Name Origins of Bronx Landmarks and Neighborhoods

Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York

Arthur Avenue

The origin of Arthur Avenue begins with the arrival of Pierre Abraham Lorillard to the area. P. Lorillard & Co initially operated in lower Manhattan in 1760 and manufactured a tobacco snuff product. Soon after, the family bought a large tract of land along the Bronx River and named their estate Belle Monte. In 1870, the property passed to Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, and she divided the holding into a number of streets and avenues. The main thoroughfare was designated Arthur Avenue because the great granddaughter was a big admirer of President Chester A. Arthur.

Throggs Neck

Throggs Neck is a peninsula and has the East River and Long Island Sound surrounding it. The land was originally called Vriedelandt or Land of Peace by the Dutch who first settled there. But the name changed when the Dutch allowed two English groups to settle and act as a buffer between the hostile Native Americans in the area. One was led by Anne Hutchinson and the other by a preacher named John Throckmorton. Both groups were massacred in 1643 and eventually the neck adapted the name of the latter. In the end, Throckmorton was shortened to Throgg. As for the bridge, legend says that Robert Moses removed one of the g’s because money could be saved on street signs with one less character.

Morris Park

The Morris family goes back pretty far in NY history. Richard and Lewis Morris were sugar planters who came to the Bronx from Barbados and took control of the southwest corner of today’s borough. Lewis had a son, and after becoming a judge, Lewis Morris was the first royal governor of New Jersey. The third Lewis went onto sign the Declaration of Independence, and his half brother Gouverneur had a hand in the drafting of the Constitution. His son then created the only deep water port in the Bronx at Stony Point, which is still called Port Morris. The family wasn’t done yet either, and eventually settled in the southern part of the Bronx. John A. Morris took up residence in the area that is now known as Morris Park, and when the Jerome Park Racetrack closed, he replace it with what became the country’s most popular race track. In fact, The Belmont stakes and the Preakness were run at Morris Park in 1890 and the former continued on there until 1904. Of course, the landmark’s heyday eventually passed, and the park closed but the name remains.

Bruckner Boulevard

Henry Bruckner was born on June 17, 1871 and was the Bronx Borough President from 1918-1933. He got his start in life by designing silver for the Gotham Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1892, he helped found Bruckner Beverages at 410 East 161st Street, and grew to be the the city’s largest soda water bottler. But he changed course for politics in 1900. Bruckner became a state legislator, and the next year he assumed the position of the commissioner of Public Works. 12 years later, Bruckner reached the US Congress but came home in 1918 to lead the Bronx as a staunch Tammany Hall Democrat. However, the always suspect political machine succumbed to legislative investigation in the early 30s, and while Mayor Jimmy Walker was forced to resign, Bruckner refused similar calls. The axe was to fall nonetheless, and without the support of Bronx Democratic leader Edward J. Flynn, Bruckner did not survive the 1933 election. Even so, when Robert Moses was looking to rework and rename Eastern Boulevard, Bruckner still got the call.

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