Kingsbridge street corner that saw rise of the Bronx

On corner of West 230th Street and Broadway stands a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins. The corner blends into the surrounding Kingsbridge neighborhood, so it’s so easy to miss. You might not even notice it’s there but no matter how hard you look, you won’t see the history hidden among the crullers and cones.

But Nick Dembowski sees it. And, as the Kingsbridge Historical Society president, he held a presentation on the history of this corner Thursday, March 21.

“It really is a microcosm of New York’s early history,” Dembowski said.

The earliest records for the corner date back to 1646, when the land was inhabited by indigenous people According to Dembwoski’s research, a ferry was established in 1669 and the corner became the site that helped travelers cross from what we now know as the Bronx into Manhattan. Despite the fact the corner is landlocked today, it once overlooked the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, making it the ideal location for a ferry operation.

In 1693, a bridge was built by Frederick Philipse intended to connect the modern Bronx and Manhattan. Phillpse named this bridge Kingsbridge after England’s William III, though it was also referred to as King’s-Bridge. With the help of a royal charter, Philipse was able to charge a toll for all travelers. He also took over the established tavern on the corner.

“Many of the diary entries read like bad Yelp reviews because they were complaining about how loud it was in the tavern or about how the tavern keeper was yelling or had a bad temper,” Dembowski said. “It also reveals a lot of interesting information. One traveler who came through and stayed at the tavern in 1744 went in the morning and saw about a dozen Native Americans fishing for oysters at the creek.”

During the American Revolution, the corner became a key location due to its strategic proximity King’s-Bridge. The bridge was an easy way to get troops off of the island of present-day Manhattan.

In 1775, according to Dembowski, a new innkeeper by the name of John Cock took over the tavern. Cock was also elected by the people of the area to be the militia captain, but all it took was being accused of harboring British loyalties for him to lose that prominent position.

Dembowski said he learned about John Cock from the military documents of a British Officer who gave Cock a secret mission to complete. To explain Cock’s mission, Dembowksi discussed the first reading of the Declaration of Independence at city hall July 1776, a few days after its signing. A group of colonial troops defending Manhattan went to the southern end of the island where a statue of King George III stood and tore it down. After smashing the rest of the statue to bits, the soldiers took the head back with them to camp.

That’s where John Cock arrived to steal the head of the statue back from the men in an attempt to save it from “various levels of humiliation,” Dembowski said.

After the revolution, the tavern passed to one of New York’s richest men, merchant and major general in the U.S. Army Alexander Macomb, who owned an eighth of the entire state. When he bought the tavern, Macomb planned to construct a water-powered gristmill to make flour. When Macomb eventually went bankrupt, his son, Robert, who also dammed the Harlem River to ensure enough water pressure to power to the flourmills, purchased the property.

Eventually, the property was purchased by Joseph Godwin in the mid-1800s. He built a Victorian mansion on the land.

“That mansion survived to see the creek that used to flow directly in front of it filled in and the urban landscape of New York grew up around it,” Dembowski said.

The mansion stood for many years until that too was torn down and a gas station was established there in the early 20th century.

The property remained home to a gas station until the early 2000s.

A Press article from 1951 detailed the findings of the first Bronx Borough Historian at the site, as he embarked on an archaeological dig and found arrowheads and indigenous artifacts buried beneath the site, suggesting it was once home to an indigenous village.

Back to modern ties, the final transformation of the West 230th Street-and-Broadway to date established the Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins.

Dembowksi said his historical research took him through newspaper articles and advertisements, diary entries, and military documents.

He said found an advertisement from 1764 selling canaries at the tavern.

Another ad mentioned the inn by name — A Bunch of Grapes.