Bronx Apartment Rental Info:

Legend has it that Williamsbridge got its name from an actual bridge that may or may not have been owned by a farmer named John Williams. At the least, his farm was the closest one to it and locals called it "William's Bridge" by the Revolutionary War. This part of the Bronx stayed rural until the mid 1800s when a railroad was built that connected Williamsbridge to Manhattan, and the Manhattanites followed. The opening of the subway in the 1920s really opened up the neighborhood for all New Yorkers.

Woodlawn likewise came into its own when the railroad was built, making visits to the north Bronx feasible. The draw was the large, landscaped cemetery that was the last home of many prominent New Yorkers, and the Woodlawn Cemetery remains a popular tourist attraction. The need for masons and artisans to build the elaborate memorials brought Irish and Italians to the neighborhood, and Woodlwan has remained an Irish enclave. Katonah Avenue, the main street of Woodlawn, is your best bet to hear "Danny Boy" while sipping a brew.

Wakefield is named for the estate where George Washington was born, according to some references. Wakefield was one of the first Bronx areas to attract large numbers of immigrants after immigration was liberalized in 1965. Almost all immigrants who settled there in the 1980s were blacks from the Caribbean and of these nearly two thirds were from Jamaica and many of the rest from Guyana, the United Kingdom and Antigua-Barbuda. In the mid-1990s the neighborhood was an ethnically diverse area of one and two-family houses with some apartment buildings as well as industrial facilities near the Bronx River. Street vendors sell familiar West Indies fare like sugarcane stalks and breadfruit, and the aroma of fried ackee (a fruit, and don't eat it raw!) will transport you to the tropics.