Marble Hill: Betwixt, between, and sometimes befuddled

What makes Riverdale Riverdale?

Fourth in a series

By Kate Pastor, Maria Clark and Aliza Appelbaum

So much has changed since March 11, 1939, when former Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons climbed a rocky enclave near West 225th Street and Jacobus Place to plant an orange, white and blue banner, officially claiming Marble Hill as Bronx territory.

Within days of Mr. Lyons planting his flag, residents formed the Marble Hill Civic Association and demanded that Marble Hill be considered part of Manhattan. More than 70 years later, confusion still reigns. Even longtime residents are torn, some remaining Bronx strong, others pledging allegiance to Manhattan.

“It’s only because of the bridge that separates us that makes us the Bronx,” said lifelong resident Manny De La Cruz, 21, referring to the bridge on Broadway connecting the two boroughs.

“I tell my friends I’m from the Bronx and then they laugh at me and say I’m really from the Upper West Side,” he said.

The mix-up began in the late 19th century — before the Bronx was the Bronx — when Marble Hill was literally an island floating in a no man’s land between the mainland and Manhattan. The Hudson and Harlem rivers were connected at the northern edge of Marble Hill by a stream once called Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The waterway to the south between Washington Heights and the Bronx was further widened in the 1930s to create a shipping canal.

Back then, Marble Hill was an island, “like the tiny point of an exclamation mark with the rest of Manhattan,” according to the late local historian Rev. William A. Tieck’s book Riverdale Kingsbridge Spuyten Duyvil.

Marble Hill became part of the North American mainland (and by some measures, the Bronx) when the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was later filled in. In 1951, the publicly funded Marble Hill Houses were erected along the southern end of Broadway on what was once a marshy riverbed that had never previously been developed.

The area underwent a congressional redistricting that year, which temporarily left thousands disenfranchised as legislators decided whether Marble Hill belonged in the 25th Congressional district of the Bronx or the 21st in Manhattan. Both sides won.

Though the small hilly rise north of West 225th Street and Broadway and the busy commercial strip along Broadway that make up Marble Hill have gone through enumerable changes since then — from a primarily Jewish and Irish enclave to a modern-day melting pot where Spanish can be heard as often as English on the streets — other things have remained untouched.

The one- and-two family houses, the winding streets lined with rose gardens and vine-covered fences, and the dispute over whether the seemingly charming small town belongs to the Bronx or Manhattan, characterize Marble Hill to this day. The invisible canal route that circled the area so many years ago still delineates many of the boundaries that split the boroughs.

When the Marble Hill Houses were first built, the divide was resolved by “treating all the residents of 5480 Broadway as Manhattanites and those of 210 as Bronxites.”

According to Rev. Tieck’s book, a New York City Housing Authority Official said in 1951: “This could get ridiculous! Would it mean that the members of a family who use one bedroom are Bronxites, and those who use another bedroom would be Manhattanites?”

Ridiculous, maybe. But his fear has been partially substantiated.

The line goes right through the Marble Hill houses, where seven out of the 11 buildings are listed by the Department of City Planning as Manhattan addresses, according to a NYCHA spokeswoman. There, neighbors can find themselves with different political representation, and are required to report to different courts for jury duty.

In 2007 the confusion made it all the way into a courtroom in a personal injury case, Montesano v. New York City Housing Authority. After the plaintiff, who injured herself in The Marble Hill Houses, started court proceedings in the Bronx, NYCHA tried having the case moved, claiming the incident occurred in New York County. In December of that year, the court agreed, concluding that pursuant to New York City Code, “the Borough of Manhattan ‘shall consist of the territory known as New York County’ and includes ‘that portion of land commonly known as Marble Hill . . . for all purposes.’”

But as a political entity, Marble Hill is still split. Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat, whose district covers Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill, has been representing a conflicted community for 14 years.

Those who live on Exterior Street live in the Bronx and are represented by Assemblyman Jose Serano. Residents of any of the four buildings of the Marble Hill Houses in the Bronx — three on Exterior Street and one on West 230th Street — are represented by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.; Rep. Eliot Engel; and state Senator Pedro Espada Jr.

But over on Broadway, residents count as Manhattanites in the census, and are represented by Manhattan politicians: Mr. Espaillat; Rep. Charlie Rangel; and state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, who also represents Riverdale.

“It’s a pretty freaky situation to find out you don’t always know who is representing you,” Mr. Espaillat said. “And it could be someone different from your neighbor.”

Nowhere is zoning more of an issue than in City Hall, where Marble Hill falls in three Council districts. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez represents all the Manhattan sections, Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera’s district includes the three Marble Hill Houses on Exterior Street, and Councilman Oliver Koppell has the final building on West 230th in his northwest Bronx purview.

“You should see the ridiculous confusion that this strange anomaly has caused,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, whose district included the Bronx sections of Marble Hill until redistricting in 2002.

Problems have arisen over borough confusion, he said, recalling one instance when residents petitioning to be on the Bronx school board had to list themselves as residents of “New York County.”

And it doesn’t stop with the city and state. Time Warner Cable, which does not serve the Bronx, considers Marble Hill part of New York County. If that weren’t confusing enough, Bronx Community Board 8 and Community School District 10 include all of Marble Hill, but the area is divided between the 50th and 52nd (both Bronx) police precincts.

The issue of jurisdiction comes up at 50th Precinct public safety meetings, when residents complain about issues taking place in their virtual backyard, but which their precinct cannot always address.

“It’s all about where the actual, initial crime occurs,” Capt. Brandon del Pozo wrote in an e-mail message. “If it’s in or in front of Target or Applebee’s, the incident belongs to the [52nd Precinct] and they handle it,” though the precincts cooperate.

Despite general confusion in the area, Mr. Espaillat said he believes more people in Marble Hill associate with the Bronx because kids attend Bronx schools and residents get Bronx services.

“We just need to have more information out there about what belongs where,” he said.

Marble Hill resident Vincente Herrera, 61, was surprised to learn where he belonged.

“When we were looking through blueprints of the area when I first got the house we were looking in the Bronx. Finally we figured to try Manhattan and there it was,” he said.

The issue runs so deep that Mr. Espaillat said he remembers seeing a program on a local cable channel called “Marble Hill is in Manhattan, Not the Bronx.”

But it’s all the same to people like Ardy Ramirez, 42, who delivers packages in that zip code for FedEx.

“10463 is 10463,” he said.

The mix-up began in the late 19th century — before the Bronx was the Bronx — when Marble Hill was literally an island floating in a no man’s land between the mainland and Manhattan.