Back to Homepage New York - Albany Albany - Points of Interest New York - Auburn Auburn - Points of Interest New York - Binghamton Binghamton - Points of Interest New York - Buffalo Buffalo - Points of Interest (Downtown) New York - Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) North Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) East Buffalo - Points of Interest (Midtown) South New York - Elmira Elmira - Points of Interest New York - Ithaca Cornell University - Ithaca, New York Ithaca - Points of Interest New York - New Rochelle New Rochelle - Points of Interest New York - New York City New York City - Points of Interest The New York Public Library Brooklyn Bridge Manhattan West Street and North (Hudson) River Water Front Lower West Side South Street Wall Street District City Hall District Bellevue Hospital Metropolitan Opera House The Empire State Building Downtown to Uptown Brooklyn The Bronx Queens Staten Island New York - Niagara Falls New York - Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie - Points of Interest New York - Rochester Rochester - Points of Interest New York - Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs - Points of Interest New York - Schenectady Schenectady - Points of Interest New York - Syracuse Syracuse - Points of Interest New York - Troy Troy - Points of Interest New York - Utica Utica - Points of Interest New York - Yonkers Yonkers - Points of Interest New York - Geology New York - Topography New York - Plant and Animal Life New York - Conservation and Recreation New York - Archeology and Indians New York - History New York - History - After the Revolution New York - Transportation New York - Agriculture New York - Industry New York - Ethnic Groups New York - Folklore New York - Religion

New York - Yonkers Yonkers (30 alt., 196,086 pop.) plays a double role as a residential suburb for New York City commuters and as an important manufacturing center. The 14 railroad stations within the city limits are supplemented by five additional ones—the latter the most heavily used—just beyond the eastern boundary. The city occupies a huddle of hills and hollows on the cast bank of the Hudson, its southern line forming the northern boundary of New York City. North Broadway runs between well-kept estates; South Broadway, its trolley line connecting with the northern terminus of the New York City subway system, is lined with apartment houses, secondhand automobile lots, and business establishments. The main business district centers in Getty Square, at a five-way intersection where Broadway crosses Main Street. West of Broadway is the city's riverside industrial section; north and cast along the Nepperhan River stretches a jumble of factories, mills, and warehouses surrounded by the drab homes of workers. East of Broadway, a maze of residential streets, broken by county parks and parkways, rises in a series of terraces from Locust Hill and Rose Hill along the Hudson to Nodine Hill and Valentine Hill, thence on to the Bronx River, which forms the eastern boundary. Valentine Hill was the scene of a skirmish after the Battle of White Plains, the only action of the Revolution within the present city limits. The eastern part of Yonkers is composed of attractive residential districts. These communities—Crestwood, Mohegan Heights, Armour Villa Park, Sherwood Park, and others—have little to do with the commercial and industrial section to the west. Their inhabitants shop and receive their mail in Tuckahoe, Bronxville, and Mount Vernon, of which they consider themselves residents and to which their community spirit is tied. An Indian village—Nappeckamack—stood on the site of Yonkers, which was part of the Kekeskick Purchase ( 1639) made by the Dutch West India Company from the Indians. The city site was included in a grant of land made in 1646 by the company to Adriaen Cornelissen Van der Donck, the first lawyer and the first historian of New Netherland. By reason of his wealth and social position Van der Donck enjoyed the courtesy title of 'jonker,' the Dutch equivalent of 'his young lordship,' from which was derived the name of the city. Van der Donck's colony, called Colendonck, was broken up into smaller holdings shortly after the British took possession in 1664. In the 20 years after 1672, Frederick Philipse, merchant trader and member of the Provincial Council, by a series of purchases acquired a tract of land extending along the east bank of the Hudson from Spuyten Duyvil Creek on the south to the Croton River on the north and eastward to the Bronx River. In 1693, by Royal charter, this domain became the Manor of Philipsburgh and its proprietor the lord of the manor. He erected the original Manor Hall, established mills, rented land to tenants, and soon had a flourishing colony, important in the eighteenth century for its iron mines. His greatgrandson, the third and last lord of the manor, supported the Tory side in the Revolution, and the estate was confiscated in 1779. In the early years of the nineteenth century, Yonkers was a village inhabited mainly by farmers; the land was well watered, the growing metropolis to the south provided a market, and transportation by boat was cheap. Development was accelerated by the opening of the Hudson River Railroad in 1849. In 1855 the village was incorporated with a population of 7,554. With the passing of the turnpike era, stagecoaches and taverns disappeared. Cheap transportation and the water power of the Nepperhan River attracted industries, such as Elisha G. Otis's elevator works in 1854, David Saunders's machine shop in 1857, and Alexander Smith's carpet mill in 1865. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Yonkers enjoyed a national reputation for the products of its looms, spindles, and machine shops. New industries were added and attracted Irish, English, Scottish, and German immigrants, later to be followed by Poles, Hungarians, Italians, Armenians, and Russians. The city was chartered in 1872. In 1892 several dams, which at one time crossed the Nepperhan at seven levels, were torn out, industry turned to electricity for power, and the river, reduced to a trickle, disappeared beneath highways and buildings. Water transportation steadily decreased until it is no longer a factor; and the Hudson River docks, which once bustled with the traffic of sea-going craft, are practically deserted. The latest development in transportation has been the extension of the elaborate system of county parkways transecting the city.