Learn About the History of Van Nest, NY

The worker's compensation attorneys in Van Nest, NY, at Banville Law have sponsored this article on the Van Nest neighborhood. 

Van Nest

Van Nest, New York, is located on the East section of the Bronx and includes the zip codes 10462 and 10460. The main roads through the heart of the town are White Plains Road and Morris Park Avenue. A trip to Jungle World at the Bronx Zoo would only take a 15-minute drive.

History

During the 19th century, the Van Nest Railroad Station provided services for the  New York, New Haven, Hartford Railroad Company. The station was named after Abraham Reynier Van Nest, the company's director, in honor of his father, Reynier Van Nest. Reynier was a saddle maker, and traces of their family ties go back to the 1640s as settlers from the Netherlands.

The Van Nest Railroad Station provided an easy commute for those visiting the Morris Park Racecourse. The horse racing facility operated from 1889 to 1904, before the subdivisions were mapped out for residential development.

Van Nest Park

The Van Nest Park is home to many war memorials. A granite monument has four sides—three sides with names of soldiers lost during World War I and the Vietnam and Korea Wars. The fourth side has names of soldiers lost in World War II. The addition of playground equipment took place in 1938. Since the monument was erected in 1926, the area has become weathered. The city officials worked to allocate funding for improvements to the park, completed in May of 2015.

Neighborhood

The Van Nest neighborhood falls under low to middle income and is lower than 83.2% of other neighborhoods in the United States. With a high concentration of poverty in the area at almost 20%, the average household income is still $48,018, but 12% were unemployed. The occupational breakdown of those that are employed are the following:

• 30.8% sales and service
• 28.7% executive and management
• 20.3% assistant and tech support
• 20.2% manufacturing and labor

A community organization was created in 2010 called the Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance. The organization meets monthly and works to get the area's youth into programs such as basketball and Explorers. The organization works in conjunction with the police, and their main goal is to reduce some of the crime in the area.

As many as 36.7% of the residents do not own a car, and 42.9% have a commute longer than 45 minutes.  A breakdown of the commuting preferences is the following:

• 31.5% take the train
• 32.6% drive their own vehicle
• 12.6% ride the bus

Demographics

Van Nest's population was 15,000 in 2010. The area has a dense population of Puerto Ricans and African Americans. The primary language spoke in Van Nest is Spanish in 40.7% of the area's households. Arabic is spoken by 8.3% of the residents. A breakdown of the ethnic makeup is the following:

• 27.3% white
• 11.1% African American
• 48.3% Hispanic or Latino
• 10.6% Asian
• 0.3% Native American
• 0.1% Pacific Islander
• 1% other races
• 1.4% two or more

The resident's ancestral makeup are the following:

• 23.7% Dominican
• 14.7% Puerto Rican
• 9.2% Asian
• 6.3% Mexican
• 9.8% Arab

Find More: The Interesting History of Morris Park, NY

Our Local Office

Injured while on the job? Let the experience of our Van Nest, NY worker's comp attorneys at Banville Law get you the compensation you deserve. Call today for a no-cost consultation.

Banville Law
760 Pelham Pkwy S
The Bronx, NY 10462
(718) 568-5033