The West Bronx is a region in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

borough of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the 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 Y ...

. The region lies west of the

Bronx River The Bronx River (), approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of . It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. Besides the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River is the only fresh water river in ...

and roughly corresponds to the western half of the borough. The West Bronx is more densely populated than the East Bronx, and is closer to

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...

. From the late 17th century to the middle 19th century this included the central and southern part of the Town of

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York (state), New York, after New York City and Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. The popul ...

, but then became the separate Town of Kingsbridge. In 1874, the then towns of

Kingsbridge Kingsbridge is a market town and tourist hub in the South Hams district of Devon, England, with a population of 6,116 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards bear the name of ''Kingsbridge'' (East & North). Their combined population at the ab ...

, West Farms and

Morrisania Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 161st Street to the south, and Webster Avenue ...

were transferred to New York County, becoming the first area outside

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to be annexed by the City of New York. Today's West Bronx was then known as the "Annexed District". In 1895, the city annexed the modern-day East Bronx, followed in 1898 by western Queens County (today's borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, with the remainder of what was eastern Queens County becoming the newly formed Nassau County), all of the City of Brooklyn (today's borough of Brooklyn), and all of Richmond County (today's borough of Staten Island) to form the consolidated city of New York. Physically, the western parts of the Bronx are hilly, dominated by a series of parallel ridges running south to north. The West Bronx has older tenement 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. It includes New York City's third largest park:

Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...

which runs along the Westchester-Bronx border. The Grand Concourse, a wide ridgeline boulevard runs through the area from north to south. Because the West Bronx uses the same street numbering system as

, large portions of streets designated as "east" (e.g., East 161st Street) may actually be located ''west'' of the Bronx River. This is because the east-west divider is Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and

Jerome Avenue Jerome Avenue is one of the longest thoroughfares in the New York City borough of the Bronx, New York, United States. The road is long and stretches from Concourse to Woodlawn. Both of these termini are with the Major Deegan Expressway which r ...

in the Bronx, which is directly north of Fifth Avenue. Jerome Avenue was approximately the centerline of the original Annexed District, though not of the expanded modern Bronx. Prior to the 1970s, New Yorkers generally saw the Bronx as being split into its eastern and western halves. However, with the

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

that hit the southwestern Bronx starting in the 1960s, people began to see the borough as being fundamentally divided between the southwestern area ("The South Bronx") and everywhere else.

Neighborhoods

West Bronx neighborhoods include: Bromley Manhattan and Bronx Plate 39 publ

From the Town of Kingsbridge (originally the southern part of the Town of

). *

Kingsbridge Heights Kingsbridge Heights is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the northwest Bronx, New York City. Its boundaries are Van Cortlandt Park to the north, Jerome Avenue to the east, Kingsbridge Road to the south, and the Major Deegan Expr ...

* Riverdale * Spuyten Duyvil * Woodlawn Heights Bronx1867

From the Town of Morrisania (Encompasses areas now considered to be the South Bronx): * Port Morris * Mott Haven (North New York in map) * Melrose *

(Originally Morrisania Village) *

Concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or tr ...

* East Morrisania * Longwood *

* Highbridge From the Town of West Farms: * West Farms * Hunts Point * East Tremont * Tremont * Morris Heights * University Heights * Belmont * Fordham * Fordham-Bedford * Bedford Park *

Mosholu Parkway Mosholu Parkway is a hybrid freeway-standard parkway and grade-level roadway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, constructed from 1935 to 1937 as part of the roadway network created under Robert Moses. The roadway extends for between the N ...

* Norwood The West Bronx is the home of

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

References

{{New York City, state=autocollapse Neighborhoods in the Bronx Geography of the Bronx

Neighborhoods

See also

References