The Bronx has a long and fascinating history, beginning as part of Westchester County before becoming part of New York County in two main parts (West Bronx, 1874 and East Bronx, 189). It was originally part of the Lenapehoking territory of Lenape, inhabited by the Siwanoy of the Wappinger Confederacy. The Bronx quickly became an emblem of the American dream, with its wide streets, easy access to public transportation, and 25 percent of the district allocated to green spaces. People seeking a better life continued to flock to the Bronx in large numbers. The South Bronx Greenway project, spearheaded by activist and community organizer Majora Carter, is transforming the South Bronx coast from a contaminated concrete barrier and industrial sites to a useful and valuable green space for area residents.
This project includes tree planting, environmental cleanup, and other innovations that are changing the face of the Bronx. Crime has declined, communities are mobilizing to improve the value of their properties, and there is even demand for land in the South Bronx. Throughout its history, the Bronx's fortunes have improved with each new construction and housing innovation law that the city adopted. Housing was scarce and people were leaving the Bronx in large numbers to seek new developments that included backyards for their children and their own cars. Legendary urban planner Robert Moses claimed vast areas of the Bronx for new projects designed for low-income residents, and new highways that were designed to adapt to the era of the automobile. Woodlawn is a neighborhood strip bordered to the east by the Bronx River, to the northwest by Van Cortlandt Park, and to the south by Woodlawn Cemetery.
It is also known as “Woodlawn Heights” and sometimes “Little Ireland”. Morrisania gets its name from the Morrisania mansion, or the estate owned by the Morris family, who once owned most of the Bronx. Currently, Morrisania consists mainly of housing for low-income people with some brownstone houses. In the roaring 1920s, the Bronx and the nation went through a period of spending and economic growth that seemed to never end. Of course, it would end on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 when the stock market crashed.
In the early 19th century, the Bronx was still recovering from the ravages of the American Revolutionary War and was still a sparsely populated rural landscape. Between 1900 and World War I, the Bronx went from being a peaceful agrarian enclave in New York City to an urban landscape dominated by apartment buildings, paved streets, and densely populated neighborhoods. The specter of the headless horseman in Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was based on these mercenary German soldiers employed by the British.
