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Getty Square is the name for downtown
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 ...
, New York, centered on the
public square A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
. Getty Square is the
civic center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
, central business district, and
transit hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips ...
of the City of Yonkers. A dense and growing residential area, it is located in southern
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
. The square is named after prominent 19th-century merchant Robert Getty.


History


European colonization

The square is named for Robert Parkhill Getty, a prominent merchant and civic leader in the 1800s. The area was the heart of a Dutch patroonship granted to the first lawyer in the New World,
Adriaen van der Donck Adriaen Cornelissen van der Donck (16181655) was a lawyer and landowner in New Netherland after whose honorific ''Jonkheer'' the city of Yonkers, New York, is named. Although he was not, as sometimes claimed, the first lawyer in the Dutch colo ...
, who built both saw and grist mills on what was then the ''Saeck Kill'', later to become the ''Nepperhan River'' and today's
Saw Mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...
. Getty Square's two oldest, still-standing buildings, Philipse Manor Hall (circa 1682) and St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church (built 1752 by Frederick Philipse III), were built in close proximity to the river. The
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
, bordering the western waterfront of Getty Square, provided a transportation route to markets beginning in the 1600s. The completion of the
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
in 1825 increased water-borne traffic from upstate New York down the Hudson to Manhattan.


Industrialization

In 1853, Elisha Graves Otis, inventor of the safety elevator, established the
Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation ( branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farmington, Connec ...
on the Hudson River and Vark Street, along the new railroad tracks that ran along the Hudson's banks. As the company grew, a larger facility was built just north of the Saw Mill River, what is now Van der Donck Park. Vast Otis factory buildings covering blocks of land extended north to Ashburton Avenue. Later, three separate railroad companies established lines through Getty Square. The New York and Putnam Railroad built the terminal for its Yonkers Branch line in Getty Square, with the original 1880s
headhouse A head house or headhouse may be an enclosed building attached to an open-sided shed, or the aboveground part of a subway station. Markets In the 18th and early 19th centuries, head houses were often civic buildings such as town halls or courth ...
and
train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...
station in the square later upgraded to an office building and
railway platform A railway platform is an area alongside a railway track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms. The world's longest station platform is at Hubbali ...
at 20 South Broadway. (The office building remains, but the
railway platform A railway platform is an area alongside a railway track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms. The world's longest station platform is at Hubbali ...
has been replaced by a parking garage.) The
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
operated out of the still-in-use Yonkers train station. The
Third Avenue Railway The Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines i ...
trolley company ran multiple streetcar lines through Getty Square, and stored its streetcars (also called
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s) in the still-standing Yonkers Trolley Barn on Main Street in Getty Square. Like many downtowns in the northeastern United States, Getty Square suffered gradual and severe de-industrialization and non-automobile infrastructure disinvestment beginning after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The
Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation ( branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farmington, Connec ...
factory, with vast buildings covering much of the Getty Square neighborhood north of what is now Van der Donck Park, closed in 1983. Rail-based transportation also diminished. The closing and quick demolition of the Yonkers Branch of the New York and Putnam Railroad, despite an appeal to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, occurred in 1944, and the
Third Avenue Railway The Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), founded 1852, was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx along with lower Westchester County. For a brief period of time, TARS also operated the Steinway Lines i ...
trolley service finally ended in 1952. The
Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...
, once the economic engine of Getty Square, was buried in
flume A flume is a human-made channel for water, in the form of an open declined gravity chute whose walls are raised above the surrounding terrain, in contrast to a trench or ditch. Flumes are not to be confused with aqueducts, which are built to t ...
s underground in the 1920s; the pavement above was used mostly for car
parking lots A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...
at Chicken Island, Mill Street Courtyard, and Larkin Plaza. New York State widened Nepperhan Avenue to create an arterial highway along the eastern side of the neighborhood, demolishing a Carnegie library in the process. The
farmers' market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or o ...
at
St. John's Church St. John's Church, Church of St. John, or variants, thereof, (Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle or John the Evangelist) may refer to the following churches, former churches or other ...
is the oldest in Westchester.


21st century

The reconstituting of the vacant Otis Elevator Factory campus into the iPark corporate business center spurred an influx of advanced industrial initiatives. Capitalizing on the iPark location connected to the existing rail network,
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (or simply Kawasaki) is a Japanese public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headquartered in Chūō, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is ...
brought its railcar assembly plant to Getty Square. In 2011, iPark installed the largest solar-panel array in Westchester on its roof to provide low-cost electricity to its manufacturing tenants. In 2011, ContraFect, a
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
firm, relocated from Manhattan to Getty Square's iPark, followed in 2013 by Mindspark Interactive Network. Also in 2013, the YONY initiative to spur increased technology company activity began. In 2007, the
Science Barge The Science Barge is a floating urban farm and environmental education center that has been docked in Yonkers, New York, USA since late 2008. The Barge grows crops using a hydroponic greenhouse powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and biofuels ...
, a solar and wind-powered demonstration farm, using hydroponics and aquaculture, docked at its permanent home next to the
train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing s ...
at the mouth of the
Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...
. The
Science Barge The Science Barge is a floating urban farm and environmental education center that has been docked in Yonkers, New York, USA since late 2008. The Barge grows crops using a hydroponic greenhouse powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and biofuels ...
draws thousands of researchers and students in the
STEM fields Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...
, environmental science, and
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
to Getty Square from around the world, and has been featured by the news media as far as Brazil, Japan and South Korea. In 2013, Sarah Lawrence College established an academic research center at the existing Beczak Environmental Center. The
Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...
, the catalyst for Yonkers' initial economic growth in the 17th century, is again being used as an economic engine. Long buried underground in Getty Square, in 2012, the City of Yonkers and Groundwork Yonkers completed the "daylighting" of the
Saw Mill River The Saw Mill River is a tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost t ...
and construction of Van der Donck Park around it just east of the Yonkers train station. The park, featuring public amenities and wildlife elements, has become an international showpiece. Van der Donck Park was the first phase of daylighting the river in Getty Square. The second phase, the Mill Street Courtyard project to be constructed in 2014, will daylight another portion of the river in a Getty Square block bounded by Warburton Avenue (west), North Broadway (east), Manor House Lane (north), and Main Street (south). The third daylighting phase, near Chicken Island, does not yet have a start date, although New York State awarded a $1.08 million grant for the project at the end of 2013.


Shopping district

Getty Square is a bustling, multi-ethnic shopping district with very high numbers of shoppers compared with other Westchester downtowns (See Intermodal Transit Hub section below.) With significant cohorts of along with many ethnic groups, businesses benefit from an international customer base, including African-American and Latino customers. Farmers' markets and the CSA operate seasonally: St. John's Episcopal Church holds its market on Thursdays at the church; and Groundwork holds its market on Fridays in Van der Donck Park, across the street from the Yonkers train station. The St. John's Church's market is the oldest farmers market in Westchester. The CSA is operated by Groundwork. At all the markets and the CSA, produce can be purchased using government assistance programs. Retail and business banking thrives in Getty Square. Branches of all the major national banks are present, including:
Chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...
with two branches,
Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
, Citibank, HSBC, and
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
. Branches of regional banks and credit unions include: Atlantic Bank & Trust,
Hudson Valley Bank Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Huds ...
,
KeyBank KeyBank, the primary subsidiary of KeyCorp, is a regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and is the only major bank based in Cleveland. KeyBank is one of the largest banks in the United States. Key's customer base spans retail, small b ...
, and
Municipal Credit Union Municipal Credit Union (MCU) is a state chartered credit union headquartered in New York City, regulated under the authority of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). MCU is metro New York's largest credit union. As of 2018, MCU had $2.6 ...
.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company is the rolling stock manufacturing subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. Since beginning operations in 1906, the company has produced more than 90,000 railroad cars. Products As indicated by the company name, the company mainly produc ...
is located in the Central Business District.


Intermodal transit hub

Getty Square's heavy pedestrian foot traffic is bolstered by its role as a key
transit hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips ...
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 ...
and Westchester. Bee-Line buses, MTA express buses, Metro-North Railroad, and
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
converge in Getty Square, and connections are often little more than a few blocks. Getty Square achieves a
Walk Score Walk Score, a subsidiary of Redfin, provides walkability analysis and apartment search tools. Its flagship product is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the United States, U ...
of 95 out of 100, making it a "Walker's Paradise" where "daily errands do not require a car." Getty Square's WalkScore is the highest of any neighborhood in Westchester, making it one of the best places in the County to be car-free. The combination of
walkability Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport ...
and a transit hub has spurred
transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
, with zoning changes to promote less car travel and more walking, cycling, and transit use.


Bus

Many of the bus routes provide direct connections to the New York City Subway. Bee-Line Bus and MTA Express Bus serve Getty Square. Ridership on buses dwarfs that of commuter rail. Annual bus ridership on lines in Getty Square numbers in the millions, with Yonkers being the largest origin and destination for bus trips in the Bee-Line Bus service area of Westchester and the northern Bronx. In addition to the thru-running buses,
loop route In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Int ...
bus lines circulate through Getty Square and adjoining neighborhoods. The MTA Express Bus lines provide direct transportation to midtown Manhattan (via Route BxM3).
Metro Card The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and M ...
is accepted on buses serving Getty Square. Bus routes in Getty Square may be expanded in the future. As part of the transit plan for the Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement, a proposed express bus route from Spring Valley in
Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...
would have Getty Square as its final destination.


Rail

Metro-North Railroad serves Getty Square. Rail riders use Getty Square's Beaux-Arts
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 ...
station to board Hudson Line and
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
trains. Metro-North provides trips south to stations in the Bronx and to Harlem–125th Street, and Grand Central Terminal, and to the north to stations along the Hudson Line as far as
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...
. Many Metro North commuters connect to the New York City Subway at Marble Hill to Marble Hill – 225th Street ( train) to reach destinations on the west side of Manhattan, and Harlem–125th Street to 125th Street () for Manhattan's east side.
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
serves Getty Square. The Yonkers train station is the sole southern Westchester station on the Amtrak Hudson River Line, providing an
Inter-city rail Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...
link to US and
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
cities like Albany, Syracuse,
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
, Buffalo,
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, and
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
.


Ride share

Taxi stand A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers. Operation Stands are normally located at high-traffic loc ...
s sit at the heart of Getty Square along New Main Street, and at the Yonkers Train Station. Taxis are often used by shoppers with large packages.
Car sharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...
Zipcar Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition ...
s are available near the Yonkers Train Station since 2012.


Other

Ferry service ended in 2010 between Yonkers and other points in New York City and the Hudson Valley. Boat docking is permitted at the Yonkers Pier. Bicycles are used frequently in Getty Square, mostly for transportation as opposed to recreation. Many businesses use them for fast local deliveries. Children use them to get around. Warburton Avenue and Riverdale Avenue, which meet in Getty Square, are well-used, Westchester bicycling commuting routes. LimeBike dockless bikeshare began operations in Yonkers in May 2018. Walking and bicycling trails in Getty Square are still on the drawing board. The
Old Croton Aqueduct The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueducts, which were among the first in the United States, carried water by gravity from ...
runs along the northern edge of the Getty Square neighborhood, although two blocks of path are on-street at Ashburton Avenue. The Hudson River Valley Greenway, not yet built in Yonkers, may combine portions of the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
waterfront promenade with the Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway. A concept to turn the former Getty Square branch of the New York and Putnam Railroad into a trail has been proposed. It would connect Getty Square and the waterfront promenade at the
Science Barge The Science Barge is a floating urban farm and environmental education center that has been docked in Yonkers, New York, USA since late 2008. The Barge grows crops using a hydroponic greenhouse powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and biofuels ...
with
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 ...
. It would be an urban multi-use path with both on- and off-street portions.


Notable people

Restaurateur Peter X. Kelly grew up near Getty Square, and opened Xaviar's on the Hudson, on the 2nd floor of the Yonkers Pier in 2007.


References

{{Authority control Neighborhoods in Yonkers, New York Squares in New York (state) Transportation in Yonkers, New York