Photo by N. Bower

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

April 7, 2026: Coming off of a week of family, faith and fun for most of our Village residents, I thought I would keep my column in the same light vein and just share some wonderful factoids about the very special Village we call home.

The Village’s first attempt by petition to incorporate over 125 years ago was invalidated by the Eastchester Town Supervisor who declared the vote illegal because women had signed it!  Now 53% of our Village population is female.

The “Lowlands” neighborhood area near our present-day school was plagued by early flooding.  In 1920 when the current site on Pondfield was chosen for the public school, a Village elder remarked that, “the only problem was that much of it was covered by water.”

Parental involvement in the PTA has always been a signature trait of the Village.  Early meetings concentrated on an effective method to monitor the content of motion pictures fearing a negative impact on our community, but more importantly, a deleterious effect on our diction.

Around the turn of the century, the Village was home to an insane asylum so named The Vernon House Retreat for the Insane located near the intersection of White Plains and Pondfield Roads.  Limited to ten female patients, one could be treated for, “mental and nervous diseases and cases of Habit.”

The original soil at the Alfredo fields, the open space near Siwanoy Country Club, was sold and trucked to Queens to provide fill for the World’s Fair in 1939. 

Over 20% of the land (97 acres) in the Village is tax exempt.

The Bronx River was actually rerouted and the Village border materially changed to accommodate the construction of the Bronx River Parkway completed in 1925, thus becoming the first multi-lane limited access Parkway in North America.

We had the exact same population – approximately 6500 residents – in the 1930’s as we have today. Stores were closed on Wednesday afternoons and a Home Valet truck patrolled the Village.  Sporting the slogan, “Would you spare your appearance for 50₵?” If you so desired, the gentlemen would stop at your door and iron your rumpled suit.

In terms of open space, Scout Field is a 2.29 acre park, of which only 0.29 acres are in the Village of Bronxville with the remaining acreage almost evenly split between the cities of Yonkers and Mount Vernon.  As a consequence, the Village Police Department cannot patrol on land in other cities/jurisdictions.

Bronxville has 2300 home addresses in the Village but over 10,000 area residents use it as their postal address.

Village population peaked in 1940 at 6888 residents, a slight increase over the current census number.

Residents live in 1200 single-family homes, 127 condominiums, 800 cooperative apartments and 264 rental units.

The Gramatan Hotel across from the old Village Hall, which is the current soccer store, had 300 guest rooms, three restaurants, and a grand ballroom.  Torn down in 1972, its brochure said it, “featured luxury without ostentation.”

The Gramatan Hotel dominated the Bronxville skyline from 1905 until its tear down in 1972 and was home to many famous visitors.

Our parking meters are not in use on Sundays or after 7pm Monday through Saturday and on six holidays – New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Meters are there for revenue obviously, but also for space turnover to benefit our merchants.  The days of usage of the meters have no relationship to particular respect for one holiday over another, rather usage time relates to when shops are open for business.  As illustration, meters are free on Memorial Day when most shops are closed vs operational on Veterans Day when all stores and restaurants are open.

60% of our residents live in single-family homes and town houses while 40% reside in apartments, co-ops and condominiums.

There are 1356 parking meters in our village and they all work. (most days!!)

With the exception of the Hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, Bronxville is the only community in New York State that is co-terminus with its school district with the municipality issuing both school and Village tax bills.

The Village has no County owned roads and only one state road, Route 22. As a consequence, it is the only road that cannot be repaved or upgraded by the Village.

The largest age cohort in the Village is 35 to 54.

We have 2,193 Village households, three quarters of which characterize themselves as family units with an average family size of 3.45, a number slightly above the County average.

Single person homes approximate the other 25% of our residential inventory.  Those living alone over 65 have increased to 13.6% of our population, a number 2% higher than the Westchester County average.

72% of Village housing stock was built before 1939 of which 83.9% are owner occupied.

The Village has 2434 public parking spaces, an increase from 2000 spaces in 1992. 

Our Village functioned in its first year of incorporation in 1898 with no ordinances. The very first ordinance, which followed the next year, protected us from public nudity, brothels, saloons, gambling, riots, and profane language.

Other first-generation ordinances prohibited ball playing on Sunday, “hallooing or yelling after dark” and gunfire between the setting and rising sun. (Apparently, daytime gunfire was acceptable!)

In a bit of aspirational thinking, fire escapes would be required on all opera houses while churches were exempt.

In 1899, homes could be built with no notification to Village government and without parameters as to size or placement on a lot as it was not until 1922 that our first zoning ordinance was enacted.

Clearly, we have always been a unique community and Trustee William Kraft early envisioned even greater things for us, writing on Village stationary recently unearthed that, “In the course of time, we will have one of the finest Villages along the line.”