What's in a name? History of Kingsbridge

There was a period in the late 1800s when the area was called Kingsbridgeville, for the post office.”

Nick Dembowski, president of the Kingsbridge Historical Society

Named after the first bridge in New York and buried under layers of concrete, the 0.31 square miles of Kingsbridge has a rich history.

During the 19th century, the Kingsbridge neighborhood belonged to the town of Yonkers, along with Riverdale and other areas of the northwest Bronx. In 1874, the Kingsbridge area was cut off from Yonkers and given to New York City.

Nick Dembowski, president of the Kingsbridge Historical Society said the area wasn’t officially named until 1693.

British lord Frederick Philipse was issued a royal charter in the name of King William and Queen Mary for a large manor still standing in Yonkers at 29 Warburton Ave. Philipse was the wealthiest man in the colony, spending his years exporting furs, tobacco and wheat, as well as participating in international trade and real estate. The same year Philipse received the royal charter, he commanded the construction of King’s Bridge, allowing passage from the neighborhood and over the Spuyten Duyvil Creek into Marble Hill, Manhattan. The bridge was located near present-day West 230th Street and Kingsbridge Avenue.

“Part of [Philipse’s] wealth was derived from slave trading, so it’s very likely that enslaved people built that bridge,” Dembowski said.

According to the estate of Philipse Manor Hall, a census found Philipse owned 20 slaves.
King’s Bridge was buried by 1914 when the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in to create an easier shipping passage, thus creating the Harlem River Ship Canal. In its creation the Marble Hill section was cut off from the island of Manhattan.

“Rather than tear up the bridge, they actually buried the stone supports. They buried the bridge essentially under landfill,” Dembowski said.

Prior to the building of King’s Bridge, as far back as 3,000 years ago, the land near the Bronx River was occupied by the Lenape people, a group of Native Americans that settled throughout New York and parts of New Jersey. The Lenape living near the Bronx River were the Unami people or coastal Lenape. One primary piece of evidence of Lenape settlements include the existence of oyster middens -- piles of discarded shellfish shells. Middens appear all along the Hudson River, up into the southern part of the Bronx and as far inland as Van Cortlandt Park.

Time has erased many middens, burying them for all time, leaving researchers to believe more existed than meets the eye.

In the middle of Kingsbridge stands the Kingsbridge Armory, opened in 1917 and deemed to be the largest armory in the world. It originally served as storage for ammunition for the 258th Field Artillery.

The Kingsbridge neighborhood played an important role in early Colonial America and Revolutionary War history, with many current street names serving as reminders of a time long gone. Research performed by the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality found historical connections like Cannon Place, named for the Revolutionary War’s use of cannonballs and Orloff Avenue, named for Oloff, the first Van Cortlandt family member to settle in the area. Giles Place is named for the Giles mansion which once stood at 3435 Giles Place.

Fort Independence, built in 1776 during the American Revolution by the orders of General George Washington, was established to fortify the entrance to Manhattan from the mainland against British troops. During the war, the American troops abandoned the fort, leaving it susceptible to the British, who took over Fort Independence and remained for three years. In 1779, British forces destroyed the fort.

The site later became the home of the Jerome Park Racetrack from 1866 to 1890, where the Belmont Stakes, a major horse race, was held for 23 years. After the racetrack closed, the land became the Jerome Park Reservoir, holding 773 million gallons of water when it was first filled in 1905 and supplies drinking water to New York City.

Through the 1940s and ‘50s, the location of the Kingsbridge Armory became host to rodeos, car racing, and motorboat shows. In the 1980s, the armory briefly served as a homeless shelter for men before it was closed due to opposition from the community.

“There was a period in the late 1800s when the area was called Kingsbridgeville, for the post office,” Dembowski added as his favorite interesting tidbit.