Riverdale does its part to help

1951

Polio strikes

The year started out with Mildred M. McCaffrey, the Bronx county chairwoman, announcing that the "polio incidence in the Bronx in 1950 was heavy."

"We must not let our fight against infantile paralysis lag," she added.

Riverdale responded by collecting donations to fight the disease that had struck the community for six months. The Bronx was hit hard that year with 182 cases reported, up from 140 in 1946, according to The Press. St. Margaret's church collected $182.24 on a Sunday for the March of Dimes campaign. All together the neighborhood collected $3,233.95 for polio research.

That same spring, Marble Hill Houses opened to 1,682 families as part of a push to provide low-income public housing to New Yorkers. Families had to earn less than $4,900 a year to qualify for an apartment in 1951.

Officials from the New York Housing Authority said the housing complex would provide a community room, nursery school and a child health station.

Also in Marble Hill, the congregation of St. Stephen's Church celebrated its 125th anniversary.