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A little about Fordham/Belmont

Bronx neighborhoods Belmont and Fordham are just an easy subway ride up from Manhattan—and once visitors arrive there, they'll find plenty to do and see. Belmont's main commercial thoroughfare, Arthur Avenue, is the Bronx's Little Italy. The area is packed with charming restaurants and markets that hold virtually every old-world specialty imaginable. Culinary highlights on Arthur Avenue include Madonia Brothers Bakery, where you can find some of the neighborhood's most famous cannoli; Zero Otto Nove, which serves up Neapolitan-style pizza and is named after its founder's area code in Salerno, Italy; and Cosenza's Fish Market, whose offerings include $1 oysters at an open-air raw bar. Finally, the Arthur Avenue Retail Market is a paradise of hand-rolled cigars, cured meats, local beer and more.

The history of Fordham/Belmont

The name Fordham was given by John Archer, a Dutch settler who had anglicized his name, when he established a community at 225th Street near the Harlem River in 1666.Alternatively, Fordham (house by the ford) originated as either as a reference to its location near a shallow crossing of the Bronx River or as a reference to Rev. John Fordham, an Anglican priest n the 18th century, the Kings Road went through Old Fordham Village, an area of rural estates and small farms, linking Colonial New York and towns and villages north toward Boston. It was a minor rest stop for travelers and coaches, where many springs fed The Mill Brook that crossed this road. Fordham was a predominantly middle class White (of Irish and Jewish origins) neighborhood, from the 1920s through the late 1970s, when many families moved to the suburbs or retired to Florida. Belmont was formerly a portion of Fordham and South Fordham.