Yonkers

Yonkers, city in Westchester County, southeastern New York, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. It is a residential suburb in the city of New York metropolitan region, adjacent to The Bronx. The city’s large industrial base includes manufacturers of plastics and chemicals.

Yonkers, one of the largest cities in the state, is the site of Sarah Lawrence College (1926), Saint Joseph’s Seminary and College (1896), a business college, and a school of nursing. Cultural institutions include the Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, encompassing a house built in 1682; and the Hudson River Museum, which includes the Glenview Mansion, the Andrus Planetarium, and exhibits of painting and sculpture..

Originally occupied by a village of the Manhattan people, the site of the present-day city was purchased by the Dutch West India Company in 1639. In 1646 the site formed part of a land grant made to Dutch colonizer Adriaen Van der Donck. He was known as De Jonkheer (the young lord), and the land around the sawmill he built was known as De Jonkheers Landt, from which the name Yonkers is derived. In 1672 ownership of the settlement passed to the Philipse family. During the American Revolution, the manor of Philipsburgh was confiscated in 1779 by colonial forces because of the family’s Royalist sympathies.

Following the coming of the railroad in 1849, the community developed rapidly as an industrial center. In the 1850s Elisha Otis began manufacturing elevators in Yonkers, a business which would continue for 130 years. Yonkers incorporated as a city in 1872. Industrial expansion attracted immigrants from around the world, laying the foundation for the diverse population found in the city today.

Yonkers covers a land area of 47 sq km (18 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 3 m (10 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 60.2 percent of the population, blacks 16.6 percent, Asians 4.9 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 25.9 percent of the people. Population 195,351 (1980); 188,082 (1990); 196,086 (2000); 196,425 (2005 estimate).