Pelham Parkway is a working- and middle-class residential neighborhood geographically located in the center of

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: Waring Avenue to the north, the

IRT Dyre Avenue Line The IRT Dyre Avenue Line (formerly the IND Dyre Avenue–East 174th Street Line) is a New York City Subway rapid transit line, part of the A Division. It is a branch of the IRT White Plains Road Line in the northeastern section of the Bronx, n ...

tracks () to the east, Neill Avenue to the South, and Bronx River Parkway to the west.

White Plains Road White Plains Road is a major north-south thoroughfare which runs the length of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It runs from Castle Hill and Clason Point in the south to Wakefield in the north, where it crosses the city line and becomes ...

is the primary commercial thoroughfare through Pelham Parkway. The neighborhood is named after

Pelham Parkway The Bronx and Pelham Parkway, also known formally as the Bronx–Pelham Parkway but called Pelham Parkway in everyday use, is a parkway in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. The road begins in Bronx Park at the Bronx River Parkway and ...

, a major west–east parkway that travels through the

East Bronx The East Bronx is the part of the New York City borough of the Bronx which lies east of the Bronx River; this roughly corresponds to the eastern half of the borough. Neighborhoods include: Baychester, Castle Hill, City Island, Co-op City, ...

. Pelham Parkway is part of Bronx Community District 11 and its primary ZIP Codes are 10461 and 10462. It is patrolled by the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

's 49th Precinct.

History

The road named

was officially called the Bronx and Pelham Parkway since it connects

Bronx Park Bronx Park is a public park along the Bronx River, in the Bronx, New York City. The park is bounded by Southern Boulevard to the southwest, Webster Avenue to the northwest, Gun Hill Road to the north, Bronx Park East to the east, and East 180 ...

and

Pelham Bay Park Pelham Bay Park is a municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the size of Manhattan's Central Park. The pa ...

. It is also an integral part of the Mosholu-Pelham Greenway. The road was established in 1911 and was originally only one lane, which is today's westbound lane. The parkway was one part of John Mullaly's vision of creating a vast system of six parks along with connecting parkway roads to link them. The parkway was lined with trees on both sides and had a strict building code. Nobody was allowed to build within of the center. No railroads were allowed to cross over the parkway; this is why the roadbed of the

New York, Westchester and Boston Railway The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company (NYW&B, also known to its riders as "the Westchester" and colloquially as the "Boston-Westchester"), was an electric commuter railroad in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York from 1912 t ...

, which is now the Dyre Avenue subway line, had to be laid in a tunnel underneath the parkway. Bars and hotels are also prohibited alongside the parkway. Land in 1900 cost between $3,500 and $5,000 for one lot; near Bronx Park the prices were even higher. The neighborhood was named after the Parkway. After a late 20th-century deterioration of the neighborhood, coinciding with what was known as

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

from the Bronx, the Pelham Parkway neighborhood showed signs of revitalization in the new century. Many apartments have been rehabilitated and offered as rentals to the growing middle income population found in the area. A number of buildings have been converted to cooperative ownership and the business section on

and Lydig Avenue is a beehive of activity. Their stores reflect the neighborhood's polyglot lineage with many ethnic restaurants side by side with Kosher and Italian butchers and bakeries. Today's parkway was constructed in the 1930s and is in length and wide and features wide expanses of lawn with full canopies of trees. The center of the parkway, prior to World War II, was closed off on Sunday mornings for professional bicycle racing. Today, a recreational

bikeway Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by Motor vehicle, motorists are also cycling infrastructu ...

runs alongside the westbound motor lanes of the parkway, near the north side of the Parkway.

Demographics

Based on data from the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

, the population of Pelham Parkway was 30,073, an increase of 67 (0.2%) from the 30,006 counted in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
Population Division -

Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 36.2% (10,875)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 10.7% (3,223)

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.2% (59) Native American, 11.3% (3,389) Asian, 0.0% (4)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.7% (196) from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 1.5% (466) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

or Latino of any race were 39.4% (11,861) of the population.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
Population Division -

Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016. The neighborhood has a significantly diverse population including Albanians (the largest concentration in New York City), Arabs, African Americans, Bosnians, Dominicans, Filipino, Germans, Guyanese, Indians, Irish, Italians, Jamaicans, Jews, Muslims, Pakistanis, Puerto Ricans, and Russians.

s of various races account for 45% of the community; 38% of the community are non-Hispanic White and 20% non-Hispanic Black. Like most neighborhoods in New York City, the vast majority of households are renter occupied. However, there is a large community of co-op owners in the area. There is significant income diversity on a block by block basis, spanning from low wage immigrant households to solid

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

. While the poverty rate for The Bronx as a whole is 28%, the poverty rate in the neighborhood, at less than 20%, is much closer to the overall New York City rate of 15%. The entirety of Community District 11, which comprises Pelham Parkway, Allerton, and Morris Park, had 116,180 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 79.9 years. This is lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of between 0–17, 30% between 25 and 44, and 24% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 14% respectively. As of 2017, the median

household income Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence. It includes every form of income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, near cash government transfers like food stamp ...

in Community District 11 was $48,018. In 2018, an estimated 21% of Pelham Parkway and Morris Park residents lived in poverty, compared to 25% in all of the Bronx and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (12%) were unemployed, compared to 13% in the Bronx and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Pelham Parkway and Morris Park, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 58% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Pelham Parkway and Morris Park are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not

gentrifying Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

Land use and terrain

Pelham Parkway is dominated by 6 and 7-story elevator apartment and coop buildings but the residential streets are lined with a vibrant blend of housing types including detached houses and larger

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

and

Tudor Style Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

apartment buildings. In the last decade, construction of modern 2 and 3 unit row-houses and apartment buildings have increased the percentage of owners versus renters. The total land area is roughly one square mile. The terrain is relatively low laying and flat. The neighborhood has long served as home to working and

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...

New York families. The six-story apartment houses in which they reside provide comfortable living at affordable prices and stand in large numbers throughout the metropolitan area. This commonality of the speculative six-story elevator apartment building has long left this type of construction under-recognized and unappreciated. Though many of these dwellings stand alone or in large concentration; a survey of similar communities affirm that the area is one of few truly cohesive neighborhoods of this typology, offering an unusually compact and well-preserved stretch of these buildings. These structures have proven vital as they contain facilities to meet resident's commercial, religious, and educational needs. Bronx House, a

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...

that moved to Pelham Parkway in the 1950s is the heart of the neighborhood. It is run by the

Federation of Jewish Philanthropies UJA-Federation of New York (United Jewish Appeal⁣ – ⁣ Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, Inc.) is the largest local philanthropy in the world. Headquartered in New York City, the organization raises and allocates funds annuall ...

as a community center and provides social services, support networks, English Language classes, free lunches for the elderly, and a gym for all neighborhood residents.

is located on along the

Bronx River The Bronx River (), approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of . It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. Besides the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River is the only fresh water river in ...

, much of which contains the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

and the

Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...

. The remainder of the park is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and is bounded by Southern Boulevard,

Webster Avenue Webster Avenue is a major north–south thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, United States. It stretches for from Melrose to Woodlawn (on the Bronx- Westchester borderline). The road starts at the intersection of Melrose Avenue, East 165th ...

, Burke Avenue, Bronx Park East, and East 180th Street.

Police and crime

Pelham Parkway and Morris Park are patrolled by the 49th Precinct of the

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

, located at 2121 Eastchester Road. The 49th Precinct ranked 43rd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 64 per 100,000 people, Pelham Parkway and Morris Park's rate of

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the objecti ...

s per capita is slightly more than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 372 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 49th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 71.7% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported 7 murders, 17 rapes, 273 robberies, 367 felony assaults, 133 burglaries, 611 grand larcenies, and 371 grand larcenies auto in 2022.

Fire safety

Pelham Parkway is served by the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

(FDNY)'s Engine Co. 90/Ladder Co. 41 fire station at 1843 White Plains Road.

Health

preterm birth Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is between 2 ...

s and births to teenage mothers are slightly more common in Pelham Parkway and Morris Park than in other places citywide. In Pelham Parkway and Morris Park, there were 90 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 19.7 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Pelham Parkway and Morris Park has a low population of residents who are

uninsured Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to Hedge ( ...

. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 12%, the same as the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of

air pollutant Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different type ...

, in Pelham Parkway and Morris Park is , less than the city average. Fifteen percent of Pelham Parkway and Morris Park residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Pelham Parkway and Morris Park, 32% of residents are

obese Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

, 14% are

diabetic Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, and 31% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Eighty-three percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 80% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," slightly higher than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Pelham Parkway and Morris Park, there are 17 bodegas. The nearest large hospitals are Calvary Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center's Jack D. Weiler Hospital, and

NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi Jacobi Medical Center (NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi) is a municipal hospital operated by NYC Health + Hospitals in affiliation with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The facility is located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx, Ne ...

in Morris Park. The

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

campus is also located in Morris Park.

Post offices and ZIP Codes

Pelham Parkway is located within four ZIP Codes. South of the road named Pelham Parkway, the eponymous neighborhood is located in 10462 west of Paulding Avenue and 10461 east of Paulding Avenue. North of the road named Pelham Parkway, the neighborhood is located in 10467 west of Bronxwood Avenue and 10469 east of Bronxwood Avenue. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

operates two post offices nearby: Parkway Station at 2100 White Plains Road and Esplanade Station at 2488 Williamsbridge Road.

Education

Pelham Parkway and Morris Park generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . While 32% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 24% have less than a high school education and 44% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 26% of Bronx residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Pelham Parkway and Morris Park students excelling in math rose from 32% in 2000 to 48% in 2011, though reading achievement remained constant at 37% during the same time period. Pelham Parkway and Morris Park's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is slightly higher than the rest of New York City. In Pelham Parkway and Morris Park, 23% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per

school year A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

, a little more than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 74% of high school students in Pelham Parkway and Morris Park graduate on time, about the same as the citywide average of 75%.

Schools

Christopher Columbus High School is in the neighborhood, on the north side of Pelham Parkway, in 2014 it permanently closed. CUNY Prep High School is in the southwest part of the neighborhood. The

is also nearby.

Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL)'s Pelham Parkway-Van Nest branch is located at 2147 Barnes Avenue. The branch opened in 1912 as one of NYPL's "Travelling Libraries", and between 1917 and 1968, moved to a series of permanent locations. The current building, which opened in 1968, has been known as the Van Nest or Van Nest Pelham branch through its history.

Transportation

The neighborhood is served by several New York City Subway stations, as well as local bus route and an express bus to midtown Manhattan. The

and Bronx Park East stations on the

IRT White Plains Road Line The White Plains Road Line is a rapid transit line of the A Division of the New York City Subway serving the central Bronx. It is mostly elevated and served both subway and elevated trains until 1952. The original part of the line, the part op ...

(served by the ) and Morris Park on the

(served by the ) service the area. The following

MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...

and Bee-Line bus routes serve Pelham Parkway: * Bx8: to 225th Street station or Locust Point (via Williamsbridge Road) * Bx12: to

Bay Plaza Shopping Center Bay Plaza Shopping Center is a shopping center on the south side of Co-op City, Bronx, New York City. In addition to various department stores and shops, such as Macy's, JCPenney, Staples, and Old Navy, it has a multiplex movie theater, several ...

or University Heights (via

Fordham Road Fordham Road is a major thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, that runs west-east from the Harlem River to Bronx Park. Fordham Road houses the borough's largest and most diverse shopping district. It geographically separates the North Bro ...

–

) * Bx12 SBS: to

or Inwood–207th Street station (via

–

) * Bx22: to

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

or Castle Hill (via

/Castle Hill Avenue) * Bx30: to

Co-op City Co-op City (short for Cooperative City) is a cooperative housing development located in the northeast section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by Interstate 95 to the southwest, west, and north and the Hutchinson River ...

(via Boston Road) * Bx39: to

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

or Clason Point (via White Plains Road) *BL60: to Fordham, Bronx or White Plains, NY (via

US Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

) *BL61: to Fordham, Bronx or

Port Chester Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most populou ...

, NY (via US Route 1) *BL62: to Fordham, Bronx or White Plains, NY (via US Route 1; Express from New Rochelle to East White Plains) Two Bronx-Manhattan express buses, the (Morris Park Avenue route) and (White Plains Road route), provide service to Midtown Manhattan along Fifth Avenue and returns to Pelham Parkway along Madison Avenue.

Notable residents

Robert Abrams Robert Abrams (born July 4, 1938) is an American attorney and politician. He served as the attorney general of New York from 1979 to 1993 and was the Democratic nominee for the 1992 United States Senate election in New York. Early life and educ ...

(born 1938), former attorney general of New York; lived along Holland Avenue "on the same block as P.S. 105" * Ronnie Landfield (born 1947), abstract artist; grew up on Wallace Avenue between Lydig Avenue and Pelham Parkway South. *

Andrea Mitchell Andrea Mitchell (born October 30, 1946) is an American television journalist, anchor and commentator for NBC News, based in Washington, D.C. She is NBC News' chief foreign affairs & chief Washington correspondent, reporting on the 2008 presi ...

(born 1946), television journalist, anchor, and commentator for NBC News; grew up in Pelham Parkway. *

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin (; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, talk show host, game show host, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest working ma ...

(1931–2020), talk show host who grew up on Cruger Avenue between Sagamore Street and Bronxdale Avenue, which has been co-named Regis Philbin Avenue.Jaccarino, Mike
"Regis Philbin wants to save Pelham Parkway trees slated to be cut down by city for guardrail space"
'' New York Daily News'', August 13, 2010. Accessed July 1, 2016. "Locals fighting the removal of 87 trees along Pelham Parkway in the Bronx found a champion this week when Philbin bashed the city on his ''Live with Regis and Kelly'' show. Philbin grew up in the neighborhood that the picturesque parkway runs through."

References

{{Authority control Albanian-American culture in New York City Neighborhoods in the Bronx