Yonkers

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Yonkers
Nickname : The Terrace City
Riverdale Avenue in Yonkers
Riverdale Avenue in Yonkers
Seal of Yonkers
seal 		Flag of Yonkers
flag
Location in the state and county
Location in the state and county
Basic data
Foundation : 1646 (inc. 1872)
State : United States
State : new York
County : Westchester County
Coordinates : 40 ° 57 ′  N , 73 ° 52 ′  W Coordinates: 40 ° 57 ′  N , 73 ° 52 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Residents : 200,807 (as of 2016)
Population density : 4,299.9 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 52.6 km 2  (approx. 20 mi 2 ) of
which 46.7 km 2  (approx. 18 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 98 m
Postcodes : 10701-10710
Area code : +1 914
FIPS : 36-84000
GNIS ID : 979660
Website : www.cityofyonkers.com
Mayor : Mike Spano

Yonkers is the fourth largest city in the US state of New York with a population of around 200,000 (2016 estimate, US Census Bureau). It is the largest city in Westchester County and borders New York City to the south .

Yonkers' most famous attraction is the Yonkers Raceway, a trotting track . Also in Yonkers is a well-known shopping area along Central Park Avenue, which is frequented by numerous customers from the adjacent areas.

geography

The city has a total area of ​​52.6  km² , of which 5.8 km² is water (11.02%).

Location and neighboring locations

The city is located on many hills and stretches from sea ​​level on the east bank of the Hudson River to 126 meters at the Sacred Heart Church, the steeple of which can be seen even from remote areas such as Long Island or New Jersey . The topology of the city has often been compared to San Francisco or Rome .

Yonkers is directly adjacent to New York City and shares the borders with the Bronx districts of Riverdale, Woodlawn and Wakefield. Yonkers' southern border is about three kilometers from Inwood Hill Park on the northern tip of Manhattan.

Districts

Region overview

The parishes of Yonkers are allocated to four major regions:

  • Northeast Yonkers ( northeastern Yonkers ): A middle class - suburban mainly of, Italo-Americans inhabited. Houses are generally smaller and closer together than in nearby, higher-income neighborhoods. The main thoroughfare is Central Park Avenue (sometimes also called Central Avenue), on which a wide variety of smaller and larger shops are located, as well as many high-rise apartment buildings . There are also many shops on Tuckahoe Road, a street that crosses Central Avenue. Steven Tyler (born Steven Tallarico), the singer of the band Aerosmith, grew up here. Northeast Yonkers has many other neighborhoods besides Crestwood. Striking buildings and squares include St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary , Tanglewood Shopping Center (formerly the Gang Tanglewood Boys' precinct ) and Sarah Lawrence College. Lawrence Park and Cedar Knolls differ from the other Northeast neighborhoods of Yonkers in a number of ways: These are mainly half-height apartment blocks, which are home to commuters who work in Manhattan . For these mostly single people or childless couples, the many surrounding Metro North railroad stations with direct connections to Manhattan represent a decisive advantage of these two districts. In Lawrence Park and Cedar Knolls mainly descendants of European immigrants live.
  • Northwest Yonkers ( northwestern Yonkers ): Extends from the Hudson River to the north of Ashburton Avenue. While Warburton Avenue and other areas on the Hudson River contain older Victorian homes, a few streets east of Lake Avenue are socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. In Northwest Yonkers, besides the usual people of Italian and Irish origin, there are also the few Jews from Yonkers, and in Runyon Heights mostly Afro-Americans. One of the attractions of Northwest Yonkers is the Hudson River Museum.
  • Southeast Yonkers ( southeastern Yonkers ): Southeast Yonkers is inhabited mainly by Italian or Irish-Americans area, a typical East Coast working class city, with a large number Catholics . Most of the architecture and shops in Southeast Yonkers are more like areas of the Bronx , Brooklyn , Queens or the Staten Islands . This is probably mainly due to its proximity to the Bronx. Many consider part of Midland Avenue, which is mostly Irish-inhabited and which flows into the Bronx, as the "real core" of Yonkers. Another section of Midland Avenue, the Dunwoodie area, is also known as the "Little Italy of Yonkers" . The most famous buildings and locations in Southeast Yonkers are the Cross Country Shopping Center, Yonkers Raceway, and St. Joseph's Seminary and College.
  • Southwest Yonkers ( southwestern Yonkers ): This urban part of Yonkers 'is usually regarded as dirty, poor area with high crime rates, and is largely responsible for the negative image Yonkers'. However, the area is not as dangerous and impoverished as some believe. While the areas around South Broadway certainly do not have a high standard, many luxury apartments have been built here, similar to the Flatbush district of Brooklyn. Of course, there are also dangerous, crime-ridden neighborhoods in Southwest Yonkers, especially around Getty Square, which is why it is also called Ghetto Square . The area is mainly inhabited by Afro-Americans and Latinos . A famous son in the area is rapper DMX , who grew up on a social housing project here. In the course of a revitalization of this area, various parks and public buildings were built here. A Southwest Yonkers landmark is the renovated Victorian pier .

Demographics

All statistics were compiled in 2000 .

General : Yonkers has 196,086 residents , 74,351 households and 49,294 families . The population density is 4187 inhabitants per km² . In total there are 77,589 buildings in Yonkers at a density of 1656 per km².

Ethnology : The inhabitants of Yonker are composed according to place of origin as follows: 60.18% Europeans, 16.61% African-Americans, 4.86% Asians, 0.44% indigenous people , 0.05% Pacific islanders . 13.44% come from other places, 4.42% have mixed parents. 25.93 percent of the total population come from a Latin American country .

Households : 30.9% of the 74,351 households have children under 18, 44.2% married couples, 17.2% female lone parents and 33.7% do not live in families. 29.2% of all households are inhabited by individuals and 11.9% of all households have a person over 65 years of age. The average number of people in a household is 2.61 and the average family size is 3.23 .

Age : 24.4% of Yonker's residents are under 18 years old, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64 and 15% are over 65. That Average age is 36.

Gender: Per 100 women in Yonkers there are 88.6 men. For every 100 women older than 18, there are 84.2 men in Yonkers .

Income : The median income for a household is $ 44,663 and the median income for a family is $ 53,233 . Men have a median income of $ 41,598 while women have a median income of $ 34,756 . Yonkers' income per capita is $ 22,793 . 15.5% of the population and 13.0% of families are below the poverty line. Of those under 18, 24.8% live below the poverty line , and of those under 65, a total of 9.9% .

Population development
year Residents
1980 195.351
1990 188.082
2000 196.025
2010 195.979
2016 200,807

history

The land on which the city was built was once part of a piece of land assigned by the state in 1640 to the Dutch settler Adriaen van der Donck (called “De Jonkheer”, the young gentleman ). Van der Donck built a sawmill at the point where the Nepperhan River merged into the Hudson River ; the Nepperhan is known today as the Saw Mill River.

For the first two hundred years, Yonkers was a small farming town with a lively harbor area around the sawmill. In 1853, the Otis Elevator Company , the world's first elevator manufacturing facility , opened in Yonkers. Other branches of industry followed in the next few years. In 1906, Bakelite , the first completely synthetic plastic, was invented in Yonkers. In 1907 the Yonkers Marathon was held in the city for the first time . Yonkers was also America's largest hat maker for a long time. During the Second World War , the factories often produced armaments ; for example, tanks were manufactured in the Otis elevator factory .

After the Second World War, the Yonkers' industrial star sank rapidly. Many factories have had to close over the years. By 1983, Yonkers was almost entirely a commuter town .

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Personalities related to the city

Trivia

  • In the musical Hello, Dolly! And also in the book The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder on which the musical is based, Yonkers is the residence of the male protagonist Horace Vandergelder , who runs a business for cattle feed here, where he two assistants, Barnaby and Cornelius busy, which also for the plot is important.
  • In Max Brooks ' book Operation Zombie: Longer Living, Dead Later , Yonker was the scene of the first great battle of the zombie war on American soil.
  • The miniseries in the form of a social drama from HBO Show Me a Hero is set in Yonkers and includes the social housing, which is judicially ordered, boycotted by some city councils, whereupon the city is fined.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1980–2010: census results; 2016: US Census Bureau estimate
  2. ↑ Max Brooks : Operation Zombie: Those who live longer are dead later . Goldmann Verlag , Munich 2007, ISBN 3-442-46539-7 , p. 92-104 (American English: World War Z. Translated by Joachim Koerber ).