Мотт-Хейвен: История и современность района Бронкса

Mott Haven is a primarily residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is generally bounded by East 149th Street to the north, the Bruckner Expressway to the east and south, and the Harlem River to the west, although these boundaries are not precise. East 138th Street is the primary east–west thoroughfare through Mott Haven. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 1, and is located within ZIP Codes 10451, 10454, and 10455. Mott Haven is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 40th Precinct. In 1639, the Dutch West India Company purchased the land of today's Mott Haven from the Wecquaesgeek (groups of Lenape tribe). Bronck built his farm on this land and named it "Emmanus". The house was located close to what is today the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street. The peace treaty between Dutch authorities and the Wecquaesgeek chiefs Ranaqua and Tackamuckwas was signed in Bronck's house. This event is portrayed in a painting by the American artist John Ward Dunsmore (1856–1945). Even though Bronck only lived in the area for four years, the land became known as "Broncksland" and the river that bordered his land kept the name Bronck's River. The first time the spelling "Bronx land" was used, was in 1697 in the First Legislature outlined the County of West Chester.

The area that is now called Mott Haven was sold to the Morris family in 1670. A series of brownstones on East 134th Street, east of Willis Avenue., was known as Judges' Row. Soon after, the Bronx grew more quickly, especially with public transit into the area, including the Third Avenue Elevated Line. By the early 20th century, the population density of the area supported the construction of many tenement style apartment buildings. From the end of the 19th century through the 1940s, Mott Haven was a mixed German American (north of East 145th Street) and Irish American neighborhood (south of East 145th Street), with an Italian enclave west of Lincoln Ave. The first Puerto Rican settlements came in the late 1940s along the length of Brook Avenue. African Americans came into the area when the Patterson Houses were built. It was organized by the veterans of the Irish Republican Army, who marched every Easter Sunday, down Willis Avenue from the Hub to East 138th Street, then west to St. Jerome's. The Star of Munster Ballroom at the northeast corner of Willis Avenue and East 138th Street was a center of Irish music for decades. It was speculated at one time that there were more bars on Willis Avenue than on any other city street, given its short length. More recorded Irish musicians lived in Mott Haven than in any place outside Ireland.

Mott Haven and Port Morris were the first neighborhoods to give rise to the term "South Bronx". Together, they were earlier known as the North Side or North New York. This area was part of New York City after the incorporation of Greater New York in 1898. The Chase Manhattan Bank at Third Avenue and East 137th Street was originally the North Side Board of Trade Building (1912). It later became the North Side Savings Bank, which became the Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank, which became Chase. In the 1940s when the Bronx was usually divided into the East Bronx and West Bronx, a group of social workers identified a pocket of poverty on East 134th Street, east of Brown Place, and called it the South Bronx. This area of poverty would spread in part due to an illegal practice known as blockbusting and to Robert Moses building several housing projects in the neighborhood. The poverty greatly expanded northward, following the post war phenomenon colloquially referred to as white flight, reaching a peak in the 1960s when the socioeconomic North Bronx South Bronx boundary reached Fordham Road. At this time a wave of arson destroyed or damaged many of the residential, commercial, and industrial structures in the area. During the course of Mott Haven's growth, the communities of Wilton and North New York were incorporated into it. Later attempts to market Mott Haven as the "Piano District" and the South Bronx as "SoBro" have not found traction.

There has been a significant wave of residential redevelopment in the neighborhood especially along East 138th Street corridor with developments such as "The Joinery", the first luxury mid rise condominium in the area, in addition to recently built affordable housing such as "Borinquen Court" and "Tres Puentes" apartment complex. Mott Haven is home to a community supported agriculture program hosted at Brook Park. Recent development plans include two affordable rental buildings, a Hampton Inn by Monadnock Development and Signature Urban Properties, and the so called Piano District.

Mott Haven is a high density and mainly low income neighborhood. Like most neighborhoods in New York City, the vast majority of households are renter occupied. The neighborhood is largely Puerto Rican, with smaller numbers of African Americans, Mexicans and Dominicans present. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 1.7% (867) White, 24.7% (12,927) African American, 0.2% (95) Native American, 0.4% (214) Asian, 0% (7) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (124) from other races, and 0.6% (310) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 72.3% (37,869) of the population. The entirety of Community District 1, which comprises Mott Haven and Melrose, had 98,403 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 77.6 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle aged adults: 28% are between the ages of between 0–17, 28% between 25–44, and 21% between 45–64. The ratio of college aged and elderly residents was lower, at 12% and 10%, respectively. In 2018, an estimated 29% of Mott Haven and Melrose residents lived in poverty, compared to 25% in all of the Bronx and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (12%) were unemployed, compared to 13% in the Bronx and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 58% in Mott Haven and Melrose, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 58% and 51%, respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, Mott Haven and Melrose were considered to be low income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying. The district is primarily residential in character with four and five story row houses dating to the last half of the 19th century, and contains the row of brownstones known historically as Doctors' Row and Irish Fifth Avenue. It also has the 40th Precinct police station, the 1905 neo renaissance Mott Haven Branch of the New York Public Library, and Saint Jerome's Roman Catholic Church. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Bertine Block Historic District is located on East 136th Street between Brook and Willis Avenues. The district contains yellow faced brick brownstones, designed by Edward Bertine between 1891 and 1895. St. Ann's Episcopal Church is located on the west side of St. Ann's Avenue, between East 139th and East 141st Streets. It is the Bronx's oldest church, having been built in 1841 and dedicated to Gouverneur Morris's mother Ann. Notable figures buried there include Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; Gouverneur Morris; and former Mayor of New York City, R. H. Morris.

The Mott Haven Herald is a news outlet that reports in Mott Haven, Melrose and Port Morris. It is produced by students at the City University Graduate School of Journalism and edited by Joe Hirsch.

Mott Haven and Melrose are patrolled by the 40th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 257 Alexander Avenue. The 40th Precinct ranked 59th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per capita crime in 2010. as of 2018, with a non fatal assault rate of 186 per 100,000 people, Mott Haven and Melrose's rate of violent crimes per capita was greater than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 1,214 per 100,000 people was higher than that of the city as a whole.

as of 2018, preterm births and births to teenage mothers were more common in Mott Haven and Melrose than in other places citywide. In Mott Haven and Melrose, there were 95 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 35.1 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).

Mott Haven and Melrose generally had a lower rate of college educated residents than the rest of the city, as of 2018. While 16% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 41% have less than a high school education and 43% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 26% of Bronx residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. Mott Haven and Melrose's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is more than the rest of New York City. In Mott Haven and Melrose, 32% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, higher than the citywide average of 20%.