Morris Park, Bronx

Morris Park is a working class neighborhood in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. The neighborhood is part of Community Board 11 in the East Bronx. Its approximate boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are Neill Avenue and Pelham Parkway to the north, Eastchester Road to the East, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor tracks and Sackett Avenue to the east and south, and Bronxdale Avenue or White Plains Road to the west. It borders the neighborhoods of Van Nest to its southwest and Indian Village to its northeast. Williamsbridge Road and Morris Park Avenue are the primary thoroughfares. The local subway is the IRT Dyre Avenue Line, 5 train, which runs under the Esplanade. Zip codes include 10461 and 10462. The area is patrolled by the 49th Precinct of the New York City Police Department, located at 2121 Eastchester Road. The neighborhood has a large Italian American population.

Morris Park is named after John Albert Morris, who built the Morris Park Racecourse, which existed from 1889 until 1910. In 1890, the Morris Park Racecourse hosted both the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes; the latter continued to be run there until 1905. The track was later used for auto racing and was the site of the first public air show. After a 1910 fire, the property was divided into lots for the current neighborhood. Several streets in Morris Park, including Cruger, Holland, Radcliffe, Colden, Paulding, and Hone Avenues, are named after mayors of New York City during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Morris Park

Morris Park may refer to:

Morris Park Facility

The Morris Park facility is a maintenance facility of the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York. 7. It includes two employee-only side platforms on the Atlantic Branch named Boland's Landing. Two wooden platforms each 2 cars long exist on the two-track line, with a flashlight for workers to signal trains to stop.

History

The original Morris Park station, was an 1886-built pedestrian depot located on 120th Street, that served as a replacement for 1878-built Morris Grove station on 124th Street. It was torn down in 1939 as part of a grade elimination project for the Atlantic Branch. The yard's locomotive yard office and engine shops, divided into the front shops and back shops, were built in 1889, at the junction of the Atlantic and Lower Montauk Branches approximately on the opposite side of the former “R” Tower at the latter day Richmond Hill Storage Yard. The yard also featured a turntable for spinning engines. In 2009 part of the back shops (the engine shops not located directly off the turntable) were demolished as part of a reconstruction project, however, the front shops and yard office from 1889 still exist. The yard also contains one of four remaining turntables left on the LIRR, Oyster Bay and Greenport yards have the others, and Riverhead has one on the grounds of the Railroad Museum of Long Island. Nevertheless the Morris Park turntable is the only one of the turntables still functioning; those in Oyster Bay, Riverhead, and Greenport exist purely for historical purposes.

Morris Park (IRT Dyre Avenue Line)

Morris Park is a station on the IRT Dyre Avenue Line of the New York City Subway served by the 5 train. It is at Paulding Avenue and the Esplanade in Morris Park, Bronx.

History

The station was first placed in service in 1912 as part of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad, a subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford. The line was designed for the weight of the heaviest main line steam trains.

The emblem of the NYW&B, was the caduceus, a staff entwined with serpents that has served as a symbol of commerce since Classical times. It is cast into several locations of the concrete facade facing the Esplanade. The NYW&B offered frequent service between 138th Street in the South Bronx and White Plains and Port Chester in Westchester County. The White Plains and Port Chester branches diverged at Mount Vernon Junction near Columbus Avenue along the boundary between Mount Vernon and Pelham.

The two outer tracks at Morris Park were for trains that made local stops in the Bronx, and went to Port Chester. The two inner tracks were for express trains that made limited stops in The Bronx, and went to White Plains. The trains were powered by 11,000 volt 25 Hz alternating current supplied from overhead catenary. The cut-off stumps of the catenary bridges remain along the right of way and can be seen from the south ends of the platforms.