Йонкерс: История и современность американского города

City in the United States

Yonkers ('/j//ɒ//ŋ//k//ər//z/) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. The city, a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, had a population of 211,569 in the 2020 United States census. It is classified as an inner suburb of New York City, north of the Bronx and approximately 2.4 mile (4 km) north of Marble Hill (the northernmost point in Manhattan). Downtown Yonkers centers around Getty Square, where the municipal government is located. The downtown area also houses local businesses and nonprofit organizations, and is a retail hub for the city and the northwest Bronx. Major shopping areas are in Getty Square on South Broadway, at the Cross County Shopping Center and the Ridge Hill Mall, and along Central Park Avenue. The city has a number of attractions, including Tibbetts Brook Park, Untermyer Park and Gardens, the Hudson River Museum, the Saw Mill River, the Science Barge, Sherwood House, and access to the Hudson River. Yonkers is known as the City of Seven Hills: Park, Nodine, Ridge, Cross, Locust, Glen, and Church Hills. The city has experienced recent gentrification.

The area was granted to Adriaen van der Donck, the patroon of Colendonck, in July 1645. Van der Donck was known locally as Jonkheer ('young gentleman'), an honorific title derived from the Dutch jonk ('young') and heer ('lord'). The title, similar to "esquire", is linguistically comparable to the German Junker. Jonkheer was shortened to Jonker (possessive Jonkers), from which the name Yonkers derives. The city's residents are known as Yonkersonians, Yonkersites, or Yonks.

The indigenous Native American village of Nappeckamack was located near the Neperah stream (now the Saw Mill River, also known as Nepperhan Creek), which flowed into the Shatemuck (Hudson River). The land on which the city is built was once part of Colen Donck, a Dutch land grant. It ran 12 mile (19 km) north from the present day Manhattan–Bronx border at Marble Hill, and from the Hudson River east to the Bronx River. Adriaen van der Donck (d. 1655) built a saw mill near the confluence of Nepperhan Creek and the Hudson River. Near the site of Van der Donck's mill is the Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, a manor house owned by Dutch colonists. The historic house museum is also an archive. The original structure was built by white workers and enslaved people for Frederick Philipse and his wife, Margaret Hardenbroeck de Vries, around 1682. Philipse was a wealthy Dutchman who, at his death, had amassed an estate which included present day Yonkers and several other Hudson River towns. Philipse's great grandson, Frederick Philipse III, was a prominent loyalist during the American Revolution who had economic and political ties to English businesspeople. Because of his political leanings, he fled to England. American colonists in New York State confiscated and sold all lands and property belonging to the Philipse family.

Yonkers has undergone several changes to neighborhoods in an effort to revitalize the city, which has included gentrification. Changes were made to its waterfront, which included revitalizing its green space; this improved the quality of life for wealthier residents. Downtown gentrification has raised concerns that poorer residents might be forced out of the city. A Yonkers Arts Gallery painting, But It’s Ours: The Redline Between Poverty and Wealth by Shanequa Benitez, illustrates the effects of gentrification on Yonkers. In an effort to combat redlining, the city announced the Yonkers Greenway: a $14 million rail trail along former railways such as the New York and Putnam Railroad. The 3.1 mile (5 km) greenway will run from Van Cortlandt Park to Getty Square. Construction, expected to begin in spring 2024, is planned to be completed in 2026.

The Village of Yonkers was incorporated in the western Town of Yonkers in 1854, and incorporated as a city in 1872. In 1873, the southern Town of Yonkers (outside the City of Yonkers) became the Town of Kingsbridge; this included Woodlawn Cemetery and the present day neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, and Woodlawn Heights. The Town of Kingsbridge was annexed by New York City the following year as part of the Bronx. In 1898, Yonkers, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island voted on a referendum to determine if they wanted to become part of New York City. Although the referendum passed elsewhere, Yonkers and neighboring Mount Vernon were not included in the consolidated city and remained independent. Some residents call Yonkers "the sixth borough" because of its location on the New York City border, its urban character, and the merger referendum. A 1942 subway connection was planned between Getty Square and the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which terminates in Riverdale at 242nd Street (slightly south of the city line). The plan was dropped. In 1937, a 175 feet (53 m) water tower collapsed in the Nodine Hills area; nine people were initially injured. The injury total increased by three after the collapse, bringing the number to 12. About of water from the tower spilled, causing flooding in the area that crushed cars and damaged homes. Construction of a new tower began in 1938, and it became operational the following year.

During the American Civil War, 254 Yonkers residents joined the U. S. Army and Navy. They enlisted primarily in four regiments: the 6th New York Heavy Artillery, the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, the 17th New York Volunteers, and the 15th NY National Guard. During the New York City draft riots, Yonkers formed the Home Guards. The guards were a force of constables formed to protect Yonkers from rioting which was feared to spread from New York City (it did not). Seventeen Yonkers residents were killed during the Civil War. During World War I, 6,909 Yonkers residents (about seven percent of the city's population) entered military service. Most Yonkers men joined the 27th Division or the 77th Division.

Yonkers was originally a small farming town which produced peaches, apples, potatoes, oats, wheat, and other agricultural goods to be shipped to New York City along the Hudson River. Water power created manufacturing jobs. Elisha Otis invented a safety elevator in 1853, and the Otis Elevator Company opened the world's first elevator factory on the Hudson near present day Vark Street. The company moved to larger quarters during the 1880s, which later became the Yonkers Public Library. Around that time, the Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company in the Saw Mill River Valley expanded to 45 buildings, 800 looms, and more than 4,000 workers. It was known as one of the world's premier carpet producing centers. In addition to manufacturing, Yonkers played a key role in the development of recreational sports in the United States. Scottish born John Reid founded Saint Andrew's Golf Club in the city in 1888; it was the first golf course in the United States. That year, the New York City and Northern Railway Company (later the New York Central Railroad) connected Yonkers to Manhattan and points north. A three mile spur to Getty Square operated until 1943. Bakelite, the first completely synthetic plastic, was invented c. 1907 in Yonkers by Leo Baekeland and was manufactured there until the late 1920s. During the early 20th century, Yonkers hosted the Brass Era automaker Colt Runabout. Although the vehicle reportedly ran well, the company went out of business. Yonkers was the headquarters of the Waring Hat Company, the nation's largest hat manufacturer when it opened. On January 4, 1940, Yonkers resident Edwin Howard Armstrong transmitted the first FM radio broadcast (on station W2XCR) from the Yonkers home of co experimenter C. R. Runyon. Yonkers had the longest running pirate radio station, which was owned by Allan Weiner and operated during the 1970s and 1980s. The Alexander Smith Carpet Company, one of the city's largest employers, ceased operations during a June 1954 labor dispute. A Kawasaki railcar assembly plant opened in 1986 in the former Otis plant. With the loss of manufacturing jobs, Yonkers became a commuter town. Some neighborhoods, such as Crestwood and Park Hill, became popular with wealthy New Yorkers who wanted to live outside Manhattan without giving up urban conveniences. Yonkers' transportation infrastructure, which included three commuter railroad lines and five parkways and thruways, made it a desirable city in which to live. A 15 minute drive from Manhattan, it has a number of prewar homes and apartment buildings. Yonkers' manufacturing sector has also revived during the early 21st century.

In 1960, the population of Yonkers was 95.8 percent white and four percent Black. In 1980, the NAACP and the federal government filed suit against the city of Yonkers and its board of education in United States v. Yonkers. After a 1985 decision and an unsuccessful appeal, Yonkers' schools were integrated in 1988. Federal judge Leonard B. Sand ruled that Yonkers had engaged in institutional segregation in housing and school policies for over 40 years. He tied the illegal concentration of public housing and private housing discrimination to the city's resistance to ending racial isolation in its public schools. Yonkers gained national and international attention during the summer of 1988, when it backed out of its previous agreement to build municipal public housing in the eastern parts of the city (an agreement it had made in a consent decree after losing its appeal in 1987). After its reversal, the city was found in contempt of the federal courts. Sand imposed a fine on Yonkers which began at $100 and doubled every day, capped at $1 million per day by an appeals court, until the city capitulated to the federally mandated plan. The city remained in contempt of court until September 9, 1988, when its city council relented as the financial impact threatened to close a library and reduce sanitation. The city also considered massive layoffs, which would have adversely affected its ability to provide services to the upper classes it was trying to retain. Nicholas C. Wasicsko, Yonkers' youngest mayor (elected at age 28), struggled in city politics. He helped end the city's contempt of court ruling, but was voted out of office as a result. Wasicsko's story, subject of the 2015 miniseries Show Me a Hero, was adapted from a 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin. The 2007 documentary Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story also covers racial discrimination and housing segregation in Yonkers. As as a result of the federal lawsuit, Yonkers' public school enrollment dropped from 54 percent of the city's eligible population to under 30 percent as thousands of white families left the city for its suburbs or enrolled their children in private schools; this effectively gutted the city's middle class and tax base. The school district's estimated cost of integration was over $262 million. Forced to cut programs, Yonkers schools fell steeply in national rankings as test scores sharply declined. By 1995, The New York Times called the city's desegregation effort "a profound disappointment to blacks and whites alike." Michael Sussmann, the NAACP's lawyer during the case, blamed Sand for failing to allocate federal funds to help relieve the cost of integration.

Areas of Yonkers which bordered similar neighborhoods in Riverdale began seeing an influx of Orthodox Jews during the 2000s, and the Riverdale Hatzalah volunteer ambulance service began serving neighborhoods in the southwest part of the city. The Sherwood Park Cemetery is a small Jewish cemetery. Two former Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company loft buildings (at 540 and 578 Nepperhan Avenue) have been repurposed to house the YoHo Artist Community, which has private studios there. Yonkers Raceway, a harness racing track, renovated its grounds and clubhouse and added video slot machines in 2006 to become Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino. MGM Resorts International bought the raceway and casino in 2018 for $850 million. During the COVID 19 pandemic, the city opened several test sites at the ParkCare Pavilion of St. John's Riverside Hospital (considered a COVID 19 hotspot). The test site was operated by the New York State Department of Health during the pandemic. More test sites opened in the city as students prepared to return to school for in person instruction. In February 2023, the Yonkers City Council approved the US Post Office on Main Street for local landmark status after its 1989 listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. On September 29, 2023, a state of emergency was declared in the city after flash flooding affected most of the Hudson Valley and New York City. Most area parkways were closed and flooding was also reported in neighboring Mount Vernon. After the flooding, crews pumped water out of Yonkers homes. The city has been used as a location for films and television series, and the City Hall courtroom is used for film scenes and commercials. Yonkers is part of New York City's union zone, and crews do not need to be paid travel fees. Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003) were partially filmed in the city. The city is the setting for the 2005 film A Tale of Two Pizzas, and Tyler, the Creator released "Yonkers" in 2011. Neil Simon's play, Lost in Yonkers, and its film version are set in the city. A new Lionsgate Studios facility hosts the Spanish multimedia communications group Mediapro, and a planned $500 million expansion would make it the largest such facility in the Northeast.

Yonkers covers an area of , including of land and of water. The Bronx River separates Yonkers from Mount Vernon, Tuckahoe, Eastchester, Bronxville, and Scarsdale on the east. The town of Greenburgh is on the north, and the Hudson River forms the western border. On the south, Yonkers borders the Riverdale, Woodlawn, and Wakefield sections of The Bronx. The city is spread over hills rising from near sea level on the east bank of the Hudson River to 416 feet (127 m) above sea level at Sacred Heart Church, whose spire can be seen from Long Island, New York City, and New Jersey. It is considered a City of Seven Hills: Park, Nodine, Ridge, Cross, Locust, Glen, and Church Hills. Much of the city developed around the Saw Mill River, which enters Yonkers from the north and flows into the Hudson River at Getty Square. Portions of the river had been buried in flumes under parking lots, but have been uncovered (daylighted). Daylighting promotes the restoration of habitat for plants, fish, and other fauna, and helps develop an understanding of where Native Americans camped in spring and summer.

Northeast Yonkers is a primarily Irish American and Italian American area. House sizes vary, from small houses set close together to larger homes in neighborhoods such as Lawrence Park West and mid rise apartment buildings along Central Avenue (NY 100). Central Avenue (officially Central Park Avenue) is a shopping area. Notable former residents include Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, whose childhood home was at 100 Pembrook Drive. The area contains the affluent neighborhoods of Crestwood, Colonial Heights, and Cedar Knolls, and the wealthy enclaves of Beech Hill and Lawrence Park West. It includes a gated community off the eastern Grassy Sprain Reservoir, known as Winchester Villages. Landmarks include St. Vladimir's Seminary, Sarah Lawrence College and the Tanglewood Shopping Center, former home of the Tanglewood Boys gang. Northeast Yonkers is somewhat more expensive than the rest of the city and, due to the proximity of several Metro North commuter railroad stations, its residents generally work for Manhattan corporations.

Northwest Yonkers neighborhoods vary, spanning from the Hudson River to the New York State Thruway (I 87) and from Ashburton Avenue north to the Hastings on Hudson border. With the Hudson River bordering it on the west, northwest Yonkers has many Victorian era homes with panoramic views of the Palisades. The Victorian architecture and number of 19th century estates in northwest Yonkers has attracted filmmakers. An interest in historic preservation has developed, demonstrated on streets such as Shonnard Terrace, Delavan Terrace, and Hudson Terrace. On Delavan Terrace, the 1854 Smith Collins House was included in a 1983 article in The New York Times. The house was demolished in 2007, and former city council president Chuck Lesnick called for legislation which would make the demolition of a 75 year old landmark in the city subject to the landmark review process. Neighborhoods include Nepera Park, Runyon Heights, Homefield, Glenwood, and Greystone. Landmarks include the Hudson River Museum, the Lenoir Nature Preserve, and Untermyer Park and Gardens. The two block section of Palisade Avenue between Chase and Roberts Avenues in northwest Yonkers is colloquially known as "the north end" or "the end". The only retail area in northwest Yonkers, it was known for its soda fountain, Urich's Stationery, and Robbins Pharmacy. It was the end of the #2 trolley line, which has been replaced by a Bee line Bus route. Nepperhan Avenue in Nepera Park is a shopping district in the area.

Residents of southeast Yonkers are primarily Irish and Italian American. A number of recent immigrants from Ireland live in the area. Its architecture more closely resembles that of parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island than of points north. Southeast Yonkers is within walking distance of the Woodlawn and Wakefield neighborhoods of the Bronx. Eastern McLean Avenue, home to an Irish community shared with Woodlawn, is considered the hub of Yonkers by some. A portion of Midland Avenue in the Dunwoodie neighborhood has been called the city's Little Italy. Southeast Yonkers landmarks include the Cross County Shopping Center, Yonkers Raceway and St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, which was visited by Pope John Paul II in October 1995 and by Pope Benedict XVI in April 2008.

Getty Square is Yonkers' downtown and its civic center and central business district. Much of southwest Yonkers grew along the railroad and trolley (now bus) lines along South Broadway and in Getty Square which run to New York City. Clusters of apartment buildings surrounded the stations of the Yonkers branch of the New York and Putnam Railroad and the Third Avenue Railway trolley lines; these buildings are now served by the Bee Line Bus System. The railroad companies built neighborhoods of mixed housing which ranged from apartment buildings to large mansions in areas such as Park Hill, where a funicular accessed the train station in the valley. Off South Broadway and Yonkers Avenue are residential neighborhoods such as Lowerre, Nodine Hill, Park Hill, and Hudson Park. They have a mixture of architectural styles which include dense clusters of apartment buildings, blocks of stores with apartments above, multifamily row houses, and detached single family homes. The Ludlow Park, Hudson Park, and Van Cortlandt Crest neighborhoods have a larger number of detached houses. Southwest Yonkers, traditionally home to African American and white residents, has seen an influx of immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and the Middle East. Many residents are of African, Caribbean, Italian, Polish, or Mexican descent. Some neighborhoods on the Riverdale border contain an increasing number of Orthodox Jews. The area is home to historical and educational institutions which include Philipse Manor Hall, the Science Barge, the Beczak Environmental Education Center, and a 2003 Yonkers Public Library building. The revitalization of Getty Square has helped facilitate the growth of southwest Yonkers. During the early 21st century, several luxury apartment buildings were built along the Hudson River. A Victorian era pier was renovated, and a new public library was housed in the remodeled Otis Elevator factory. Peter X. Kelly's restaurant, X20 Xaviar's on the Hudson, is on the renovated pier. In 2020, several more rental buildings were placed at the river's edge on Alexander Street. Sawyer Place is an 18 story building on the site of the original old mill. New proposals and current projects are intended to revitalize downtown Yonkers.

Phillipse Manor Hall was the site of the first Yonkers Village Hall and City Hall from 1868 to c. 1906. The Academy for Jewish Religion, a rabbinical and cantorial school, is in the Getty Square neighborhood. Sarah Lawrence College, with a Bronxville mailing address, is located in Yonkers. Westchester Community College (part of the State University of New York system) operates a number of extension centers in Yonkers, with the largest in the Cross County Shopping Center. Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary is in Crestwood. The Japanese School of New York was in Yonkers for one year; the school moved to Queens on August 18, 1991, and to Greenwich, Connecticut on September 1, 1992. Three branches are operated by the Yonkers Public Library: Crestwood, Riverfront, and Grinton I. Will. The Carnegie Library, funded by Andrew Carnegie, was demolished in May 1982 to make way for the expansion of Nepperhan Avenue as an arterial road.

Yonkers has the eleventh highest rate of public transit ridership among cities in the United States, and 27 percent of the city's households do not own a car. Bus service is provided by the Westchester County Bee Line Bus System (the state's second largest bus system), and the MTA Bus Company has express routes to Manhattan. Yonkers is the top terminus of the Bee Line Bus service area, which includes Westchester and the northern Bronx, and the Getty Square intermodal hub serves millions of passengers per year. The Metro North Railroad serves Yonkers with two heavy rail commuter lines: the Hudson Line and the Harlem Line. The Ludlow, Yonkers, Glenwood, and Greystone stations are on the Hudson Line, which provides commuter service to New York City. The Yonkers station is also served by all of Amtrak's named Empire Service trains except for the Lake Shore Limited. Several Harlem Line stations are on or near the city's eastern border. These include Wakefield, Mount Vernon West, Fleetwood, Bronxville, Tuckahoe and Crestwood. The area was served by the commuter New York and Putnam Railroad from the late 19th century until its closure in 1958. Its right of way has been paved and is used as a public park and part of the Empire State Trail, which spans 750 mile (1207 km) from New York City to Buffalo and Rouses Point via Albany. Until December 2009, New York Water Taxi operated a ferry service from downtown Yonkers to Manhattan's Financial District. From 2018 to 2020, Yonkers had a dockless bikeshare program operated by LimeBike. It has an electric scooter program which was begun in August 2020 by Bird, making Yonkers the first city in New York with such a program.

Limited access roads in Yonkers include Interstate 87 (the New York State Thruway) and the Saw Mill, Bronx River, Sprain Brook and Cross County Parkways. US 9, NY 9A, and NY 100 are major surface streets. The main line of the former New York and Putnam Railroad has been converted into the South County Trailway, a paved walking and bicycling path. It runs north–south in Yonkers from the Hastings on Hudson border in the north to the Bronx border in the south at Van Cortlandt Park, where it is known as the Putnam Greenway. The Croton Aqueduct tunnel has a hard packed dirt trail, the Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway, running above it for most of its length in Yonkers; a few on street routes are on the edge of the Getty Square neighborhood.

The city is served by the Yonkers Fire Department (YFD), which has 459 firefighters under the command of a fire commissioner and three deputy chiefs. Founded in 1896, the YFD operates from 14 fire stations throughout the city in two battalions commanded by two assistant chiefs for each shift. The department responds to about 16,000 emergency calls annually. In its fire apparatus fleet, the YFD has 10 engine companies, six ladder companies, one squad (rescue pumper) company, one rescue company, one fireboat, one air cascade unit, one USAR (urban search and rescue) collapse unit, one foam unit, one hazmat unit, and several special, support, and reserve units.

Yonkers is home to several brewing companies, most notably the Simple Motive Brewing Company and Yonkers Brewing Company. The Yonkers Brewing Company opened in 2015 in the Yonkers Trolley Barn, a former trolley station which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Before its opening, brewing in the city had been associated with former mobster Dutch Schultz. The Simple Motive Brewing Company opened in the Carpet Mills Art District at the Mills, a former warehouse, in 2023 after years of delays. The unemployment rate increased to 19.4 percent in July 2020, the highest in Yonkers history. Unemployment was 2.8 percent in April 2023, the lowest in city history.