What's a Mosholu?

The Bronx Journal/March/April 2002 C O M M U N I T Y A 5 WHAT’S A MOSHOLU? A winding stretch in the Bronx has a name with Native American origins PHOTO: LENORE SCHULTZ VICKY RODRIGUEZ Bronx Journal Staff Reporter and appeared pleased with the fact that she he stream running lives on a historic street. Minier, moved to through the northwest Post Road from upper Manhattan to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, or as she Bronx has given its calls it, “street noise.” name to an avenue, a “Now when I walk around the neighbor- hood I will look at the street signs and ask parkway and an entire area, myself what the origin of these names is” but most New Yorkers don’t Mosholu isn’t the only street of Native PHOTO: LENORE SCHULTZ know that its name, American origin. Kappock Ave. in Spuyten Mosholu. the end of Allerton Avenue, turns north at Duyvil is derived from the Indian word The Yonkers Rapid Transit Railway, Bronx Park East and continues as a tree- Mosholu, is an Indian word Shorakapkock, or “sitting down place,” and which led riders from Mosholu to lined boulevard until it becomes a limited- meaning “smooth stones.” Minneford Avenue, a corrupted form of Woodlawn, flagged Mosholu as a stop on access parkway, with interchanges at the “Minnewits,” is the Indian name for City its railway in 1879. That roadway later Major Deegan Expressway (I-87) and the Bronx residents who know Island. These names reflect alterations became Mosholu Avenue and in 1888, the Henry Hudson-Saw Mill River Parkway. the history of Mosholu’s brought about by later settlers in the area. If you are looking to get to Mosholu According to the Bronx County Historical Avenue, however, don’t expect much direc- name are proud that it has a Society, during the 19th Century, on what is The parkway tion from local city bus drivers. Even when connection to the borough's known today as Post Road and 246th shown a map of the area, one Number 7 bus Streets, a man named Mathias Wa r n e r connecting Van driver claimed that the map must be outdat- Native American past. opened a general store. The locale became ed. Mosholu Avenue is a winding street Others, such as James White, a 52 year- a rest stop for stagecoaches traveling to and Cortlandt and the that runs uphill from Broadway, south of old computer operator and 20-year-resident from Albany. Warner's store provided trav- West 259th Street, and is hidden coming off of the Bronx, have always wanted to look elers with food and their horses with hay. Bronx parks was the Henry Hudson Parkway one block south into New York’s history and think that the Other merchants joined Warner, offering of Riverdale Avenue. Mosholu Avenue is a Bronx is a good place to start. White services such as a blacksmith shop, a gra- called Mosholu residential street, with a mix of private believes that the name “Mosholu” honors nary to store locally grown grains, and even homes and residential buildings. Most the multicultural and ethnic diversity of the an animal pound where owners could Parkway because it Bronxites don’t even know Mosholu Bronx, and thinks that it’s a shame that reclaim cows, pigs and goats that had gone Avenue exists; its residents, however, con- more street names don’t reflect the bor- strayed. Local residents living in the area leads westward to sider it a treasured secret. “I’d like to keep ough’s Native American past. “Maybe the along Albany Post Road called the settle- it a secret; it’s a safe and peaceful haven,” Indians blessed us with the name Mosholu; ment “Warners,” or “Warnerville,” after the Mosholu says Lora Lesser, a 37-year-old housewife that’s probably why we get along so well,” man who started it all. and a four- y e a r-resident of Mosholu White adds. By the middle of the century, when about station was included in the new Va n Avenue. What’s a Mosholu? “It sounds like you 300 families resided there and a post office Cortlandt Park. The parkway connecting If you are interested in researching the sneezed, you know . .aachoo,” jokes Maria opened in the Warner store, the area’s name Van Cortlandt and the Bronx parks was Bronx and its history, the following web- Minier, a 29-year-old mother and part-time was South Yonkers because it primarily called Mosholu Parkway because it lead sites will be helpful: w w w. b ro n x . c o m , receptionist who has lived on Boston Post served the more densely populated southern westward to Mosholu. www.bronxhistorical.org, www.nypl.org, or Road for six years. Minier seemed interest- part of Yonkers. In 1860, however, the fed- Today, Mosholu Parkway is one of the visit the many local libraries located in the ed in the origins of such a peculiar name eral government designated the area as major roadways in the Bronx. It begins at Bronx..

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