Hunts Point | |
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Neighborhood of The Bronx | |
The BankNote in Hunts Point
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Location in New York City | |
Coordinates: 40°48′45″N 73°53′02″W / 40.812600°N 73.884024°WCoordinates: 40°48′45″N 73°53′02″W / 40.812600°N 73.884024°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New York |
City | New York City |
Borough | Bronx |
Founded | 1849 |
Named for | Thomas Hunt |
Area | |
• Total | 4.27 km2 (1.650 sq mi) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 27,204 |
• Density | 6,400/km2 (16,000/sq mi) |
Economics | |
• Median income | $25,678 |
Ethnicity | |
• Hispanic | 74.6% |
• Black | 22.2% |
• White | 1.3% |
• Asian | 0.7% |
• Others | 1.2% |
ZIP codes | 10474 |
Area code | 718, 347, 646 |
Not to be confused with Hunters Point in Queens, New York.
Hunts Point is a neighborhood located on a peninsula in the South Bronx of New York City. It is the location of one of the largest food distribution facilities in the world, the Hunts Point Cooperative Market. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 2. Its boundaries are the Bruckner Expressway to the west and north, the Bronx River to the east, and the East River to the south. Hunts Point Avenue is the primary street through Hunts Point. The neighborhood is considered to be a red-light district, because of its prostitution. ZIP codes include 10474. The neighborhood is served by the New York City Police Department's 41st Precinct.
Europeans first settled Hunts Point in 1663. At this time, Edward Jessup and John Richardson arrived on the peninsula and purchased the land from the Wekkguasegeeck tribe indigenous to the area. After Jessup died, his widow Elizabeth, entrusted the land to Thomas Hunt Jr., her son in-law for whom the area is named.
In the years between the Hunts' inheritance and 1850, several other wealthy landowning families occupied the peninsula. Legend has it that George Fox (1624–1691), founder of the Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers), preached in the area in 1672. William H. Fox, a descendant of the Quaker leader, and his wife Charlotte Leggett, owned much of the land that is now Hunts Point.
As time passed and more New Yorkers became aware of Hunts Point, more City dwellers flocked to the area between 1850 and 1900. Later, the property wound up in the hands of Fox's and Leggett's son-in-law, H.D. Tiffany, a member of the family that owned the famous jewelry and decorative arts store Tiffany & Co. now on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Fox, Tiffany and Leggett Streets derive their names from these former landowners. In 1909, the Fox mansion was demolished.