The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday, 1935–1965

The period from the middle of the 1930s to the middle of the 1960s was a dynamic one in the history of the country. The depths of the Great Depression brought the New Deal to combat the economic disaster, and this was followed quickly by the ferment of the Second World War. Peace-time brought great changes in our society, including a movement from the city to the suburbs and a vast influx of different ethnic groups in to the cities. No area was more affected by these changes than The Bronx. Yet, in the midst of this upheaval, The Bronx was also marked by islands of stability and by continuity with the past. Now, that story is told in The Bronx It Was Only Yesterday, 1935–1965. The Bronx It Was Only Yesterday is a result of a project sponsored by the Bronx County Historical Society. For the past several years, the Society has been at work on a history of life series in the borough. In 1979, the first part of the series, The Beautiful Bronx, 1920–1950 was published, and this was followed in 1985 by The Bronx In the Innocent Years, 1890–1925. With this new volume, the focus shifts to a period of great technological change that brought the outside world closer to The Bronx. These were the decades when entertainment shifted from enjoying movies and radio to spending hours watching newly-purchased black and white television sets; when the preferred mode of transportation changed from trolleys, buses, and subways to automobiles; when popular taste in music shifted from big bands to rock 'n' roll; when heretofore tranquil neighborhoods were disturbed by the clatter of construction of new highways and high rise housing complexes. This absorbing narrative of the colorful activities of these times is complemented with rare photographs from the research archives of The Bronx County Historical Society. They offer a vivid glimpse into the wide range of changes that occurred in these years and of the elements of continuity that preserved The Bronx as a desirable residence for the countless numbers of people that chose to make it their home. A splendid work of social history, The Bronx: It Was Only Yesterday is an engaging portrait of the mainland section of New York City at a turning point in the development of America's growing urban society.