Living in Williamsbridge: rent, commute and grades

What to know about Williamsbridge

• Williamsbridge is a center of Caribbean culture, especially along White Plains Road, which Fordham historian Mark Naison told NY1 became a Caribbean business district by the 1980s and 1990s. Source
• White Plains Road, the longest street in the Bronx, is Williamsbridge's main street. Through the neighborhood it is 100 feet wide, with the 2 and 5 trains on an elevated structure above it. Source
• Williamsbridge's oldest houses, some dating from before the Village of Williamsbridge was annexed to the city, sit closest to White Plains Road. Housing runs from detached two story homes and row houses to small apartment buildings, with larger apartment buildings mainly between White Plains Road and Carpenter Avenue. Source
• Olinville, the western part of the neighborhood near the Bronx River, is known for its detached houses, with large ones on Olinville Avenue between 216th and 219th Streets. In 2005 the city created a new zoning district, R5A, to protect them. Source
• Williamsbridge is named for John Williams, an 18th century farmer on the east bank of the Bronx River near today's Gun Hill Road and White Plains Road, who was credited with building the first bridge over the river. It incorporated as a village in 1888. Source
• Shoelace Park, part of the Bronx River Greenway, runs along the neighborhood's western edge from East Gun Hill Road to East 230th Street, with a boat launch, playgrounds and running and biking trails. Its upper path is the roadbed of the original Bronx River Parkway, moved beside the river in 1950. Source
• Besides the 2 and 5 trains on White Plains Road, Williamsbridge is served by Metro-North's Harlem Line. Source