See also: Saw Mill River § History and
Neutral Ground of Westchester County in the Revolutionary War Early settlements The indigenous
Native American village of Nappeckamack was located near the Neperah stream (now the
Saw Mill River, also known as Nepperhan Creek), which flowed into the Shatemuck (
Hudson River). The land on which the city is built was once part of
Colen Donck, a Dutch
land grant. It ran north from the present-day
Manhattan–Bronx border at Marble Hill, and from the Hudson River east to the
Bronx River. Adriaen van der Donck (d. 1655) built a
saw mill near the confluence of Nepperhan Creek and the Hudson River. Near the site of Van der Donck's mill is the
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site. The original structure was built by white workers and
enslaved people for
Frederick Philipse and his wife, Margaret Hardenbroeck de Vries, around 1682. Philipse was a wealthy Dutchman who, at his death, had amassed an estate which included what is now New York's borough of
The Bronx, the city of Yonkers, and much of southern
Westchester County. By the mid-18th century, the Philipse family had one of the largest
manors and slave-holdings in the colonial North. Philipse's great-grandson, Frederick Philipse III, was a prominent
loyalist during the
American Revolution who had economic and political ties to English businesspeople. Because of his political leanings, he fled to England. The New York revolutionary government confiscated and sold all lands and property belonging to the Philipse family. Today, the
Enslaved Africans' Raingarden on the Yonkers waterfront preserves the memory of victims of the
slave trade in Yonkers and Westchester County. Both the Philipse Manor Hall and the Raingarden are tour stops on the
African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County. The home of one of Philipse's tenant farmers,
Sherwood House, is a museum operated by the Yonkers Historical Society.
Gentrification and redlining Yonkers has undergone several changes to neighborhoods in an effort to revitalize the city, which has included
gentrification. Changes were made to its waterfront, which included revitalizing its green space. Downtown gentrification has raised concerns that poorer residents might be forced out of the city. A Yonkers Arts Gallery painting, ''But It's Ours: The Redline Between Poverty and Wealth'' by Shanequa Benitez, illustrates the effects of gentrification on Yonkers. In an effort to combat
redlining, the city announced the Yonkers Greenway: a $14 million
rail trail along former railways such as the
New York and Putnam Railroad. The
greenway will run from
Van Cortlandt Park to Getty Square. Construction is planned to be completed in 2026.
Incorporation and growth in 1874. The Village of Yonkers was incorporated in the western Town of Yonkers in 1854, and incorporated as a city in 1872. In 1873, the southern Town of Yonkers (outside the City of Yonkers) became the Town of Kingsbridge; this included
Woodlawn Cemetery and the present-day neighborhoods of
Kingsbridge,
Riverdale, and
Woodlawn Heights. The Town of Kingsbridge was annexed by New York City the following year as part of the Bronx. In 1898, Yonkers,
Brooklyn,
Queens, and
Staten Island voted on a referendum to determine if they wanted to become part of New York City. Although the referendum passed elsewhere, Yonkers and neighboring
Mount Vernon were not included in the consolidated city and remained independent. Some residents call Yonkers "the
sixth borough" because of its location on the New York City border, its urban character, and the merger referendum. A 1942 subway connection was planned between Getty Square and the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which terminates in Riverdale at
242nd Street (slightly south of the city line). The plan was dropped. In 1937, a
water tower collapsed in the Nodine Hills area; nine people were initially injured. The injury total increased by three after the collapse, bringing the number to 12. About of water from the tower spilled, causing flooding in the area that crushed cars and damaged homes. Construction of a new tower began in 1938, and it became operational the following year.
Wartime During the
American Civil War, 254 Yonkers residents joined the
U.S. Army and
Navy. They enlisted primarily in four regiments: the
6th New York Heavy Artillery, the
5th New York Volunteer Infantry, the
17th New York Volunteers, and the 15th NY National Guard. During the
New York City draft riots, Yonkers formed the Home Guards. The guards were a force of constables formed to protect Yonkers from rioting, which was feared to spread from New York City (it did not). Seventeen Yonkers residents were killed during the Civil War. A towering Sailors and Soldiers Memorial, dedicated in 1891, is located on the grounds of Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site. During
World War I, 6,909 Yonkers residents (about seven percent of the city's population) entered military service. Most Yonkers men joined the
27th Division or the
77th Division.
Industry Yonkers was originally a small farming town which produced peaches, apples, potatoes, oats, wheat, and other agricultural goods to be shipped to
New York City along the
Hudson River.
Water power created manufacturing jobs.
Elisha Otis invented a safety elevator in 1853, and the
Otis Elevator Company opened the world's first elevator factory on the Hudson near present-day Vark Street. The company moved to larger quarters during the 1880s, which later became the
Yonkers Public Library. The
Woman's Institute of Yonkers, established in 1880 as the Free Circulating Library for Self-Supporting Women, is the city' s oldest social service agency. Around that time, the
Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company in the Saw Mill River Valley expanded to 45 buildings, 800 looms, and more than 4,000 workers. It was known as one of the world's premier carpet-producing centers. In addition to manufacturing, Yonkers played a key role in the development of recreational sports in the United States. Scottish-born John Reid founded
Saint Andrew's Golf Club in the city in 1888; it was the first
golf course in the United States. That year, the
New York City and Northern Railway Company (later the
New York Central Railroad) connected Yonkers to Manhattan and points north. A three-mile spur to
Getty Square operated until 1943.
Bakelite, the first completely-synthetic plastic, was invented in Yonkers by
Leo Baekeland and was manufactured there until the late 1920s. During the early 20th century, Yonkers hosted the
Brass-Era automaker
Colt Runabout. Although the vehicle reportedly ran well, the company went out of business. Yonkers was the headquarters of hat manufacturer Waring Hat Company, which was the largest in the nation when it opened. On January 4, 1940, Yonkers resident
Edwin Howard Armstrong transmitted the first
FM radio broadcast on the
W2XCR station from the Yonkers home of co-experimenter C. R. Runyon. Yonkers had the longest-running
pirate radio station, which was owned by Allan Weiner and operated during the 1970s and 1980s. The Alexander Smith Carpet Company, one of the city's largest employers, ceased operations during a June 1954 labor dispute. A
Kawasaki railcar-assembly plant opened in 1986 in the former Otis plant. With the loss of manufacturing jobs, Yonkers became a
commuter town. Some neighborhoods, such as
Crestwood and
Park Hill, became popular with wealthy New Yorkers who wanted to live outside Manhattan without giving up urban conveniences. Yonkers's transportation infrastructure, which included three commuter railroad lines and five parkways and thruways, made it a desirable city in which to live. A 15-minute drive from Manhattan, it has a number of prewar homes and apartment buildings. Yonkers's manufacturing sector has also revived during the early 21st century. In 2024, Kawasaki rail reached a milestone with its 5,000th railway car.
Racial discrimination and United States v. Yonkers In 1960, the population of Yonkers was 95.8 percent white and four percent Black. In 1980, the NAACP and the federal government filed suit against the city of Yonkers and its board of education in
United States v. Yonkers. After a 1985 decision and an unsuccessful appeal, Yonkers's schools were
integrated three years later. According to a ruling by federal judge
Leonard B. Sand, Yonkers engaged in institutional segregation in housing and educational policies for more than 40 years. He connected the city's opposition to ending racial segregation from its public schools to the unlawful concentration of
public housing and discrimination in private housing. Yonkers gained national and international attention during the summer of 1988, when it backed out of its previous agreement to build municipal public housing in the eastern parts of the city (an agreement it had made in a
consent decree after losing its appeal in 1987). After its reversal, the city was found
in contempt of the federal courts. Sand imposed a fine on Yonkers which began at $100 and doubled every day, capped at $1 million per day by an appeals court, until the city capitulated to the federally-mandated plan. The city remained in contempt of court until September 9, 1988, when its city council relented as the financial impact threatened to close a library and reduce sanitation. The city also considered massive
layoffs, which would have adversely affected its ability to provide services to the upper classes it was trying to retain.
Nicholas C. Wasicsko, Yonkers's youngest mayor (elected at age 28), struggled in city politics. He helped end the city's contempt-of-court ruling, but was voted out of office as a result. Wasicsko's story, subject of the 2015 miniseries
Show Me a Hero, was adapted from a 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by
Lisa Belkin. The 2007 documentary
Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story also covers racial discrimination and housing segregation in Yonkers. As a result of the federal lawsuit, Yonkers's public-school enrollment dropped from 54 percent of the city's eligible population to under 30 percent as thousands of white families
left the city for its suburbs or enrolled their children in private schools; this effectively gutted the city's middle class and tax base. The school district's estimated cost of integration was over $262 million. Forced to cut programs, Yonkers schools fell steeply in national rankings as test scores sharply declined. By 1995,
The New York Times called the city's desegregation effort "a profound disappointment to blacks and whites alike". Michael Sussmann, the NAACP's lawyer during the case, blamed Sand for failing to allocate federal funds to help relieve the cost of integration.
21st century Areas of Yonkers which bordered similar neighborhoods in
Riverdale began seeing an influx of
Orthodox Jews during the 2000s, and the Riverdale
Hatzalah volunteer ambulance service began serving neighborhoods in the southwest part of the city. The Sherwood Park Cemetery is a small Jewish cemetery. Two former Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company loft buildings (at 540 and 578 Nepperhan Avenue) have been repurposed to house the
YoHo Artist Community, which has private studios there. Yonkers Raceway, a
harness racing track, renovated its grounds and clubhouse and added video
slot machines in 2006 to become
Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino.
MGM Resorts International bought the raceway and casino in 2018 for $850 million. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, the city opened several test sites at the ParkCare Pavilion of
St. John's Riverside Hospital (considered a COVID-19 hotspot). The test site was operated by the
New York State Department of Health during the pandemic. More test sites opened in the city as students prepared to return to school for in-person instruction. In February 2023, the
Yonkers City Council approved the
US Post Office on Main Street for local-landmark status after its 1989 listing on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1989. On
September 29, 2023, a state of emergency was declared in the city after
flash flooding affected most of the
Hudson Valley and
New York City. Most area parkways were closed and flooding was also reported in neighboring
Mount Vernon. After the flooding, crews pumped water out of Yonkers homes. The city has been used as a
location for films and television series, and the City Hall courtroom is used for film scenes and commercials. The city along with neighboring
Mount Vernon saw an increase in revenue grow from 2016.
Catch Me If You Can (2002) and
Mona Lisa Smile (2003) were partially filmed in the city. The city is the setting for the 2005 film
A Tale of Two Pizzas, and
Tyler, the Creator released "
Yonkers" in 2011.
Neil Simon's play,
Lost in Yonkers, and
its film version are set in the city. A new
Lionsgate Studios facility hosts the Spanish multimedia communications group
Mediapro, and a planned $500 million expansion would make it the largest such facility in the Northeast. == Geography ==