Review of The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday (Life in The Bronx Series) (Hardcover)

Compiled by the Bronx Historical Society, "The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday 1935-1965" chronicles the development of the northernmost borough of New York City before it became the area that many know it as today. From Wakefield to Mott Haven, from Riverdale to Co-op City, most of the borough's major neighborhoods are captured here in photographs and words, allowing past and present Bronxites to see the changes that have occurred in the thirty-year span that the book covers.

It was nostalgic to see photographs of the Alexander's department store on Fordham Road, seeing that it shut it doors in the late 1980's. Other interesting facts I didn't know before was that the largest amusement park in the eastern United States, "Freedomland" was located on the land where present-day Co-op City stands. It was closed in the late 1960's when word of a major theme park that was to arise out of the marshes of Orlando, Florida was being planned (yep, DisneyWorld brought an end to the Bronx's only amusement park).

Truly this is a must have if you are a past or present Bronxite who is very interested in learning about the borough's past. This book might also appeal to urban planning students who are interested in the development of one of New York City's last frontiers. Overall, "The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday 1935-1965" is a well-organized book that takes full advantage of the borough's historical archives. Once I opened its' pages I was taken on a journey to memory row, where memories of life back then only reside.



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