4i 8 The Story of The Bronx 



oped that the traveller finds it hard to believe that he is within 

 the limits of the second largest city in the world. With so 

 many hundreds of acres of unimproved land, it seems a pity 

 that it cannot be used for the erection of individual houses for 

 the working classes, as in all the other great cities of the world. 

 But the New York owners and builders are so wedded to the 

 idea of flats, or tenements, that it is not likely they would 

 embark in any single-house proposition at low rentals; nor is 

 it likely that probably ninety per cent, of the inhabitants of 

 the city would find themselves comfortable, or at home, in 

 anything else but a flat. 



In the northeast portion of the old township is Williams- 

 bridge, which gets its name from a farmer of pre-Revolutionary 

 days whose farm was on the east side of the Bronx River near 

 the bridge. John Williams's house, about one hundred and 

 fifty years old, was still standing in 1903, on First Street, a 

 little east of the White Plains Road, within the new park 

 that has resulted from the widening of the street. The writer 

 tried to insure the preservation of the old house by calling 

 attention to it through one of our public societies, but without 

 success; as the building was removed by one of the Italians, 

 of whom there are so many in this locality, to whom the old 

 house had been sold for firewood. 



The Bronx River presents some beautiful views below the 

 bridge. Its banks are lined with residences whose backyards 

 are prevented by substantial stone walls from being swept 

 away by the winding stream when in flood or freshet. A few 

 steps lead down to the stream, where a flat-bottomed boat is 

 tied, and overhead there is an archway of trees — the whole 

 making a scene of great beauty. Many of the occupants of 

 the houses are French and their grounds and houses are orna- 

 mented with statues and flowers, so that one is reminded of 



