Fordham Landing Playground

Landing Rd., Major Deegan Exwy., Bailey

Bronx

Directions via Google Maps

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

The name Fordham, which figures so prominently in Bronx history, dates back to the seventeenth century. In 1671, Governor Francis Lovelace granted a stretch of land extending 3,900 acres between the Harlem and Bronx Rivers to Dutch settler John Archer (also spelled Jan Arcer). Archer named his manor Fordham, meaning “houses by the ford (or wading place),” after a nearby ford, then the only way to cross directly from the Bronx to Manhattan. After Archer died, his manor was divided into small farms, and the area evolved into a prosperous community. This ended with the Revolutionary War, when the British invaded and ravaged the area, destroying the houses for firewood. The neighborhood remained largely uninhabited until 1841, when the New York and Harlem Railroad extended a line to the area. St. John’s College, later renamed Fordham University, opened at about the same time. The neighborhood grew explosively after rapid transit was extended from Manhattan, firs…

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