The newspaper reflects Riverdale's era of growth and change

To celebrate our 60th anniversary, it seemed only fitting to recount the histories of Riverdale and Kingsbridge as seen through the paper that chronicled it all. The story of The Press and its continued success is, after all, the story of our growing and diverse community.

The lifestyle and look of our neighborhood have changed in 60 years. How could they not?

Riverdale transformed from a place of great estates, private homes and scattered low-rise apartment buildings to a bustling community with thousands of apartment units, new schools, parks and houses of worship.

The people who live here have changed, too.

While Riverdale and Kingsbridge have retained ties to the large, workingclass Irish Catholic community that helped to define much of North Riverdale and Kingsbridge, the number of Jewish people - religiously observant and not - who have discovered the area have added their flavor to the stew, as have the many African-Americans and people of Latino descent.

And these are hardly the only ethnicities and religious groups represented in the life of the neighborhood. Riverdale is a diverse place, and we are richer for it.

Through all these years, as our community itself has changed, so have the stories that have appeared in The Press.

Crime has risen and fallen, parents have fought to improve, retain and build high quality schools, political bosses and the power and corruption of the school boards have similarly taken their place on the stage and been swept away.

The character of Riverdale and Kingsbridge has changed over time as the area was zoned and then rezoned, parts relegated to historic districts and others turned over to development.

Through it all, though, Riverdale has remained what it has always been: a place that people - from the street vendor on Broadway to the Nobel Prize winner in a Hudson-view house - are glad to call home.

The history gathered here was compiled and written by The Press' editor, Jason Fields, reporter Maria Clark and Richard L. Stein, the former publisher who has spent much of his lifetime at the paper founded by his parents, David and Ceil Stein.