10 Interesting Things & Facts About The Bronx

Many readers loved our list from last week, which highlighted 11 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Bronx, and we promised you we’d come back with more.

So here’s more!

1.  We know that Hip Hop was born in the Bronx but did you know that SALSA was born not in Puerto Rico but in the ballrooms of the Bronx?

2.  Edgar Allan Poe called the Bronx home and you can still visit his cottage.  It was here that Poe wrote Annabel Lee and several other of his famous poems.

3.  Belmont / Arthur Avenue is the home of New York City’s REAL Little Italy.  Hey, it’s in the Huffington Post and even famed chef, Rachael Ray says so!

4.  Bronx Community College was originally New York University’s uptown campus and opened in 1894.  In 1973 it was sold to the New York State and became the home for BCC.  The Hall of Fame For Great Americans is also here.

5.  Morrisania and Morris Avenue get their names from the Morris family of the Bronx of which Lewis Morris was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of our country.  He is buried in the family vault at St Ann’s Church on St. Ann’s Avenue and E 142nd Street in Mott Haven just south of St. Mary’s Park.

6. Penny Marshall, better known as Laverne DeFazio from the hit comedy show, Laverne and Shirley was raised right here in the Bronx and lived on the Grand Concourse.  Marshall attended the former Walton High School.  Besides her acting career, she has directed such hit movies like, Big, Jumping Jack Flash, A League of Their Own, and Awakenings.

7.  Before our borough’s namesake, Jonas Bronck, set foot upon the our land, it was known as Rananchqua by the Siwanoy, a group of Native Americans of the Lenape Tribe.  It was a land divided by the Aquahung River (Today’s modern-day Bronx River).

8.  Did you also know that The Bronx was once part of Westchester County? The Town of Westchester, which was to the East of the Bronx River was the first town established in Westchester County and was its county seat.  In 1874, the towns west of the Bronx River became part of New York City and the lands to the east of the Bronx River were annexed to New York City in 1898.

9.  Woodlawn Cemetery is perhaps the final resting place of more famous people than any other place in the world.  Among the most notable names are: Rowland H. Macy, founder of Macy’s Department stores, James Cash Penney, founder of, you guessed it, JC Penney, legendary latin artist Celia Cruz, FW Woolworth of Woolworth Department Store fame, composer, Irving Berlin, Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis.

10. The Bronx Library Center in Fordham has the distinct honor of being the FIRST Green / LEED Certified municipal building in the City of New York.

As we continue to celebrate throughout the year the 375th anniversary of Jonas Bronck’s arrival to our borough as the first European settler and the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bronx County, we will continue to provide you with these little fun factoids and trivia.  Have any suggestions for future postings on this topic?  Send them in to submissions@welcome2thebronx.com !