Riverdale then and now

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Tucked into this week’s Riverdale Press is Living in Riverdale. We hope you’ll agree that this annual guide is a worthwhile introduction to the community for newcomers or those considering living here as well as a handy reference for longtime residents.

The future of Riverdale is the theme of this year’s publication and our reporters have considered how different the northwest Bronx will be in just a few decades.

Depending on your point of view, the good (or bad) news is that we’ll still be dealing with many of the same issues we’re contending with now, and we were contending with a half century ago, but we’ll also be enjoying many of the benefits that make this area unique.

A quick perusal of The Riverdale Press of October 1964 gives a reader a sense of a close-knit community that enjoys events like a sidewalk art show on West 231st Street at the Church of the Mediator, but takes its politics seriously.

Nowadays, there’s nary a Republican around here and the election fireworks take place during Democratic Party primaries, but 1964 was a momentous presidential election year, not long after John F. Kennedy was assassinated and his brother, Robert Kennedy, was mobbed with well-wishers when he returned to his childhood hometown to stump for Lyndon Johnson and reform-minded congressional candidate Johnathan Bingham, one of the founders of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club. 

Also in the news was a successful challenge by residents of Irwin Avenue to plans by Manhattan College to demap a portion of their street for its own use.

Eventually, the college won that battle and today, its new student commons stands astride the thoroughfare.

Also today, throngs of pre-kindergarteners are stretching the resources of local schools and community organizations. In 1964, it was the kindergarteners. P.S. 7, P.S. 24, P.S. 81 and P.S. 122 all recorded big jumps in enrollment and some were on waiting lists for seats well into October.

Riverdale, Church of the Mediator, Republican Party, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ben Franklin Club, Manhattan College, universal pre-k, RMHA, rent
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