Fordham, Bronx

Fordham is a neighborhood located in the western Bronx, New York City. Fordham is roughly bordered by East 196th Street to the north, the Harlem River to the west, Fordham Road to the south, and Southern Boulevard to the east. The neighborhood's primary thoroughfares are Fordham Road and Grand Concourse.

Fordham is located within Bronx Community Board 5 and Bronx Community Board 7, and its ZIP Codes include 10453, 10457, 10458 and 10468. Its main subway line is the IND Concourse Line (B and ​D trains), operating under the Grand Concourse, with the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4 train) on its western border. The area is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 46th Precinct. New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) property in the area is patrolled by P.S.A. 7 at 737 Melrose Avenue in the Melrose section of the Bronx. The neighborhood is home to the original, Rose Hill campus of Fordham University.

Jan Arcer, a Dutch settler (who anglicized his name to John Archer), established a community at what is now 225th Street near the Harlem River in 1666. Archer owned 3900 acres of land which Francis Lovelace, the colonial governor of New York approved for settlement. The area known as "Fordham Manor" was 6 square miles. This was called a Patent, making Archer "Lord of the Manor". Sixteen families established farms in the area. The Manor lasted from 1671 to 1762.

Archer chose the name Fordham for his community, which may have been a reference to its location near a shallow crossing ("ford") of the Bronx River, or may have been a reference to John Fordham, a fourteenth-century English priest.

Old Fordham Village is a section of Fordham that dates back to the English colonial era. It is centered on the intersection of the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road. Fordham Village extends north to about 196th Street, south to about 187th Street, east to Southern Boulevard, and west to Jerome Avenue.

The section's origins date back to about 1751, when Fordham Manor was built on what was called Rose Hill. Most of the estate is part of the Rose Hill Campus of Fordham University. Besides the main manor house and other side buildings on the campus, other historic buildings and noted homes still exist within Old Fordham Village. For example, American poet Edgar Allan Poe spent his final years with his wife Virginia in a cottage in Fordham, which is still standing in Poe Park. The nearby Fordham University Church bell is named "old Edgar" and may have been the inspiration for his poem The Bells.

In the 18th century, the Kings Road went through Old Fordham Village, an area of rural estates and small farms, linking Colonial New York and towns and villages north toward Boston. It was a minor rest stop for travelers and coaches, where many springs fed The Mill Brook that crossed this road. During the American Revolution, it was a critical crossing point for Gen. George Washington's Continental Army retreating toward White Plains to safely escape from New York while being chased by the Colonial British and Hessian Forces. There were many American Patriots that lived in this area. After the revolution, the Kings Road was renamed the Boston Post Road, becoming an important thoroughfare for a growing new nation.

In the 19th century, with the building of the White Plains Line (later the Harlem Line of the New York Central Railroad) and a small station, Old Fordham Village began to grow. Local farmers and dairymen were able to use the railroad to send their products to a growing New York City. Part of the Mill Brook was dammed up north of the village, and a large pond and ice house were built for shipping and cold storage. It provided fresh ice for the community and the railroad. In 1838, a wealthy New York City Irish Catholic real estate magnate named Andrew Carrigan (1804-1872) bought the 100-acre Rose Hill estate, located east of the village, for the sole purpose of selling it to his close friend John Joseph Hughes (1797-1864), who at the time was coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of New York. Hughes purchased the estate from Carrigan in 1839 for $29,750, and founded St. Joseph's Seminary (1840) and St. Joseph's College (1841) (later Fordham University) on the property. In 1846 Hughes deeded St. Joseph's College over to the Roman Catholic Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus) for $40,000, but retained title to the seminary property (about 9 acres of land). The seminary was closed in 1859. Today, a small south-west portion of the former Rose Hill estate is known as Rose Hill Park. West of the village, on the other side of Fordham Hill, the Bathgate Estate was built; it was later acquired by wealthy stock speculator Leonard Jerome. He built the Jerome Park Racetrack, where the first Belmont Stakes was held, on his estate. West of the station in the village area, the Fordham Hotel and Taverine would provide basic needs for visitors to the college and the racetrack.