The Bronx In 1897 and Its Beautiful Homes – They Gave Way For Progress
Concert in a Bronx Park 1897
Concluding our series on the Bronx from 1897 we look at the final set of photographs excerpted from the 1897 book The Great North Side.
The editors stated purpose in publishing the book was “to attract population, capital, and business enterprise to the Borough of the Bronx. It is not issued in any narrow sense with the desire of building up this borough at the expense of the other boroughs, for the reader will observe that the writers evidence an equal pride in advantages distinctively the possession of the Borough of Manhattan. We are first of all New Yorkers — citizens of no mean city — and proud of the fact. But our particular field of activity is the Borough of the Bronx, and we know that whatever tends to the upbuilding of this borough redounds to the credit, prestige, and glory of our common city.”
Fred Ringer residence Sedgwick Avenue Fordham Heights Bronx 1897
The editors of The Great North Side really never saw the realization of their goals. The population increased and the borough was developed, but not in the way they envisioned.
What was once a roomy borough with splendid homes and wide open spaces became overdeveloped. The construction of the subway in the early part of the 20th century brought land development, a building boom and hundreds of thousands of people to the Bronx.
Samuel W. Fairchild residence Sedgwick Avenue Bronx 1897
By the 1930s many of the fine old homes had been demolished and large parcels of land were subdivided and developed with apartment buildings.
John S. Bush residence Webster Avenue and Tremont Bronx 1897
In the 1950s Robert Moses cut the Bronx’s jugular. Moses’ Cross-Bronx Expressway bulldozed a wide swath of the Bronx destroying thriving neighborhoods and essentially splitting the Bronx in two halves.
Hoskins residence Fordham Bronx 1897
The Bronx began a long and steady decline into crime, poverty and what was called “white flight,” with many white families moving to the suburbs.
Dr. E.F. Hurd residence and Edwin Shuttleworth residence Mt. Hope Bronx 1897
Housing projects became dangerous, landlords burned their own buildings for insurance money and drugs and despair permeated much of the borough.
Samuel MacMillan residence Morris Heights Bronx 1897
Perhaps the pinnacle of the Bronx’s downward spiral occurred during the great blackout of July 13-14, 1977 when looting and fires decimated many areas that were already under great duress.
Nathalie Avenue Kingsbridge Bronx 1897
President Jimmy Carter toured the South Bronx on October 5, 1977 to see the blight firsthand. The president stopped his limo twice to get out and see renovation projects and speak with local residents. People asked the president to “get us jobs,” and give us money.
The Bronx became ignominiously world famous through a 1981 movie Fort Apache, The Bronx starring Paul Newman. The title coming from the South Bronx’s main police precinct , nicknamed Fort Apache by the police who feel like soldiers surrounded by hostiles in the old west. It was not a flattering portrayal of the Bronx.
J. McCord / Alfred Hall residence south of St. Mary’s Park Bronx 1897
Things began to turn around in the early 1990s. The Bronx is on the rebound now. Crime is down, population is up and new businesses are opening. Even though there are still many problems there is optimism that things will continue to improve.
Isaac Johnson residence Spuyten Duyvil Bronx 1897
The Bronx has few remnants of its 19th century past. The goals of the Bronx civic leaders who wrote The Great North Side may not have been fulfilled according to their aspirations. Those long dead civic leaders would probably not recognize much of the Bronx’s 21st century landscape. What they would recognize is the common hope for prosperity and a better life that its residents all desire.
Eichler residence Fulton Avenue 169th Street Bronx 1897
The Cross Bronx Expressway did not “destroy” a “thriving” neighborhood. It enabled people to move to NJ, Long Island, Westchester and Connecticut faster. Those neighborhoods sadly were long on their way to decline.
Hi Thomas
My uncles and aunts who were displaced by the building of the Cross Bronx would disagree with you. Agreed, that while some of the neighborhoods that the Cross Bronx tore through were in various degrees of steady decline, many residents whose homes were bulldozed were essentially forced from their long time homes unwillingly.
Did it end up alright? For some yes, as you state it enabled many to find better lives and opportunities in the suburbs. For others it destroyed hundreds of family owned neighborhood businesses and drove an impenetrable wedge between long time neighbors, friends and family who were separated after moving.
I think “hundreds” of family owned businesses is of course an exaggeration. I just happen to be 69, born and still living in the Bronx ! Planes need Airports and cars need highways. The problem with the Cross Bronx ” Expressway” is that it is too narrow and not deep enough. It should have more lanes and / or double decked…..All underground. Period
According to Robert Caro in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker, Robert Moses and The Fall of New York, section two, a one mile stretch of the Cross-Bronx Expressway covering the East Tremont neighborhood, had 159 buildings demolished and displaced over 5,000 persons (1,530 families) and sixty stores.
The construction ended up evicting over 60,000 people in its nearly seven mile path and another 15,000 persons living adjacent to the demolished buildings also moved away. And it was not just the businesses in the Cross-Bronx’s construction zone that vanished, but many of the stores nearby the Cross-Bronx who lost their customer base and were permanently shuttered.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, but after thoroughly researching and finding no exact figures, it still had to be several hundred family-owned businesses that closed. Extrapolating those numbers to the entire project would add up to more than 400 local businesses closing and few of the stores being chains.
Had the technology existed I agree, it should have been all been built underground (like Boston’s Big Dig) and without the massive destruction left in its wake.
Don’t blame “white flight” for the decay of the Bronx. The decay happened before and white flight was a result, not a cause for the flight. This holier than thou attitude really irritates me because why shouldn’t a family that had the means better themselves, do so? This BS liberal idea that people should have stayed put to prevent the decay is put forth by people who didn’t have to do it…didn’t have to subject their families to growing street crime, deterioration of the public school system, growth of drug use…yeah, right. No thanks, anyone in their right mind would get their family out of there in a hurry.
Hi JoeM
Agreed on Cause & Effect.
The article does not say “white flight” was the cause for the decay of the Bronx. Re-read that section. It says that after Moses cut the Bronx in half with the Cross Bronx Expressway that the Bronx had – “a long and steady decline into crime, poverty and what was called “white flight,” meaning one of the results of that downhill trajectory was white flight.
The Bronx is not what it was compared to 100 years ago.
Absolutely Correct: The term ‘WHITE FLIGHT’ is a weak attempt at blaming the decay on the wrong group of people. Welfare and a lower class of people destroyed these neighborhoods. The Whites had every right, as did any other race, to self-improvement by education and hard work. They wanted a better environment in which to raise their children and not have to witness rampant, drug-driven crime and daily violence.