The Bronx's Hemlock Forest

15,000 years ago, the New York City landscape was covered in glaciers.  As the glaciers receded, the soil that they left behind was ripe for plant and tree growth.  Much of what is now New York City was covered in dense forest.  As the population of the city grew, the majority of the trees were cut down to make room for residential and commercial development.  Today, most of the trees that one does see in New York City were replanted from what was cut down hundreds of years ago.  However, along the Bronx River in the New York Botanical Garden there is a forest that is believed to be the only forest that was never cleared.

The forest originally stood on the site of the Lorillard estate, owned by the Peter Lorillard family in the 1850s.  At one point, the forest occupied both the east and west banks of the Bronx River, and ran for a length of 3,000 feet along the river banks, stretching at some points to a depth of over 900 feet.  The forest consisted of a mixture of beech, chestnut, birch, dogwood, and tulip trees, but hemlocks were the dominant variety.

Today, the forest is 40 acres and is a mixture of eastern hemlock trees and hardwood trees.  At one time, the majority of the trees in the forest were hemlocks, but insect pests have killed many of these trees in recent years.  The hemlocks have been replaced with black cherry and black birch trees.

The Bronx Zoo on TV

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoo in the United States, but how many people have heard of The Bronx Zoo, the TV show?  The show ran for two seasons from 1987 to 1988 on NBC.  In a play on words, the show did not, as may have been expected, have anything to do with the Bronx Zoo, home to over 4,000 animals, but instead focused on the trials and tribulations of the principal of a Bronx public high school.

The cast of The Bronx Zoo

The show was an hour-long drama, and Ed Asner starred as the principal of Benjamin Harris High School.  While Asner was the center of the story, the format was similar to other, better-performing NBC ensemble-cast shows.  The story lines were interwoven, long-running stories focusing on many different cast members and their day-to-day in-school and out-of-school lives.

Watch the opening credits of the show here.

The Ferris Mansion

Until its destruction in 1941, the old Ferris Mansion at Zerega's Point was said to be the oldest house in the Bronx.  It was believed to have been built in 1687, and was originally owned by Josiah Hunt, son of Thomas Hunt of Hunt's Point.

The northern wing of the house was one-story high and made of stone, and was believed to have been the oldest wing of the house, with several additions made in later years.  The house was on the Westchester County Club grounds, at the corner of present day Rawlins Avenue and Lohengrin Place.

There is a lot of local lore associated with the house.  One of the most enduring stories involved the British general Howe during the Revolutionary War.  Valentine's Manual of Old New York relates the story in the following way:

While the family was at breakfast on that October day the British troops disembarked and General Howe and his officers rode up to the house. Into the building rode the company, some of the men even attempting to ride up the stairs. The hoofmarks are still to be seen in the hall and on the staircase, although in places a hardwood floor has been laid over the old one.

A 1934 floor plan of the first floor of the house

The Goldbergs on the Radio

In 1928, thirty-year-old Gertrude Berg, an actress and screenwriter, proposed a 15-minute weekly radio program called The Rise of the Goldbergs.  The show was based on skit's she performed for guests at her family's Catskill hotel.  In August 1929, the show was picked up by NBC Radio.  The show was so popular that in 1931 it moved to become a daily radio program, with the title shortened to simply The Goldbergs, and in 1936 the show moved to CBS.

The show focused on the day-to-day life of a Jewish family living on East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx, with the earlier episodes focusing mainly on the difficulties of assimilating to American life and achieving the American dream.  An overarching theme of the show was how the family adapted to tenement life and their striving for economic success.  Although the show was, at its heart, a comedy, Berg also addressed some serious issues affecting Jewish families at the time.  Much of the humor in the show drew on the vaudeville "ethnic dialogue" tradition.  While Berg's Molly was based on the stereotype of a Jewish mother, she played her character in a way that allowed her listeners to see the stereotype in a new way.  One Jewish commentator at the time said of Molly: "she did more to set us Jews right with the 'goyim' than all the sermons ever preached by the Rabbis." 

Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg

In addition to writing the show, Berg also starred as Molly Goldberg, the matriarch of the family.  The main characters on the show were Molly, Jake, her husband, their children Rosie and Sammy, and Uncle David.  Molly, Jake, and David spoke with heavily Yiddish accents, while their children had distinct traces of the Bronx in their speech.  Throughout the show there was a circulating cast of supporting actors and the numerous friends and extended family of the Goldbergs.
In 1939, the setting for the show moved to a suburban town in Connecticut, although many of the themes of the show remained the same.  The show went off the air in 1946, but returned as a television program in 1949.


You can listen to a snippet of an episode of The Goldbergs at the Radio Hall of Fame.

General Josiah Porter Statue

Who was General Josiah Porter?  Many of Van Cortlandt Park's visitor have seen his statue, as it stands next to Van Cortlandt House, overlooking the Park's parade grounds, but are probably not aware of what he did to deserve his status placed in such an illustrious spot.

Porter was born in Massachusetts, and first became well-known as the first Harvard graduate to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War.  He was promoted to first lieutenant, and later captain, in 1861. 

Daguerrotype of Porter from his Harvard graduation in 1852

 By 1865, he had moved to New York, where he was appointed the commander of the 22nd Regiment of the New York National Guard.  He quickly moved up the ranks, becoming a major in 1867, a colonel in 1869, and adjutant general in 1886.  He was highly praised in this last position, as he "possessed the ability to direct, the sagacity to perceive, and the mind to execute the reforms that were essential to obliterate the old National Guard and to construct the new Guard upon enduring and substantial lines" (or so said the New York Times at the time of his death).

After his death in 1894, his services to New York State through the National Guard were perceived worthy of a statue in his honor.  The statue was designed and sculpted by William Clarke Noble, at a cost of $20,000.  The statue is made from granite and bronze, stands at 8 feet high, and shows Porter in full dress uniform.  The statue was given to the city of New York by the New York National Guard in Porter's memory. 

It was unveiled by Porter's daughter at a ceremony in 1902.  The unveiling was accompanied by a full military pageant, with speeches by the mayor of New York City, the National Guard commander, and the NYC Parks commissioner. The statue was restored in 1998.

The inscription on the statue reads:

He labored to increase the efficiency, perfect the discipline, and elevate the standard of the National Guard.

Statue of Porter

Dwight James Baum

Although Dwight James Baum was not a native Bronxite, as he was born in the upstate New York town of Newville, he is someone whose live was very much entwined with the history of the Bronx.  Baum was an architect who graduated from Syracuse University in 1909.  He began his career working with the very well-known firms of Boring and Tilton and Sanford White, but in 1912 struck out on his own and opened his own architectural design firm.

Baum in 1913

When he decided to open his new firm, Baum purchased a plot of land in Riverdale, in the Bronx, and designed and built a home for himself.  He ran his office out of the attic of his home.  Although Baum spent much of the 1920s designing many well known buildings and residents in Florida, mainly in the cities of Tampa and Sarasota, in his spare time he designed single-family residences.  As the Riverdale section of the Bronx was become more settled at this time, as families began to buy land to build homes they were encouraged to seek out the design services of Baum.  As a result, over 140 homes in Riverdale, particularly in the Fieldston section, were designed by Baum.  Additionally, Baum was responsible for designing the Anthony Campagna Estate, the Riverdale Country Club, the Armor Hall addition to the Wave Hill House, the Riverdale Firehouse, PS 81, the Belltower at 239th Street, and the Arrowhead Inn.

St. Raymond's Church

As the news today is full of stories about the change in the Catholic church mass, as the church switches over to a new translation of the Latin-based mass, it seems fitting to take a look at the oldest Catholic church in the Bronx.  Established when the Bronx was still considered to be part of Westchester County, St. Raymond's Church at Castle Hill and East Tremont Avenues is the oldest Catholic church in the borough.

The land for the church was purchased in 1935 for $160.  However, it was a few years before the archdiocese did anything with the land.  St. Raymond's was established in 1842 by Father Felix Vilanis and dedicated in 1845.  The original church was actually a converted wooden barn that parishioners used until they had raised enough money to start construction on an actual church building.  The church was dedicated on the feast day of St. Raymond Nonnatus, August 31. 

Original church building, 1897.

The church population exploded in the 1850s with the influx of people moving to the Bronx, and soon had over 2,000 parishioners, many more than the new church building could hold.  In 1897, construction was started on a new church building, designed by George H. Streeton, which was dedicated in 1898, and ultimately cost of $100,000.  That church building still stands today.

New church building, 1907.

In addition to the church building, construction on a school was started in 1909.  The Reverend Michael McEvoy, pastor of St. Raymond's from 1875 to 1885, purchased what was the Underhill Farm on Throgg's Neck and had it consecrated as St. Raymond's Cemetery.  In the 1920s, the parish built a convent home for the Sisters of Mercy, and in the 1950s a new home was built by the parish for the De la Salle Brothers, who have taught at the school since it opened in 1909.  A rectory was also built alongside the church.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Bronx Old Timer's Association

At the turn of the twentieth century, as more and more new residents were streaming into the newly residential Bronx, those residents who were not part of this new wave wanted to do something to acknowledge their long-standing presence.  And so the Bronx Old Timer's Association was born on April 30, 1911 at the headquarters of the Exempt Firemen at 3rd Avenue and 147th Street.  In order to be a member of this distinguished organization one had to pay a nominal fee, but, more importantly, also had to have been a resident of the Bronx for 50 years or more.  Any time that was spent outside of the Bronx was deducted from one's total.

Louis Haffen, a former borough president, was the first president of the association by unanimous vote.  The association was headquartered at Washington Hall.  The members were encouraged to save any memorabilia relating to Bronx history, and were also relied on to keep records of any meaningful Bronx events that occurred during the member's lifetime.  The association was also active in preserving some historical Bronx landmarks.  Several members of the association published The Bronx and Its People, A History in 1927.

Original members of the Bronx Old Timer's Association

John McNamara, author of History in Asphalt, among other books, who passed away in 2004, was inducted into the association in 1966, and was, before his death, the last member of the association. 

Hunter's Island Inn

Hunter's Island, in Pelham Bay Park, was one the home of John Hunter, an auctioneer.  He built his house in the early 1800s on the highest point of the island, and counted among the many guests to his home President Martin van Buren. There were two white marble gateposts leading to the drive to Hunter's home.

Opposite the gates leading to the island and Hunter's property, was perhaps an even more-well-known structure, the Hunter's Island Inn.  The property and residence that made up the inn were once owned by Elizabeth de Lancey, a home that she called "Greystones," but after she sold it were turned into a popular roadhouse along the Shore Road.  The Inn was located at an extremly sharp curve in the road, and became a popular stopping point for motorists. 

The curve in Shore Road at Hunter's Island Inn

 The Pelham Bay Golf Course, which first opened in 1905, originally used the Hunter's Island Inn property as a clubhouse.  A New York Times article at the time noted:

"When the course does get in shape the golfers will have an admirable headquarters for luncheon and lockers in the Hunter's Island Inn. This is a commodious stone building, being the old Delancey house, and is upon the Park property. It is but a step from the front door to the first tee.

 While the use of the Inn as a clubhouse waned after a few years, the Inn continued to operate as a roadhouse for motorists, and even had a reputation as a speakeasy during Prohibition.  The Inn was advertised as "15 miles from 59th Street" with "vocal and instrumental music" and "service a la carte." The building was torn down in the 1930s.

A postcard showing Hunter's Island Inn