Bronx Apartment Rental Info:

The first bridge to connect Manhattan to the Bronx stood near what is today the corner of Kingsbridge Avenue and 230th Street, which used to be Spuyten Duyvel Creek. It was built in 1693 by Frederick Phillipse, whose royal patent justified calling it "King's Bridge." Eventually, Spuyten Duyvel Creek filled in, and the bridge was torn down in 1916. The bridge's name lives on in the neighborhood of Kingsbridge, centered on 230th Street (called Riverdale Avenue). It was a quiet rural community like all of the Bronx until the subway was completed in 1907, allowing Manhattanites to settle here in greater numbers. Today, the neighborhood is largely Irish.

Kingsbridge Heights, along with Riverdale, was planned by Frederick Law Olmstead, the man who designed Central Park. The modest housing closest to the elevated train is not indicative of the rest of the neighborhood, where you'll find one-family Tudor and Queen Anne-style homes along with middle-class high-rise co-ops and condos. Van Cortland Village is the name of the neighborhood to the south of Van Courtland Park, the largest park in the Bronx. Van Courtland Park has the oldest public golf course in the country, plus riding stables and trails.

These neighborhoods had been primarily white and African-American, but more recently Hispanic residents have added to the diversity mix. Van Courtland Park hosts weekend cricket matches between West Indian teams, adding to the melting pot.