Wakefield, originally in Westchester County, became part of New York County and New York City, when the eastern section of The Bronx was incorporated and merged with the western section (previously incorporated in 1873) as a borough of New York City, in 1895.[4] Like the rest of the Bronx, it was once mainly forested and later became farmland. With the expansion of railroad transportation via the arrival of the New York and Harlem Railroad circa 1840, the area experienced moderate development. In 1898, the boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx were merged with greater New York City as a result of the state legislature's decision to amalgamate New York City with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The Bronx later attained independent county status on April 19, 1912, which makes it the 62nd and youngest county in the state.
Formerly, Wakefield was home to large Irish American and Italian-American populations. During the 1980s, these communities were replaced with large Caribbean and Guyanese populations, which now compose 72.3% of the neighborhood's total population. 19.6% of the population is Hispanic.[8] Many residents are or are descended from the Caribbean (mostly Jamaican) and Guyanese immigrants.[9]
Wakefield and Eastchester are patrolled by the 47th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 4111 Laconia Avenue.[12] The 47th Precinct ranked 35th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010.[13]
The 47th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 60.9% between 1990 and 2022. The precinct reported 16 murders, 45 rapes, 461 robberies, 732 felony assaults, 300 burglaries, 758 grand larcenies, and 461 grand larcenies auto in 2022.[14]
Wakefield has seen a rise in gangs and gang-related violence from neighboring Edenwald.[15] The high school drop-out rate is higher than the city average, but lower than central Bronx neighborhoods.[16] Many households in the area are headed by a single mother.[17]
Wakefield is located within two ZIP Codes. Most of the neighborhood is located in 10466, but certain areas around East 241st Street and White Plains Road are part of 10470.[20] The United States Postal Service operates the Wakefield Station post office at 4165 White Plains Road.[21]
There are several public schools scattered throughout the neighborhood including PS 16, PS 21 and PS 103. There are also many private and catholic schools including St. Francis-Assisi, Our Lady of Grace and the prominent all-male Catholic secondary school Mount Saint Michael Academy, which serves 1,100 students from grades 7-12. The all-female St. Barnabas High School serves many students from Wakefield and is located further west in Woodlawn (and partly in Westchester).
The New York Public Library (NYPL)'s Wakefield branch is located at 4100 Lowerre Place. The branch opened in 1938 and contains collections in its basement and first floor.[22]
Several scenes from the 1970 film Love Story starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw were filmed on East 233rd Street, East 238th Street (Nereid Avenue), and Barnes Avenue, all located within the neighborhood. The Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church located at 4360 Boyd Avenue (corner of Barnes Avenue) is featured in the film.[citation needed]
Many internal and external bar scenes from the second season of the Showtime network's drama series Billions were filmed at the longtime neighborhood bar Cullen's Tavern, located at 4340 White Plains Road.[25]
Rosetta Lenoire (1911–2002), theatrical and television actress; she spent her final years living on East 232nd Street and was a parishioner of St. Frances of Rome Church on East 236th Street[citation needed]
^Schneider, Daniel B. "F.Y.I.", The New York Times, July 1, 2001. Accessed April 20, 2021. "Getting Your Bearings Q. Where are the city's northern, southern, eastern and westernmost points, and what is the greatest distance between one point and another? A.... According to A Natural History of New York City by John Kieran (Houghton Mifflin, 1959), the easternmost point is in Glen Oaks, Queens, at about 73 degrees 42 minutes west longitude, and the extreme northern point is the bank of the Hudson in the Mount St. Vincent area of the Bronx, at about 40 degrees 55 minutes north latitude."
^"Bertel/Bertelmann, Richard E", Hartford Courant, October 1, 2023. Accessed January 3, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "Dick was born in the Bronx, New York on January 6, 1931, and spent his childhood in its Wakefield neighborhood before his family relocated to Darien, Connecticut in 1944."
^Likely Bronx DA Has Plans from The Wall Street Journal October 27, 2015. Accessed January 3, 2024. "On a sunny day this summer, Darcel Clark was in the garden outside her home in the Wakefield section of the Bronx when two uniformed New York Police Department officers walked down the street."
^Southall, Ashley. "White Officer Who Killed Ramarley Graham Is Cast as Unfit, and as 'Hero'", The New York Times, January 17, 2017. Accessed January 3, 2024. "The Police Department is seeking to fire Officer Haste, who is charged with exercising 'poor tactical judgment' that led him to kill Mr. Graham, 18, at his home in the Wakefield neighborhood, the prosecutor, Beth Douglas said."
^English, Merle. "Used to success, she'll tackle York", Newsday, March 6, 2005. Accessed July 19, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "It was ultimately family that set Marcia Keizs on the path to her illustrious career as a high-ranking educator and administrator in New York... In the Wakefield section of the Bronx, where she had lived for almost 20 years, she developed an after-school program for local youth started a civic organization and administered youth employment programs.
United States
New York
New York City
The Bronx
