YONKERS, yenk'ere, N. Y., city of West chester County, on the Hudson River, and on the New York Central Railroad, north of and adjoining New York City. It has regular steamer connection, for passengers and freight, with New York and Albany, and is connected by electric lines with New York. Mount Ver non, New Rochelle and many of the villages and cities on the Hudson.
The good opportunities for shipment of goods by land and water have aided the industrial growth of the city. In 1920 the estimated number of wage-earners in facto ries is 15,000, and the yearly production ap proximates $75,000,000. The carpet and rug mills alone employ over 5,000 people. There are very large foundries and machine shops, electric motor and electrical supplies factories, besides rubber works, large sugar houses, manu factories of patent medicines. fuels etc., con fectionery, furniture, roofing materials, cloth ing and hats. There are large coal yards. grain elevators, the Otis Elevator Company works, ship and boat building yards, budge works, lumber mills, flour and grist mills and ri cam and wagon factories. There are three and four weekly newspapers.
Municipal Improvements and Radio= Yonkers is built on a series of terraces rise from the Hudson to an elevation of 426 feet above tide-water. The view from the ele vated portions includes a long distance up and down the Hudson, the Palisades and the beau tiful valley to the east. In the residential pan of the city are the homes of many New ork City business men. The city has a frontage of nearly five miles on the Hudson, and ex tends along the Bronx River for about seven miles. The streets, covering 115 miles, are broad, many of them paved, and well-shade d_ The city owns and operates the waterworks. There are three small public parks maintained by the city, also two public bath houses, and, on the Hudson, a steel pavilion for recreatson. There is an excellent sewer system. The pria cipal public buildings arc the government build ing, the library in Washington Park, the churches, schools and charity institutions. The
city hall is of considerable historic interest; it was formerly the Philipse Manor and was built in 1752. Since 1868 it has been used as a municipal building. Another noted building is once the residence of Samuel J. Tilden.
Churches, Charitable and Educational In stitutions.— There are 30 churches, some of which are buildings of considerable ardsitec tural merit. The city has the Homeopathic Hospital, Saint John's Riverside Hospital, Saint O Joseph's Hospital, Leake and Watts Orphan Home, the Hebrew Home for the Aged and Infirm and private institutions. The educa tional institutions are Lowden and Halsted schools, the Spencerian Business College; a pub lic high school, established in 1882; public and parish elementary schools and kindergartens; a public library (building presented by Andrew Carnegie) ; the Hollywood Inn for Working men, with a library of 10,000 volumes; the Woman's Institute Library, and Saint Joseph's Training School for Nurses. Near the city limits are Saint Joseph's Seminary (q.v.), and Mount Saint Vincent Academy (R.C.). The latter is a school for girls.
Banks and has both na tional and State banks, the combined deposits amounting to approximately $18,000,000. The expenditures for municipal maintenance and operations are annually about $4,000,000.
In 1650 Adrian Van der Donck and several Dutch families settled in what is now called Yonkers. The region around Yonk ers then belonged to the Dutch. It became a part of Philipse Manor in 1672 and the town was called Philipsburg. The town of Yonkers was founded in 1788, and in 1855 it was incor porated as a village. The town was divided in 1872; the northern part was chartered as the city of Yonkers and the southern part was called Kingsbridge. In 1874 Kingsbridge be came a part of New York City. Pop. about 100,000.
Consult Scharf, 'History of Westchester C1896).ounty) ; Allison, The History of Yonkers' (