Early Jewish Presence in Riverdale?

[ndembowski]

In the Rev. William Tieck’s book, Riverdale Kingsbridge Spuyten Duyvil, he wrote about the early Jewish Community in our area:

“Synagogue beginnings in the northwest Bronx go back much further than is commonly supposed–in fact, to the middle 1920’s.  In those days, the small Jewish population in the region lived mostly on Marble Hill, Heath Avenue, and Bailey Avenue north of 238th Street, as well in the Spuyten Duyvil area.”

So I did not expect to see a reference to a place in Riverdale called “Jew Hill” that could be from an even earlier period.  I found it among handwritten notes in the KHS archives that were written in the 1950s by Harry Emery, who was born in Riverdale in 1876. Emery mentioned Jew Hill on a list of Historic Places alongside others like P.S. 81 and Christ Church Riverdale.  He described Jew Hill as: “West of Riv. Ave (Sigma Pl.).”  But he did not include an explanation as to why the area around Sigma Place was called Jew Hill.

I consulted the 1880 census and found a listing for someone named Joseph Rosenthorn living near Sigma Place.  Cross-referencing it to an 1885 map, you can see that much of the land in that section was owned by someone named Joseph Rosenthal.  One of these names was probably a typo.  Looking at the land deeds, I saw that the correct name was Joseph Rosenthal, not Rosenthorn, who owned the land known as Jew Hill. The census listed him as a flower merchant, who was born in Bavaria around 1827.  He was married to Clara, also of Bavaria, and the couple had three kids.  The deeds indicate that he was living in New York City prior to his first land purchase in Riverdale in 1869.  Joseph Rosenthal seems like a very plausible Jewish name but I could not find any additional biographical information about him to confirm this.  So I have hit a dead end.  If anyone feels like digging deeper into this, please let me know if you find anything.  Rosenthal is the most promising lead I’ve found that explains the name “Jew Hill.”

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