugby United New York joined Major League Rugby in 2019, and play their home games at MCU Park. In Rugby league, existing USARL club Brooklyn Kings joined the professional North American Rugby League competition for its inaugural 2021 season. Brooklyn has one of the most active recreational fishing fleets in the United States. In addition to a large private fleet along Jamaica Bay, there is a substantial public fleet within Sheepshead Bay. Species caught include Black Fish, Porgy, Striped Bass, Black Sea Bass, Fluke, and Flounder.[128][129][130] Government and politics See also: Government and politics in Brooklyn Brooklyn Borough Hall Each of New York City's five counties (coterminous with each borough) has its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Charles J. Hynes, a Democrat, was the District Attorney of Kings County from 1990 to 2013. Brooklyn has 16 City Council members, the largest number of any of the five boroughs. The Brooklyn Borough Government includes a borough government president as well as a court, library, borough government board, head of borough government, deputy head of borough government and deputy borough government president. Brooklyn has 18 of the city's 59 community districts, each served by an unpaid community board with advisory powers under the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Each board has a paid district manager who acts as an interlocutor with city agencies. The Kings County Democratic County Committee (aka the Brooklyn Democratic Party) is the county committee of the Democratic Party in Brooklyn. Federal representation United States presidential election results for Kings County, New York[131][132][133] Year Republican Democratic Third party No.  % No.  % No.  % 2020 202,772 22.14% 703,310 76.78% 9,927 1.08% 2016 141,044 17.51% 640,553 79.51% 24,008 2.98% 2012 124,551 16.90% 604,443 82.02% 7,988 1.08% 2008 151,872 19.99% 603,525 79.43% 4,451 0.59% 2004 167,149 24.30% 514,973 74.86% 5,762 0.84% 2000 96,609 15.65% 497,513 80.60% 23,115 3.74% 1996 81,406 15.08% 432,232 80.07% 26,195 4.85% 1992 133,344 22.93% 411,183 70.70% 37,067 6.37% 1988 178,961 32.60% 363,916 66.28% 6,142 1.12% 1984 230,064 38.29% 368,518 61.34% 2,189 0.36% 1980 200,306 38.44% 288,893 55.44% 31,893 6.12% 1976 190,728 31.08% 419,382 68.34% 3,533 0.58% 1972 373,903 48.96% 387,768 50.78% 1,949 0.26% 1968 247,936 31.99% 489,174 63.12% 37,859 4.89% 1964 229,291 25.05% 684,839 74.80% 1,373 0.15% 1960 327,497 33.51% 646,582 66.16% 3,227 0.33% 1956 460,456 45.23% 557,655 54.77% 0 0.00% 1952 446,708 39.82% 656,229 58.50% 18,765 1.67% 1948 330,494 30.49% 579,922 53.51% 173,401 16.00% 1944 393,926 34.01% 758,270 65.46% 6,168 0.53% 1940 394,534 34.44% 742,668 64.83% 8,365 0.73% 1936 212,852 21.85% 738,306 75.78% 23,143 2.38% 1932 192,536 25.04% 514,172 66.86% 62,300 8.10% 1928 245,622 36.13% 404,393 59.48% 29,822 4.39% 1924 236,877 47.50% 158,907 31.87% 102,903 20.63% 1920 292,692 63.32% 119,612 25.88% 49,944 10.80% 1916 120,752 46.90% 125,625 48.79% 11,080 4.30% 1912 51,239 20.94% 109,748 44.86% 83,676 34.20% 1908 119,789 50.64% 96,756 40.90% 20,025 8.46% 1904 113,246 48.12% 111,855 47.53% 10,216 4.34% 1900 108,977 49.57% 106,232 48.32% 4,639 2.11% 1896 109,135 56.35% 76,882 39.70% 7,659 3.95% 1892 70,505 39.97% 100,160 56.78% 5,720 3.24% 1888 70,052 45.49% 82,507 53.58% 1,430 0.93% 1884 53,516 42.37% 69,264 54.83% 3,541 2.80% 1880 51,751 45.66% 61,062 53.88% 516 0.46% 1876 39,066 40.41% 57,556 59.53% 62 0.06% 1872 33,369 46.68% 38,108 53.31% 10 0.01% 1868 27,707 41.02% 39,838 58.98% 0 0.00% 1864 20,838 44.75% 25,726 55.25% 0 0.00% 1860 15,883 43.56% 20,583 56.44% 0 0.00% 1856 7,846 25.58% 14,174 46.22% 8,647 28.20% 1852 8,496 43.97% 10,628 55.00% 199 1.03% 1848 7,511 56.59% 4,882 36.78% 879 6.62% 1844 5,107 51.94% 4,648 47.27% 77 0.78% 1840 3,293 50.86% 3,157 48.76% 24 0.37% 1836 1,868 44.59% 2,321 55.41% 0 0.00% 1832 1,264 42.06% 1,741 57.94% 0 0.00% 1828 1,053 43.84% 1,349 56.16% 0 0.00% As is the case with sister boroughs Manhattan and the Bronx, Brooklyn has not voted for a Republican in a national presidential election since Calvin Coolidge in 1924. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 79.4% of the vote in Brooklyn while Republican John McCain received 20.0%. In 2012, Barack Obama increased his Democratic margin of victory in the borough, dominating Brooklyn with 82.0% of the vote to Republican Mitt Romney's 16.9%. In 2020, four Democrats and one Republican represented Brooklyn in the United States House of Representatives. One congressional district lies entirely within the borough.[134] Nydia Velázquez (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 7th congressional district, which includes the central-west Brooklyn neighborhoods of Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Bushwick, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Dumbo, East New York, East Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Gowanus, Red Hook, Sunset Park, and Williamsburg. The district also covers a small portion of Queens.[134] Hakeem Jeffries (first elected in 2012) represents New York's 8th congressional district, which includes the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bergen Beach, Brighton Beach, Brownsville, Canarsie, Clinton Hill, Coney Island, East Flatbush, East New York, Fort Greene, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Ocean Hill, Sheepshead Bay, and Spring Creek. The district also covers a small portion of Queens.[134] Yvette Clarke (first elected in 2006) represents New York's 9th congressional district, which includes the central and southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Midwood, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and Windsor Terrace.[134] Jerrold Nadler (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 10th congressional district, which includes the southwestern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Midwood, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Gravesend, Kensington, and Mapleton. The district also covers the West Side of Manhattan.[134] Nicole Malliotakis (first elected in 2020) represents New York's 11th congressional district, which includes the southwestern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, and Dyker Heights. The district also covers all of Staten Island.[134] Party affiliation of Brooklyn registered voters (relative percentages) Party 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 Democratic 69.7 69.2 70.0 70.1 70.6 70.3 70.7 70.8 70.8 71.0 Republican 10.1 10.1 10.1 10.1 10.2 10.5 10.9 11.1 11.3 11.5 Other 3.7 3.9 3.8 3.6 2.9 2.8 2.5 2.8 2.3 2.3 No affiliation 16.5 16.9 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.5 15.9 15.5 15.4 15.2 The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Main Post Office is located at 271 Cadman Plaza East in Downtown Brooklyn.[135] Education See also: Education in New York City and List of high schools in New York City Brooklyn Tech as seen from Ashland Place in Fort Greene The Brooklyn College library, part of the original campus laid out by Randolph Evans, now known as "East Quad" Brooklyn Law School's 1994 new classical "Fell Hall" tower, by architect Robert A. M. Stern NYU Tandon Wunsch Building St. Francis College Administration Building Education in Brooklyn is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Non-charter public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of Education,[136] the largest public school system in the United States. Brooklyn Technical High School (commonly called Brooklyn Tech), a New York City public high school, is the largest specialized high school for science, mathematics, and technology in the United States.[137] Brooklyn Tech opened in 1922. Brooklyn Tech is across the street from Fort Greene Park. This high school was built from 1930 to 1933 at a cost of about $6 million and is 12 stories high. It covers about half of a city block.[138] Brooklyn Tech is noted for its famous alumni[139] (including two Nobel Laureates), its academics, and a large number of graduates attending prestigious universities. Higher education Public colleges Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, and was the first public coeducational liberal arts college in New York City. The college ranked in the top 10 nationally for the second consecutive year in Princeton Review's 2006 guidebook, America's Best Value Colleges. Many of its students are first and second-generation Americans. Founded in 1970, Medgar Evers College is a senior college of the City University of New York. The college offers programs at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels, as well as adult and continuing education classes for central Brooklyn residents, corporations, government agencies, and community organizations. Medgar Evers College is a few blocks east of Prospect Park in Crown Heights. CUNY's New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York (CUNY) (Downtown Brooklyn/Brooklyn Heights) is the largest public college of technology in New York State and a national model for technological education. Established in 1946, City Tech can trace its roots to 1881 when the Technical Schools of the Metropolitan Museum of Art were renamed the New York Trade School. That institution—which became the Voorhees Technical Institute many decades later—was soon a model for the development of technical and vocational schools worldwide. In 1971, Voorhees was incorporated into City Tech. SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, founded as the Long Island College Hospital in 1860, is the oldest hospital-based medical school in the United States. The Medical Center comprises the College of Medicine, College of Health Related Professions, College of Nursing, School of Public Health, School of Graduate Studies, and University Hospital of Brooklyn. The Nobel Prize winner Robert F. Furchgott was a member of its faculty. Half of the Medical Center's students are minorities or immigrants. The College of Medicine has the highest percentage of minority students of any medical school in New York State. Private colleges Brooklyn Law School was founded in 1901 and is notable for its diverse student body. Women and African Americans were enrolled in 1909. According to the Leiter Report, a compendium of law school rankings published by Brian Leiter, Brooklyn Law School places 31st nationally for the quality of students.[140] Long Island University is a private university headquartered in Brookville on Long Island, with a campus in Downtown Brooklyn with 6,417 undergraduate students. The Brooklyn campus has strong science and medical technology programs, at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Pratt Institute, in Clinton Hill, is a private college founded in 1887 with programs in engineering, architecture, and the arts. Some buildings in the school's Brooklyn campus are official landmarks. Pratt has over 4700 students, with most at its Brooklyn campus. Graduate programs include a library and information science, architecture, and urban planning. Undergraduate programs include architecture, construction management, writing, critical and visual studies, industrial design and fine arts, totaling over 25 programs in all. The New York University Tandon School of Engineering, the United States' second oldest private institute of technology, founded in 1854, has its main campus in Downtown's MetroTech Center, a commercial, civic and educational redevelopment project of which it was a key sponsor. NYU-Tandon is one of the 18 schools and colleges that comprise New York University (NYU).[141][142][143][144] St. Francis College is a Catholic college in Brooklyn Heights founded in 1859 by Franciscan friars. Today, over 2,400 students attend the small liberal arts college. St. Francis is considered by The New York Times as one of the more diverse colleges, and was ranked one of the best baccalaureate colleges by Forbes magazine and U.S. News & World Report.[145][146][147] Brooklyn also has smaller liberal arts institutions, such as Saint Joseph's College in Clinton Hill and Boricua College in Williamsburg. Community colleges Kingsborough Community College is a junior college in the City University of New York system in Manhattan Beach. Brooklyn Public Library The Central Library at Grand Army Plaza As an independent system, separate from the New York and Queens public library systems, the Brooklyn Public Library[148] offers thousands of public programs, millions of books, and use of more than 850 free Internet-accessible computers. It also has books and periodicals in all the major languages spoken in Brooklyn, including English, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, Hebrew, and Haitian Creole, as well as French, Yiddish, Hindi, Bengali, Polish, Italian, and Arabic. The Central Library is a landmarked building facing Grand Army Plaza. There are 58 library branches, placing one within a half-mile of each Brooklyn resident. In addition to its specialized Business Library in Brooklyn Heights, the Library is preparing to construct its new Visual & Performing Arts Library (VPA) in the BAM Cultural District, which will focus on the link between new and emerging arts and technology and house traditional and digital collections. It will provide access and training to arts applications and technologies not widely available to the public. The collections will include the subjects of art, theater, dance, music, film, photography, and architecture. A special archive will house the records and history of Brooklyn's arts communities. Transportation Public transport See also: Transportation in New York City About 57 percent of all households in Brooklyn were households without automobiles. The citywide rate is 55 percent in New York City.[149] Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue subway station Atlantic Terminal is a major hub in Brooklyn. Brooklyn features extensive public transit. Nineteen New York City Subway services, including the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, traverse the borough. Approximately 92.8% of Brooklyn residents traveling to Manhattan use the subway, despite the fact some neighborhoods like Flatlands and Marine Park are poorly served by subway service. Major stations, out of the 170 currently in Brooklyn, include: Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center Broadway Junction DeKalb Avenue Jay Street–MetroTech Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue[150] Proposed New York City Subway lines never built include a line along Nostrand or Utica Avenues to Marine Park,[151] as well as a subway line to Spring Creek.[152][153] Brooklyn was once served by an extensive network of streetcars, but many were replaced by the public bus network that covers the entire borough. There is also daily express bus service into Manhattan.[154] New York's famous yellow cabs also provide transportation in Brooklyn, although they are less numerous in the borough. There are three commuter rail stations in Brooklyn: East New York, Nostrand Avenue, and Atlantic Terminal, the terminus of the Atlantic Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The terminal is near the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center subway station, with ten connecting subway services. In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would begin a citywide ferry service called NYC Ferry to extend ferry transportation to communities in the city that have been traditionally underserved by public transit.[155][156] The ferry opened in May 2017,[157][158] with the Bay Ridge ferry serving southwestern Brooklyn and the East River Ferry serving northwestern Brooklyn. A third route, the Rockaway ferry, makes one stop in the borough at Brooklyn Army Terminal.[159] A streetcar line, the Brooklyn–Queens Connector, was proposed by the city in February 2016,[160] with the planned timeline calling for service to begin around 2024.[161] Roadways See also: Brooklyn streets and List of lettered Brooklyn avenues The Marine Parkway Bridge Williamsburg Bridge, as seen from Wallabout Bay with Greenpoint and Long Island City in background Most of the limited-access expressways and parkways are in the western and southern sections of Brooklyn, where the borough's two interstate highways are located; Interstate 278, which uses the Gowanus Expressway and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, traverses Sunset Park and Brooklyn Heights, while Interstate 478 is an unsigned route designation for the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, which connects to Manhattan.[162] Other prominent roadways are the Prospect Expressway (New York State Route 27), the Belt Parkway, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly the Interborough Parkway). Planned expressways that were never built include the Bushwick Expressway, an extension of I-78[163] and the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway, I-878.[164] Major thoroughfares include Atlantic Avenue, Fourth Avenue, 86th Street, Kings Highway, Bay Parkway, Ocean Parkway, Eastern Parkway, Linden Boulevard, McGuinness Boulevard, Flatbush Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Nostrand Avenue. Much of Brooklyn has only named streets, but Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Borough Park and the other western sections have numbered streets running approximately northwest to southeast, and numbered avenues going approximately northeast to southwest. East of Dahill Road, lettered avenues (like Avenue M) run east and west, and numbered streets have the prefix "East". South of Avenue O, related numbered streets west of Dahill Road use the "West" designation. This set of numbered streets ranges from West 37th Street to East 108 Street, and the avenues range from A–Z with names substituted for some of them in some neighborhoods (notably Albemarle, Beverley, Cortelyou, Dorchester, Ditmas, Foster, Farragut, Glenwood, Quentin). Numbered streets prefixed by "North" and "South" in Williamsburg, and "Bay", "Beach", "Brighton", "Plumb", "Paerdegat" or "Flatlands" along the southern and southwestern waterfront are loosely based on the old grids of the original towns of Kings County that eventually consolidated to form Brooklyn. These names often reflect the bodies of water or beaches around them, such as Plumb Beach or Paerdegat Basin. Brooklyn is connected to Manhattan by three bridges, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridge; a vehicular tunnel, the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (also known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel); and several subway tunnels. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge links Brooklyn with the more suburban borough of Staten Island. Though much of its border is on land, Brooklyn shares several water crossings with Queens, including the Pulaski Bridge, the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge (part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), and the Grand Street Bridge, all of which carry traffic over Newtown Creek, and the Marine Parkway Bridge connecting Brooklyn to the Rockaway Peninsula. Waterways Brooklyn was long a major shipping port, especially at the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Bush Terminal in Sunset Park. Most container ship cargo operations have shifted to the New Jersey side of New York Harbor, while the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook is a focal point for New York's growing cruise industry. The Queen Mary 2, one of the world's largest ocean liners, was designed specifically to fit under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the United States. She makes regular ports of call at the Red Hook terminal on her transatlantic crossings from Southampton, England.[159] The Brooklyn waterfront formerly employed tens of thousands of borough residents and acted as an incubator for industries across the entire city, and the decline of the port exacerbated Brooklyn's decline in the second half of the 20th century. In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would begin NYC Ferry to extend ferry transportation to traditionally underserved communities in the city.[155][156] The ferry opened in May 2017,[157][158] offering commuter services from the western shore of Brooklyn to Manhattan via three routes. The East River Ferry serves points in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, Long Island City, and northwestern Brooklyn via its East River route. The South Brooklyn and Rockaway routes serve southwestern Brooklyn before terminating in lower Manhattan. Ferries to Coney Island are also planned.[159] NY Waterway offers tours and charters. SeaStreak also offers a weekday ferry service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal and the Manhattan ferry slips at Pier 11/Wall Street downtown and East 34th Street Ferry Landing in midtown. A Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, originally proposed in the 1920s as a core project for the then-new Port Authority of New York is again being studied and discussed as a way to ease freight movements across a large swath of the metropolitan area. Manhattan Bridge Manhattan Bridge seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park Partnerships with districts of foreign cities See also: New York City § Sister cities Anzio, Lazio, Italy (since 1990) Huế, Vietnam Gdynia, Poland (since 1991)[165] Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey (since 2005)[166] Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria (since 2007)[167][168][169] London Borough of Lambeth, United Kingdom[170] Bnei Brak, Israel[171] Konak, İzmir, Turkey (since 2010)[172] Chaoyang District, Beijing, China (since 2014)[173] Yiwu, China (since 2014)[173] Üsküdar, Istanbul, Turkey (since 2015)[174] Hospitals and healthcare Main article: List of hospitals in Brooklyn Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center[175] Kings County Hospital Center NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County NYU Langone hospital- Brooklyn Methodist hospital Maimonides Hospital Mt. Sinai Brooklyn SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER See also General links List of people from Brooklyn List of tallest buildings in Brooklyn

Type: Negative
Image Color: Black & White
Time Period Manufactured: 1925-1949

PicClick Insights - FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHER 15 NEGATIVES 1940 J Lyons Touring Bronx NYC LOT 459A WOW PicClick Exclusive

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