Yonkers, New York

Yonkers, bordering the New York City borough of the Bronx and just 2 miles north of Manhattan at the closest point of each, is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of New York, with a population of 196,086 (according to the 2000 census). A July 1, 2002 estimate showed the city's population to be 197,234. It is by far the largest city in Westchester County. Younger residents have termed the city "the sixth borough" as well as "the backyard of the Bronx", referring to Yonkers' location on the New York City border resulting in a somewhat urban character not commonly associated with suburbia.

History

The land on which the city is built was once part of a 24,000-acre land grant that ran from the current Manhattan/Bronx border at Marble Hill northwards for 12 Miles, and from the Hudson River eastwards to the Bronx River. This grant was given in July of 1645 by New Netherlands Director-General Willem Kieft to Adriaen van der Donck. Van der Donck was known locally as the "Jonkheer" ("Young Gentleman" or "Squire"), a word from which the name "Yonkers" was directly derived. Van der Donck built a saw mill near where the Nepperhan River met the Hudson; the Nepperhan is now also known as the Saw Mill River.

Related Topics:
Marble Hill - Hudson River - Bronx River - Willem Kieft - Adriaen van der Donck

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Near the site of van der Donck's mill is Philipse Manor Hall, a Colonial-era manor house which today serves as a museum and archive, offering many glimpses into life before the American Revolution. The original structure (later enlarged) was built ca. 1682 by Frederick Philipse, a wealthy Dutchman who, by the time of his death, had amassed an enormous estate which encompassed the entire modern City of Yonkers, as well as several other Hudson River towns. Philipse's great-grandson, Frederick Philipse III, was a prominent Loyalist during the American Revolution, who, because of his political leanings, was forced to flee to England.

Related Topics:
Philipse Manor Hall - 1682 - Loyalist - American Revolution

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For its first two hundred years, Yonkers was a small farming town with an active waterfront. Yonkers's later growth rested largely on developing industry. In 1853, the Otis Elevator Company, opened the first elevator factory in the world on the banks of the Hudson. Around the same time, the Alexander Smith Carpet factory (in the Saw Mill River Valley) expanded to 45 buildings, 800 looms, and over 4,000 workers and was know as one of the premier carpet producing centers in the world. In 1892, Smith carpets were sent to Moscow for the tsar's coronation. Bakelite, the first completely synthetic plastic, was invented in Yonkers circa 1906, and manufactured there until the late 1920s. Yonkers was also the headquarters of the Waring Hat Company, at the time, the nation's largest hat manufacturer. World War II saw the city's factories manufacture everything from tents and blankets in the Alexander Smith Carpet Factory to tanks in the Otis Elevator factory.

Related Topics:
Otis Elevator Company - Bakelite - World War II

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After World War II, however, with increased competition from less expensive imports and the appeal of foreign labor, Yonkers lost much of its manufacturing luster. The Alexander Smith Carpet mill fell into harder times, ceasing operation on June 24, 1954. In 1983, the prestigious Otis Elevator Factory finally closed its doors. With the loss of jobs in the city itself, Yonkers followed the trend of many suburban cities after World War II, becoming primarily a commuter city. Yonkers's excellent transportation infrastructure, including three commuter railroad lines (now two) and five parkways and freeways, as well as its 30-minute drive from Manhattan, made it a desirable city to live in. Yonkers's manufacturing sector, however, has recently shown a resurgence. With the opening of a factory for Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Yonkers now produces the new R142A cars for the New York City Subway.

Related Topics:
World War II - 1954 - 1983 - Kawasaki Heavy Industries - R142A - New York City Subway

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Aside from being a manufacturing center, Yonkers also played a key role in the development of entertainment in the United States. In 1888, Scottish immigrant John Reid founded the first golf course in the United States, St. Andrew's Golf Club, in Yonkers. On January 4, 1940, Yonkers resident Edwin Howard Armstrong transmitted the first FM radio broadcast (on station W2XCR) from the Yonkers home of C.R. Runyon, a co-experimenter.

Related Topics:
Edwin Howard Armstrong - FM

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The Irish-American community plays a prominent role in Yonkers, and the city hosts one of the oldest St. Patrick's Day parades in the country.

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The city is also home to a large Italian-American community many of whom moved to the city after originally settling in the Bronx and in Brooklyn. The city hosts a large Columbus Day festival with a Miss Italian-American pageant.

Related Topics:
Italian-American - Columbus Day

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There also once was a significant Jewish population (the Broadway plays Hello Dolly and Lost in Yonkers both take place around the Yonkers Jewish community). However, its size has dwindled (but not vanished) as the older generation dies off and the younger generation moves to the Sunbelt or to other (usually more affluent) parts of the New York metropolitan area, with the trend accelerating after the housing integration court battles (see below).

Related Topics:
Jewish - Broadway - Hello Dolly - Lost in Yonkers - Sunbelt - New York

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There was a years-long battle over housing integration in the 1980s and 1990s, which ended only after a court ruling nearly bankrupted the city government, by imposing geometrically increasing contempt of court penalties after the then-mayor refused to build public housing in the wealthier parts of the city.

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