Tag: History

From Bronck to the Bronx, a Name and a Swedish Heritage to Celebrate | NYTimes

Excerpt from The New York Times:

“Nobody would mistake the municipality of Savsjo for the borough of the Bronx.

Savsjo, surrounded by dense forests in southern Sweden between Stockholm and Malmo, has about 5,000 inhabitants (about one-tenth as many as the Co-op City section of the borough alone, but about 10 times as many as the number of Bronxites who claim Swedish heritage). Its medieval churches date to the 12th century (the oldest existing house in the Bronx was built in 1748). Savsjo’s best-known sports team plays handball, not baseball.

And yet the two localities share one largely forgotten favorite son, whose Swedish heritage has only recently been confirmed: Jonas Bronck.

80 Years Later, Bronx County Courthouse & Borough Hall Still As Grand

2014 is quite the year for major Bronx anniversaries. The Bronx County Courthouse and our beloved Borough Hall celebrates the 80th anniversary of the opening of its doors for official business.

In 1934, just 20 years after Bronx County was created, the grand old building was opened up by Mayor LaGuardia in a 3 day celebration of the building’s construction. LaGuardia even moved the seat of government for New York City to the Bronx for 3 days to mark the occasion.

JFK Lived Here & More Tidbits About The Bronx

Here’s part 3 in a series of fun facts about the borough we love, The Bronx. This series is in celebration of our two major milestones: the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bronx County and the 375th anniversary of Jonas Bronck’s arrival to our borough.

The Survivors Of Orchard Beach; Sand, surf and unspeakable horrors | The Jewish Week

I grew up in the rock-and-roll ’50s in an immigrant community in the Bronx where all of our friends’ parents had blue tattoos on their arms, some large, some small, some buried under bushy arm hair and silver wristwatches, but always a row of numbers. Our parents had gold teeth, heavy accents, and names we never heard on television. The memories of my childhood summer days — the contrast between the bucolic and the indescribably horrible — served as my Holocaust 101.

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!

11 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Bronx

This year the Bronx is celebrating two major anniversaries: The 375th anniversary of the first European settler — and our borough’s namesake Jonas Bronck, to call our great borough of the North home, and the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bronx County, New York State’s 62nd and last county created.

In the spirit of history, we’ve decided to compile a list of things you may not (or may) know about the Bronx.

After 36 Years, A Son of the Bronx Returns Home; Publishes Book

Bronx born and raised, storyteller, writer and author, Martin Kleinman, returned back to his birthplace after a 36 year journey living abroad — in, Queens, Manhattan, and 25 years in Park Slope, Brooklyn. (Sorry, Staten Island, as he quipped in an article in the Huffington Post back in January on a de Blasio Mayoralty).

Legend Has It That Green Beer Was Invented In The Bronx On St Patrick’s Day in 1914!

As legend has it, green beer was invented in Melrose on 163rd Street near 3rd Avenue 100 years ago today just as our borough of the Bronx was born according to an article The Daily Meal by Editor, Joanna Fantozzi.

If the legend is true, then it is quite fitting as the Bronx is the unofficial Irish Capital of New York City!

Here’s the article from The Daily Meal:

Mountaintop: What Bronx Community College’s Campus Means

Did you know that Bronx Community College occupies one of the highest points in the whole Bronx? Do you know how this school came to occupy that location? 2014 is the 40th anniversary of Bronx Community College’s (BCC) first full year at the campus we know today. A distinguished African-American educator oversaw the move from scattered buildings around Jerome Avenue to the high and architecturally distinguished place it now occupies; his name was Dr. James A. Colston!

City Finally Decides To Save Historical Murals At Bronx County Courthouse After Borough President & Residents Complain

Back in 2010 during renovations at the Bronx County Courthouse, several historical murals depicting Jonas Bronck and local Lenape Native Americans were severely water damaged.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr complained to the city on numerous occasions but the years went by and the decay worsened.

Now the city finally has done right by the Bronx and the murals and work will begin to restore the historical works of art.

New Book, ‘Blacks In The Colonial Bronx: A Documentary History’ Is A First

The Bronx County Historical Society has just published a new book, by Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan, on Blacks in the Bronx during colonial times —a first of its kind.

According to the Society’s website:

For the first time in over three and a half centuries, the story of people of African descent in the colonial Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City, is being told. Discovered in over fifty scattered places, 210 separate accounts written by participants and witnesses from 1664 to 1783 in letters, government documents, court records, wills, memoirs and newspapers are brought together in one volume for the first time. The noted historian and author, Lloyd Ultan, puts these statements and accounts from the era into context, telling what they mean and tying them all together in a revealing narrative.