This station and the neighborhood it serves is geographically part of the Bronx, but a technicality also makes it part of Manhattan.
by Rich Watson
The Marble Hill-225 Street elevated station serves the 1 train on its trip to South Ferry. It’s located at the edge of the Bronx.
Or is it?
Because according to the MTA’s official website, it’s part of Manhattan.
The 1 train in the Bronx and northern Manhattan
The 1 train, part of the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line with the 2 and 3, travels
- from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx,
- southward, following the Major Deegan Expressway,
- over the Harlem River into Manhattan, past Fort Tryon Park and the George Washington Bridge,
- down Broadway, past Columbia University and St. John’s Cathedral, and
- down the length of Manhattan to South Ferry.
The Metro-North commuter rail crosses underneath the 1 and heads up the western edge of the Bronx towards Westchester, following the Hudson River. Its MH station is nearby. Columbia’s sports complex, the Campbell Sports Centre, lies across the river on the Manhattan side.
The Broadway Bridge, connecting MH with Inwood, carries the 1 over the Harlem River. Broadway continues from Manhattan into the Bronx towards the city limits.
When the MTA briefly operated a 9 train, it alternated with the 1 at 225 Street.
Elevated rails
Elevated rails can be found in cities throughout the world. In New York, they began in 1868 as a means to make crossing the street easier for pedestrians.
Alongside the development of this new form of mass transit grew real estate. The further north in Manhattan the elevated rails went, the more people came to live and work. The downside was the pollution from the coal gas and steam used to power the train cars, as well as the shadowy streets and the economic boundaries created between the haves and the have-nots.
The subway, first proposed in 1894, was faster and took a quicker amount of time to catch on. Elevated rails still exist in the outer boroughs, but by 1955, the Manhattan rails came down.
The IRT is the only Manhattan line which still uses some elevated rails.
When Marble Hill was physically part of Manhattan
Believe it or not, Marble Hill was once part of the island of Manhattan.
The name comes from its marble deposits. St. John’s Cathedral was made from marble quarried from MH. Lenape Indians inhabited the area originally. Dutch settlers used the Harlem River for transit and trade.
By 1895, increased river traffic made the creation of a ship canal through Manhattan necessary, to connect the Harlem River (and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek) with the Hudson, via MH’s southern side. As a result, MH became an island. Two years later, the Greater New York charter decreed it still part of Manhattan.
When the IRT formed, it initially went as far north as 145 Street. A West Side Branch extended it temporarily to 221 Street. By 1907, the rest of the IRT stations were completed.
The line went through the canal and over the Broadway Bridge to 225. The 221 Street station closed.
When MH became physically part of the Bronx
By 1914, the north side of MH was filled in with rocks from Grand Central Station’s excavation, at its foundation. It was no longer an island. It became part of the Bronx, and by extension, the continental US. It’s part of the local community district and has a Bronx zip code.
Politically, and for administrative purposes, though, it’s considered part of Manhattan, just as Roosevelt Island is also considered part of Manhattan.
It’s easy to call it a Bronx neighborhood, though. In 1939, Borough President James Lyons tried to claim it by planting US and Bronx flags on top of a rock formation. That didn’t go over well. The question as to which borough MH belonged, though, persisted.
In 1984, an answer was provided in court.
The 1984 court ruling
A MH resident and potential juror in a murder trial had said she lived in the Bronx, not Manhattan. The trial’s decision could’ve been overturned if a juror was believed to have been seated illegally.
According to the New York Times, State Supreme Court Judge Peter J. McQuillan said in his ruling:
“The conclusion is irresistible,” he said in a 36-page opinion, that Marble Hill is situated in the Borough of Manhattan, but is not part of New York County.By statute, he said, “it is in Bronx County.” Contrary to what the Legislature may have thought when it redefined boundary lines for Manhattan in 1938 and again in 1940, it “dealt only with boroughs and not counties,” the judge wrote. In short, the boundaries of New York County and Manhattan are not the same, he said.
It’s in both Manhattan and the Bronx.
@byrichwatson
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Have you ever been to Marble Hill?
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