The Bronx

1960s Bronx Theme Park Freedomland U.S.A. Celebrated History

January 5, 2020 by Mike Virgintino 1 Comment

Imagine growing up during the early 1960s and traveling to a New York City destination for an all-day, fun-filled history lesson. By car, bus, or train, all roads led to the northeastern section of The Bronx.

Freedomland U.S.A. was an American history theme park where guests experienced Old Chicago as it burned to the ground, dodged cannon fire during a wagon ride through a Civil War battlefield and explored the Northwest Passage, as did Lewis and Clark, on a bull boat. Hundreds of thousands of kids entered this time machine into America’s past with their mothers and fathers, cousins and friends, aunts and uncles, and with their grandmothers and grandfathers. [Read more…] about 1960s Bronx Theme Park Freedomland U.S.A. Celebrated History

A Cemetery of Strangers: NYC’s Hart Island

October 29, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Book Purchases made through this Amazon link help support New York Almanack‘s mission to report new publications about the history of New York.

Michael T. Keene’s new book New York City’s Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers takes a look at Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves, just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound.

The islands first public use was as a Civil War prison and United States Colored Troops training site and later a psychiatric hospital. The island became the repository for New York City’s unclaimed dead. It’s mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered buried there, including Disney star Bobby Driscol and playwright Leo Birinski. [Read more…] about A Cemetery of Strangers: NYC’s Hart Island

Someone Lived Here: Edgar Allan Poe Cottage

September 30, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In this episode of the podcast Someone Lived Here, Kendra Gaylord explores the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage in the Bronx. This unassuming cottage was the final home of the writer Edgar Allan Poe and the home his young wife and cousin, Virginia Clemm Poe, died in.

Walking through the small cottage the poet, his addiction and his writing are further explained. Gaylord describes the items he and Virginia owned including a rocking chair, a mirror, and the bed Virginia died in. [Read more…] about Someone Lived Here: Edgar Allan Poe Cottage

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and NYC’s Minority Plumbers

December 20, 2015 by Martin Kroll 8 Comments

Shifting alliances can make strange bedfellows and surprising adversaries. The push to integrate the New York City Plumbers Union as the Civil Rights Act was cobbled together 50 years ago shows how our perceptions and expectations can change with time.

Not long before the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, construction began on what is now the Hunt’s Point Food Distribution Center, the largest food distribution complex in the world. Full integration of the union workers at Hunts Point, supported by many, might have derailed or undermined this important legislation. [Read more…] about The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and NYC’s Minority Plumbers

Bronx Stories of Courage, Commitment

June 27, 2015 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In Bronx Faces and Voices: Sixteen Stories of Courage and Commitment (Texas Tech University Press, 2014) sixteen men and women – religious leaders and activists, elected officials and ordinary citizens tell their personal, uncensored stories of the New York City borough — before, during, and after the troubled years of arson, crime, abandonment, and flight in the 1970s and 1980s.

The interviews are drawn from the Bronx Institute Archives Oral History Project’s interviews with hundreds of Bronx residents in the early 1980s, now held in the Special Collections division of the Leonard Lief Library of Lehman College, CUNY. [Read more…] about Bronx Stories of Courage, Commitment

Chappaqua Doesn’t Exist! Peter Feinman On Place

August 27, 2014 by Peter Feinman 13 Comments

Chappaqua doesn’t exist. So says Ken Jackson of Columbia University, a longtime advocate calling for New York State to promote New York history. This might seem strange to the many people who have heard of Chappaqua, and those who know someone who lives there. It might also seem strange because Jackson himself lives in Chappaqua.

Well, not exactly. Chappaqua is not a municipality. There are no Chappaqua mayor, police, court or any of the other government services we normally associate with a municipality in New York State. Chappaqua doesn’t have a municipal historian because it is not a municipality; it’s a hamlet, located in the Town of New Castle. [Read more…] about Chappaqua Doesn’t Exist! Peter Feinman On Place

Stokely Carmichael: The Bronx to Freedom Summer

August 8, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Fifty years ago, civil rights activists from across the country came together in Mississippi to fight entrenched racism and voter repression. To mark the anniversary of 1964’s Freedom Summer, the Museum of the City of New York will examine one of its key players at a talk titled Stokely Carmichael’s Journey: From the Bronx to Freedom Summer on Thursday, August 12 at 6:30 p at the museum, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, NYC. [Read more…] about Stokely Carmichael: The Bronx to Freedom Summer

375th Anniversary of The Bronx Celebration Planned

April 13, 2014 by Guest Contributor 5 Comments

Over the years much has been written about Pieter and Jonas Bronck. Pieter is responsible for the erection of the Bronck House in Coxsackie, Greene County, NY, 351 years ago. Jonas is considered the founder of the Bronx.

Over the years there has been much confusion about the relationship of these two individuals – father and son, brothers or cousins. Both were Swedish and there is strong evidence that they were related. I prefer to accept research done by Shelby Mattice, Curator of the Bronck Museum. Ms. Mattice has concluded that the two men were first cousins and shared the same grandfather. Today I would like to focus a bit on Jonas Bronck because this year the Bronx is commemorating the 375th anniversary of the year Jonas first settled there. [Read more…] about 375th Anniversary of The Bronx Celebration Planned

Peter Feinman: The Bronx State of History

March 12, 2014 by Peter Feinman 6 Comments

What is the Bronx state of history? Despite its long history, it is only 100 years ago when it was officially recognized as a county in New York State. Bronx County Historical Society educator Angel Hernandez will speak on the early history of The Bronx through its achieving county status on March 29 at The Bronx Archives Building.

On April 9, The Bronx County Historical Society will present an exhibition at the Museum of Bronx History titled “Bronx County – 100 Years.” One notes that this recognition of county status occurred subsequent to the creation of the expanded New York City. [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: The Bronx State of History

New Book: A History of Fordham University

January 5, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In Fordham University & the United States: A History (E-Lit Books, 2013), Debra Caruso Marrone delivers a breezy, informative book for American history lovers and anyone associated with the 172-year-old institution.

Founded as St. John’s College in 1841 by New York Archbishop John Hughes, the university began as a vehicle to educate young men and deliver Catholics to the upper class. [Read more…] about New Book: A History of Fordham University