PELHAM PARKWAY
Geographic Setting
Bounded by the 5 train tracks to the east, Bronxdale Avenue to the south, Bronx River East to the west, and Pelham Parkway South to the north, Pelham Parkway occupies a serene yet vital corridor in the central-northeastern Bronx. The neighborhood unfolds along the celebrated Pelham Parkway itself—a broad, tree-lined boulevard whose green central mall defines both the landscape and the community’s rhythm. This linear parkland, stretching from Bronx Park to Pelham Bay Park, gives the neighborhood its name and character: a place where traffic moves swiftly at the edges while life within the adjoining streets remains calm, residential, and deeply connected to the park’s natural beauty.
The neighborhood consists primarily of prewar and postwar apartment houses, brick co-ops, and detached homes arranged in a cohesive grid north and south of the Parkway. To the north lie handsome Art Deco apartment buildings that mirror those along the Grand Concourse, while the southern blocks transition into lower-density homes closer to Bronxdale Avenue. The Pelham Parkway North and South malls, planted with towering oaks and elms, function as public greenways where joggers, cyclists, and families converge. Major thoroughfares such as White Plains Road, Williamsbridge Road, and Lydig Avenue connect the community to neighboring Morris Park, Bronx Park, and Allerton, while nearby subway stops—Pelham Parkway (2/5 trains) and Bronx Park East (2 train)—ensure swift access to Manhattan.
At once verdant and urban, Pelham Parkway stands as a testament to the Bronx’s tradition of integrating city living with open space—a place where the hum of the subway and the rustle of leaves coexist in daily harmony.
Etymology
The name “Pelham Parkway” derives directly from the grand boulevard that bisects the Bronx, conceived as part of the Bronx Parkway System in the late 19th century. The term “Pelham” honors Thomas Pell, the 17th-century English settler whose 1654 land purchase from the Siwanoy people established Pelham Manor—an estate encompassing much of the modern northeast Bronx and southern Westchester. “Parkway,” meanwhile, reflected the late-19th-century ideal of combining transit efficiency with natural beauty.
When residential development emerged around the Parkway in the early 20th century, the name naturally transferred to the surrounding district, symbolizing its alignment with the ideals of park-centered, healthful urban living that had guided its creation.
The Neighborhood
Origins through the 19th Century
Before its transformation, the area that became Pelham Parkway was a patchwork of farms, meadows, and woodland at the northern edge of the Town of West Farms. The fertile plains along the Bronx River supported small agricultural settlements throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, supplying New York City’s expanding markets. In the 1870s and 1880s, as the Bronx was annexed to New York City, the land was surveyed for inclusion in the emerging Bronx park system—an ambitious plan envisioned by park advocate John Mullaly to bring Olmstedian green space to the growing borough.
The establishment of Bronx Park (1888) and Pelham Bay Park (1888) created the need for a landscaped connector between them. Work on Pelham Parkway began in the 1890s under the direction of the New York City Department of Parks, with the intention of linking the two great parks via a scenic drive lined with trees and promenades. The parkway’s completion in the early 1900s laid the groundwork for the residential neighborhood that would rise beside it decades later.
Early 20th Century: From Farmland to Garden City
The modern neighborhood of Pelham Parkway began to take shape in the 1910s–1930s, as transit expansion and city planning converged. The White Plains Road subway line (2/5 trains) reached the area in 1917, making it accessible to Manhattan commuters and spurring rapid development. The surrounding farmland was subdivided into orderly blocks, with Bronxdale Avenue and Lydig Avenue forming commercial spines lined with shops, bakeries, and cafés.
Developers promoted the district as a “parkway suburb” within city limits—offering clean air, greenery, and affordable modern housing. Prewar Art Deco and Renaissance Revival apartment buildings rose along Pelham Parkway North and the side streets, their facades adorned with terra-cotta, geometric patterns, and elegant entryways. South of the Parkway, smaller brick two-family homes and attached rowhouses provided opportunities for ownership to upwardly mobile families.
By the 1930s, Pelham Parkway had become a flourishing middle-class community, populated largely by Jewish, Italian, and Irish families who were drawn by its parks, transit, and reputation for safety. The Pelham Parkway Jewish Center (est. 1930s) and St. Lucy’s Church (est. 1927) became pillars of local life, anchoring both spiritual and social identity.
Mid–Late 20th Century: Stability and Transition
Through the 1940s–1960s, Pelham Parkway epitomized the Bronx’s postwar ideal of stability and aspiration. Its tree-lined boulevards, thriving small businesses, and proximity to Bronx Park, the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Garden made it one of the borough’s most desirable addresses. Residents took pride in its cleanliness and civic cohesion, often referring to the district simply as “The Parkway.”
While other areas of the Bronx experienced disinvestment during the 1970s, Pelham Parkway remained remarkably intact. Its high rate of homeownership, strong tenant associations, and active community organizations—such as the Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association—helped prevent the arson and abandonment that devastated nearby neighborhoods. The Bronx River Parkway and Pelham Parkway themselves served as green buffers, preserving both property values and morale.
During the 1980s and 1990s, demographic change brought new vitality: Caribbean, Latino, South Asian, and Albanian families settled alongside long-established Jewish and Italian residents. The Bronx House Community Center, which had opened decades earlier, expanded its programming to reflect the neighborhood’s multicultural identity, while schools like P.S. 105 and Christopher Columbus High School continued to anchor local education.
21st Century: A Green, Diverse, and Enduring Community
In the 21st century, Pelham Parkway remains one of the Bronx’s most livable neighborhoods—diverse, verdant, and deeply rooted in civic pride. Its population reflects the borough’s global mosaic: Jewish, Italian, Albanian, West Indian, Hispanic, and South Asian residents coexist in a community defined more by shared neighborhood identity than by ethnicity. The Pelham Parkway Greenway Restoration Project, completed in the 2010s, revitalized the parkway’s central malls with new landscaping, lighting, and bike paths, reaffirming the parkway’s role as both transit route and neighborhood park.
Small businesses along White Plains Road and Lydig Avenue remain vital: kosher bakeries, Caribbean groceries, pizzerias, and halal restaurants form a vibrant patchwork of cultures. The area’s housing stock—predominantly prewar co-ops and rent-stabilized apartments—has retained its architectural integrity and relative affordability, keeping the district attractive to families and seniors alike.
Civic engagement continues to define life here. Groups like the Pelham Parkway Task Force and Community Board 11 advocate for park preservation, tenant rights, and infrastructure improvements, ensuring that modernization does not erode the area’s garden-like atmosphere.
Spirit and Legacy
The spirit of Pelham Parkway lies in its enduring balance between nature and neighborhood—a place where the principles of early urban planning have matured into a living, breathing community. Its broad green median, graceful apartments, and strong civic life form a kind of living museum of the Bronx’s 20th-century optimism, continually renewed by each generation that calls it home.
New York City
Use this custom Google map to explore where every neighborhood in all five boroughs of New York City is located.
The Five Boroughs
One of New York City’s unique qualities is its organization in to 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. These boroughs are part pragmatic administrative districts, and part vestiges of the region’s past. Each borough is an entire county in New York State - in fact, Brooklyn is, officially, Kings County, while Staten Island is, officially Richmond County. But that’s not the whole story …
Initially, New York City was located on the southern tip of Manhattan (now the Financial District) that was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Across the East River, another city was rising: Brooklyn. In time, the city planners realized that unification between the rapidly rising cities would create commercial and industrial opportunities - through streamlined administration of the region.
So powerful was the pull of unification between New York and Brooklyn that three more counties were pulled into the unification: The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. And on January 1, 1898, the City of New York unified two cities and three counties into one Greater City of New York - containing the five boroughs we know today.
But because each borough developed differently and distinctly until unification, their neighborhoods likewise uniquely developed. Today, there are nearly 390 neighborhoods, each with their own histories, cultures, cuisines, and personalities - and each with residents who are fiercely proud of their corner of The Big Apple.
