The Bronx

===After 1914===
The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods: a boom period during 1900–1929, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3&nbsp;million in 1930. The [[Great Depression]] and post World War II years saw a slowing of growth leading into an eventual decline. The mid to late century were hard times, as the Bronx changed during 1950–1985 from a predominantly moderate-income to a predominantly lower-income area with high rates of violent crime and poverty in some areas. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.<ref name="Olmsted 1989; Olmsted 1998"/>

====New York City expands====
[[File:Bronx 1900.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|[[Grand Concourse (Bronx)|Grand Concourse]] and [[161st Street (Bronx)|161st Street]] as they appeared around 1900]]
[[File:Simpson Street Station.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Simpson Street (IRT White Plains Road Line)|Simpson Street]] elevated station was built in 1904 and opened on November 26, 1904. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 2004.]]

The Bronx was a mostly rural area for many generations, with small farms supplying the city markets. In the late 19th century, however, it grew into a railroad suburb. Faster transportation enabled rapid population growth in the late 19th century, involving the move from horse-drawn street cars to elevated railways and the subway system, which linked to Manhattan in 1904.<ref name="Olmsted 1989; Olmsted 1998">Olmsted (1989); Olmsted (1998)</ref>

The South Bronx was a manufacturing center for many years and was noted as a center of [[piano]] manufacturing in the early part of the 20th century. In 1919, the Bronx was the site of 63 piano factories employing more than 5,000 workers.<ref name="Piano Workers May Strike">{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/08/29/103460481.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/08/29/103460481.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Piano Workers May Strike |date=August 29, 1919 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 25, 2011}}</ref>

At the end of [[World War I]], the Bronx hosted the rather small [[Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries|1918 World's Fair]] at 177th Street and DeVoe Avenue.<ref name="ultan">[[Lloyd Ultan (historian)|Lloyd Ultan]], [http://www.bronxriver.org/?pg=content&p=abouttheriver&m1=9&m2=58 "History of the Bronx River"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619231425/http://bronxriver.org/?pg=content&p=abouttheriver&m1=9&m2=58 |date=June 19, 2019 }} Paper presented to the [[Bronx River Alliance]], November 5, 2002 (notes taken by Maarten de Kadt, November 16, 2002), retrieved on August 29, 2008. This {{frac|2|1|2}} hour talk covers much of the early history of the Bronx as a whole, in addition to the [[Bronx River]].</ref><ref>[[Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|Gray, Christopher Gray]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/22/realestate/streetscapes-the-new-york-coliseum-from-auditorium-to-bus-garage-to.html "Streetscapes: The New York Coliseum; From Auditorium To Bus Garage to..."], ''[[The New York Times]]'', Real Estate section, March 22, 1992. Accessed January 2, 2024</ref>

The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of the [[New York City Subway]] contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants came to the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction.<ref>Tarver, Denton. [https://cooperatornews.com/article/the-new-bronx "The New Bronx A Quick History of the Iconic Borough"], ''Cooperator News'', April 2007. Accessed January 2, 2024. "The urbanization of the Bronx truly began with the entrance of the subway into the area in 1904. As the rapid transit came in spurts: 1905, 1910, 1918, and 1920, the subway and elevated train access to Manhattan caused the population of the Bronx to surge, as these rail lines built their tracks into the still-green fields and meadows."</ref> Among these groups, many [[Irish Americans]], [[Italian Americans]], and especially [[Jewish Americans]] settled here. In addition, [[French American|French]], [[German Americans|German]], [[Polish American|Polish]], and other immigrants moved into the borough. As evidence of the change in population, by 1937, 592,185 Jews lived in the Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population),<ref>''[[The World Almanac and Book of Facts]], 1943'', page 494, citing the [[American Jewish Committee]] and the Jewish Statistical Bureau of the [[Synagogue Council of America]]</ref> while only 54,000 Jews lived in the borough in 2011. Many [[synagogue]]s still stand in the Bronx, but most have been converted to other uses.<ref name="Remembrance">Seymour J. Perlin, [http://www.bronxsynagogues.org/ic/bronxsyn/survey.html "Remembrance of Synagogues Past: The Lost Civilization of the Jewish South Bronx"] (retrieved on August 10, 2008), citing population estimates in "The Jewish Community Study of New York: 2002", UJA [United Jewish Appeal] Federation of New York,
June 2004, and his own survey of synagogue sites.</ref>

====Change====
[[rum-running|Bootleggers]] and gangs were active in the Bronx during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] (1920–1933). Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Polish gangs smuggled in most of the illegal whiskey, and the oldest sections of the borough became poverty-stricken.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BNew York – The Bronx |url=https://chsserver01.org/jwalker012017/Q3/Assignment00CSC2/bronx.html |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=chsserver01.org}}</ref> Police Commissioner Richard Enright said that speakeasies provided a place for "the vicious elements, bootleggers, gamblers and their friends in all walks of life" to cooperate and to "evade the law, escape punishment for their crimes, [and] to deter the police from doing their duty".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/3/8/prohibition|title = Prohibition|publisher=NYC Department of Records & Information Services|date=March 8, 2019|access-date=May 23, 2023|website=[[Government of New York City]]}}</ref>

Between 1930 and 1960, moderate and upper income Bronxites (predominantly non-Hispanic Whites) began to [[White flight|relocate]] from the borough's southwestern neighborhoods. This migration has left a mostly poor African American and Hispanic (largely [[Puerto Ricans in the United States|Puerto Rican]]) population in the West Bronx. One significant factor that shifted the racial and economic demographics was the construction of [[Co-op City, Bronx|Co-op City]], built to house middle-class residents in family-sized apartments. The high-rise complex played a significant role in draining middle-class residents from older tenement buildings in the borough's southern and western fringes. Most predominantly non-Hispanic White communities today [[Demographics of the Bronx|are in the eastern and northwestern sections of the borough]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bronx |url=https://chsserver01.org/jmora012017/Q3/Assignment001csc/thebronx.html |access-date=September 13, 2022 |website=chsserver01.org}}</ref>

From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, the [[quality of life]] changed for some Bronx residents. Historians and social scientists have suggested many factors, including the theory that [[Robert Moses]]' [[Cross Bronx Expressway]] destroyed existing residential neighborhoods and created instant slums, as put forward in [[Robert Caro]]'s biography ''[[The Power Broker]]''.<ref>{{Cite Power Broker}}</ref> Another factor in the Bronx's decline may have been the development of [[high-rise]] [[Public housing#United States|housing projects]], particularly in the [[South Bronx]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://americanrealities.org/locations/south_bronx/ |title=The South Bronx |publisher=American Realities |access-date=December 23, 2014 |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812035736/http://americanrealities.org/locations/south_bronx/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Yet another factor may have been a reduction in the real estate listings and property-related financial services offered in some areas of the Bronx, such as [[mortgage loan]]s or insurance policies—a process known as [[redlining]]. Others have suggested a "[[planned shrinkage]]" of municipal services, such as fire-fighting.<ref>Roderick Wallace (October 1988). [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3168963/ "A synergism of plagues: 'planned shrinkage', contagious housing destruction, and AIDS in the Bronx"]. ''Environmental Research'', Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 1–33. Retrieved July 18, 2022.</ref><ref>Roderick Wallace (1990). [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2244222/ "Urban desertification, public health and public order: 'planned shrinkage', violent death, substance abuse and AIDS in the Bronx"], ''Social Science & Medicine'', Vol. 37, No. 7 (1990) pp. 801–813. Retrieved July 18, 2022. "Empirical and theoretical analyses strongly imply present sharply rising levels of violent death, intensification of deviant behaviors implicated in the spread of AIDS, and the pattern of the AIDS outbreak itself, have been gravely affected, and even strongly determined, by the outcomes of a program of 'planned shrinkage' directed against African-American and Hispanic communities, and implemented through systematic and continuing denial of municipal services—particularly fire extinguishment resources—essential for maintaining urban levels of population density and ensuring community stability."</ref><ref>Issues such as [[redlining]], hospital quality, and what looked like the planned shrinkage of garbage collection were alleged as the motivations which sparked the [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] activists known as the [[Young Lords]]. The Young Lords coalesced with similar groups who claimed to be fighting for neighborhood empowerment, such as the [[Black Panthers]], to protest urban renewal and arson for profit with sit-ins, marches, and violence. See pages 6–9 of the guide to [https://www.pbs.org/pov/utils/youthviews/pov_palante_toolkit.pdf "''¡Palante Siempre Palante!'' The Young Lords"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326014741/http://www.pbs.org/pov/utils/youthviews/pov_palante_toolkit.pdf |date=March 26, 2009 }}, a "point of view" documentary on [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]].</ref> There was also much debate as to whether [[rent control]] laws had made it less profitable (or more costly) for landlords to maintain existing buildings with their existing tenants than to abandon or destroy those buildings.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}<!-- User-generated sources such as (in this case) forum posts are generally not acceptable as sources; see [[WP:RS]]. Cite a reputable secondary source instead. <ref>For an example of this argument, as well as of several others mentioned here, see [https://city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/257896-when-bronx-burning-6.html "When the Bronx was burning"], ''City-data'' forum (blog), 2007, where rubygreta writes:

{{quote|Rent control destroyed the Bronx, especially starting in the 1960s and 1970s, when oil prices rose through the roof, and heavily subsidized Coop City opened in the East Bronx.
Essentially, tenants never moved out of their apartments because they had below-market rents thanks to rent control. The apartments deteriorated and common areas deteriorated because the landlords had no cash-flow. And no cash flow meant that they could not get mortgages for major repairs such as boilers, roofs and window replacement.}}</ref> -->

In the 1970s, parts of the Bronx were plagued by a wave of arson. The burning of buildings was predominantly in the poorest communities, such as the South Bronx. One explanation of this event was that landlords decided to burn their low property-value buildings and take the insurance money, as it was easier for them to get insurance money than to try to refurbish a dilapidated building or sell a building in a severely distressed area.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945795-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615050753/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945795-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |title=Arson for Hate and Profit |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=October 31, 1977 |access-date=March 14, 2008}}</ref> The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx.<ref name="Gonzalez 2004">Gonzalez (2004)</ref> There were cases where tenants set fire to the building they lived in so they could qualify for emergency relocations by city social service agencies to better residences, sometimes being relocated to other parts of the city.

Out of 289 census tracts in the Bronx borough, 7 tracts lost more than 97% of their buildings to arson and abandonment between 1970 and 1980; another 44 tracts had more than 50% of their buildings meet the same fate. By the early 1980s, the Bronx was considered the most blighted urban area in the country, particularly the South Bronx which experienced a loss of 60% of the population and 40% of housing units. However, starting in the 1990s, many of the burned-out and run-down tenements were replaced by new housing units.<ref name="Gonzalez 2004" />

In May 1984, [[New York Supreme Court]] justice [[Peter J. McQuillan]] ruled that [[Marble Hill, Manhattan]], was simultaneously part of the Borough of Manhattan (not the Borough of the Bronx) and part of Bronx County (not New York County)<ref>Chambers, Marcia. [https://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/16/nyregion/judge-s-ruling-revives-dispute-on-marble-hill.html "Judge's Ruling Revives Dispute On Marble Hill"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 16, 1984. Accessed January 8, 2024. "After a painstaking legal and historical analysis, Justice Peter J. McQuillan said rather, that Marble Hill lies in both. 'The conclusion is irresistible,' he said in a 36-page opinion, that Marble Hill is situated in the Borough of Manhattan, but is not part of New York County. By statute, he said, 'it is in Bronx County.' Contrary to what the Legislature may have thought when it redefined boundary lines for Manhattan in 1938 and again in 1940, it 'dealt only with boroughs and not counties,' the judge wrote. In short, the boundaries of New York County and Manhattan are not the same, he said."</ref> and the matter was definitively settled later that year when the [[New York Legislature]] overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan and made this clarification retroactive to 1938, as reflected on the official maps of the city.<ref name="Bloom 1995">{{cite web | last=Bloom | first=Jennifer Kingson | title=If Your Thinking of Living In/Marble Hill; A Bit of Manhattan in the Bronx | website=The New York Times | date=July 23, 1995 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/23/realestate/if-your-thinking-of-living-in-marble-hill-a-bit-of-manhattan-in-the-bronx.html | access-date=January 3, 2017}}</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/27/nyregion/bill-would-clarify-marble-hill-s-status.html "Bill Would Clarify Marble Hill's Status"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 27, 1984. Accessed January 8, 2024. "The Assembly voted tonight to move the Marble Hill section of the Borough of Manhattan into New York County, thereby correcting a 46-year old mistake.... A dispute over Marble Hill followed, but the matter was mostly put to rest in 1938, when the boundaries of the Borough of Manhattan were shifted to include Marble Hill.... Tonight the Assembly voted 140 to 4 and joined the Senate in moving to change that, and the measure now goes to the Governor. It would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 1938."</ref><ref>[https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/appellate-division-first-department/2007/2007-09955.html ''Montesano v New York City Hous. Auth.''], Justia, as corrected through March 19, 2008. Accessed January 8, 2024. "Less than 10 weeks after the Boyd decision, the Legislature eliminated any doubt that the Borough of Manhattan and New York County were conterminous in this respect by specifically including Marble Hill in both the Borough of Manhattan and New York County, 'for all purposes,' retroactive to 1938 (L 1984, ch 939). The official map of the City of New York now shows that Marble Hill is located in New York County."</ref>