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History of Yonkers, New York:
The Land On Which The City Is Built Was Once Part Of A Land Grant Given In The 1640 To The Dutch Settler Adrien Van Der Donck, Called De Jonk Heer ("The Young Gentleman," A Mild Pun On His Name). Van Der Donck Built A Saw Mill Where The Nepperhan River Entered The Hudson; The Nepperhan Is Now Known As The Saw Mill River.
The Saw Mill Site Is Now Occupied By Phillipse Manor Hall, A Renovated Colonial-era Manor House Which Serves As A Museum And Archive, Offering Many Glimpses Into Life Before The American Revolution. It Was Built By The Phillipse (or Phillipsberg) Family, Prominent Tories, That Is, Loyalists To Britain During The Revolution.
For Its First Two Hundred Years, Yonkers Was A Small Farming Town With An Active Waterfront Around The Saw Mill. Yonkers's Later Growth Rested Largely On Developing Industry. In 1853, The Otis Elevator Company, Opened The First Elevator Factory In The World On The Banks Of The Hudson. Around The Same Time, The Alexander Smith Carpet Factory (in The Saw Mill River Valley) Expanded To 45 Buildings, 800 Looms, And Over 4,000 Workers And Was Know As One Of The Premier Carpet Producing Centers In The World. In 1892, Smith Carpets Were Sent To Moscow For The Tsar's Coronation. Bakelite, The First Completely Synthetic Plastic, Was Invented In Yonkers Circa 1906, And Manufactured There Until The Late 1920s. Yonkers Was Also The Headquarters Of The Waring Hat Company, At The Time, The Nation's Largest Hat Manufacturer. World War II Saw The City's Factories Manufacture Everything From Tents And Blankets In The Alexander Smith Carpet Factory To Tanks In The Otis Elevator Factory.
After World War II, However, With Increased Competition From Less Expensive Imports And The Appeal Of Foreign Labor, Yonkers Lost Much Of Its Manufacturing Luster. The Alexander Smith Carpet Mill Fell Into Harder Times, Ceasing Operation On June 24, 1954. In 1983, The Prestigious Otis Elevator Factory Finally Closed Its Doors. With The Loss Of Jobs In The City Itself, Yonkers Followed The Trend Of Many Suburban Cities After World War II, Becoming Primarily A Commuter City. Yonkers's Excellent Transportation Infrastructure, Including Three Commuter Railroad Lines (now Two) And Five Parkways And Freeways, As Well As Its 30-minute Drive From Manhattan, Made It A Desirable City To Live In. Yonkers's Manufacturing Sector, However, Has Recently Shown A Resurgence. With The Opening Of A Factory For Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Yonkers Now Produces The New R142A Cars For The New York City Subway.
Aside From Being A Manufacturing Center, Yonkers Also Played A Key Role In The Development Of Entertainment In The United States. In 1888, Scottish Immigrant John Reid Founded The First Golf Course In The United States, St. Andrew's Golf Club, In Yonkers. On January 4, 1940, Yonkers Resident Edwin Howard Armstrong Transmitted The First FM Radio Broadcast (on Station W2XCR) From The Yonkers Home Of C.R. Runyon, A Co-experimenter.
The Irish-American Community Plays A Prominent Role In Yonkers, And The City Hosts One Of The Oldest St. Patrick's Day Parades In The Country.
The City Is Also Home To A Large Italian-American Community Many Of Whom Moved To The City After Originally Settling In The Bronx And In Brooklyn. The City Hosts A Large Columbus Day Festival With A Miss Italian-American Pageant.
There Also Once Was A Significant Jewish Population (the Broadway Plays Hello Dolly And Lost In Yonkers Both Take Place Around The Yonkers Jewish Community). However, Its Size Has Dwindled (but Not Vanished) As The Older Generation Dies Off And The Younger Generation Moves To The Sunbelt Or To Other (usually More Affluent) Parts Of The New York Metropolitan Area, With The Trend Accelerating After The Housing Integration Court Battles (see Below).
There Was A Years-long Battle Over Housing Integration In The 1980s And 1990s, Which Ended Only After A Court Ruling Nearly Bankrupted The City Government, By Imposing Geometrically Increasing Contempt Of Court Penalties After The Then-mayor Refused To Build Public Housing In The Wealthier Parts Of The City.
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