Page 44 - Bronx Chamber of Commerce - 2019 Business Directory & Resource Guide

THE BRONX THROUGH THE CENTURIES
19TH CENTURY
1813 1846 1863 1886 1894
Mattias Lopez starts the first newspaper to be published in the Bronx, The Westchester Patriot, in West Farms.
1827
On July 4, New York State frees black slaves.
1841
Archbishop John Hughes establishes St. John’s College, today’s Fordham University, the first institution of higher learning in the Bronx.
The New York and Harlem River Railroad, today the Harlem Division of Metro-North, is built, becoming the first railroad in The Bronx. It results in an increase in the popula- tion of the western part of the Bronx.
Edgar Allan Poe moves to the village of Ford- ham, created by the presence of a railroad stop there, in a vain attempt to cure his wife, Virginia, of tuberculosis. He writes “Annabel Lee” and “The Bells” there. It is his last home. He dies in 1849.
The iron dome of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. is manufactured in the Janes and Beebe (later Janes and Kirtland) Iron Works at 149th Street and Brook Avenue, then shipped to Washington by boat
for assembly on site.
The Third Avenue El (Elevated Train) is extended into the Bronx.
1887
Electricity is introduced into the Bronx.
1888
A commission purchas- es Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx Park, Pelham Bay Park, Crotona Park, Cla- remont Park, St. Mary’s Park, Mosholu Parkway, Pelham Parkway and Crotona Parkway. This is the foundation of
the park system of the Bronx, which today covers 24% of the borough’s land surface. Half of Bronx Park and all of Pelham Parkway and Pelham Bay Park are located outside of the city’s boundaries of the time.
1889
The Washington Bridge between the mainland and Manhattan over the Harlem River opens.
The Bronx Chamber of Commerce is founded.
1895
The town of Westches- ter, the incorporated village of Wakefield, and the southern parts of the towns of Eastches- ter and Pelham, all lying east of the Bronx River, are annexed to New York City and made part of the 24th Ward.
1897
The first public High School, later named Morris High School, is established.
1898
The city of Greater New York is created
as a federation of five boroughs with the
23rd and 24th Wards becoming the borough of the Bronx. Louis F. Haffen is elected the first Borough President.
1848 1867
The Croton Aqueduct, designed by early American engineer John B. Jervis, is completed. This includes the monumen- tal High Bridge, in the shape of a Roman Aqueduct, over the Harlem River, which was also used as a footpath to Manhattan.
1861
Gas lighting is intro- duced into the Bronx.
In April, the American Civil War begins
Leonard W. Jerome opens the Jerome Park Racetrack. There he begins the Belmont Stakes, which is run there until the park clos- es in 1890. To attract wealthy New Yorkers
to the track, he builds what is today Jerome Avenue.
1874
The towns of Morrisa- nia, West Farms and Kingsbridge are an- nexed to New York City, becoming the 23rd and 24th wards. These wards are placed under the control of the Depart- ment of Public Parks.
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2019 BRONX BUSINESS DIRECTORY & RESOURCE GUIDE | THE NEW BRONX CHAMBER OF COMMERCE