"Seneca Ave., south side, west from Bryant Ave. to Faile Street. The 3-unit building bears No. 1314 and is known as the Seneca Court, ca. 1929."

Before European colonization, the Hunts Point area of the Bronx was associated with the Siwanoy Native Americans, which were part of the broader Algonquian cultural and linguistic group. It was then known as Quinnahung, meaning “a long high place”, later taking its current name from 17th-century landowner Thomas Hunt Jr. During the late-17th to early-19th centuries the area was known as West Farms, and was composed of rural estates owned by a few English families who relied on an enslaved labor force to cultivate the land. Vestiges of these early inhabitants can still be found in the Joseph Rodman Drake Park, with recent studies pointing towards the existence of an enslaved African people burial ground. The arrival of the New York and Harlem railroad line, which crossed the Harlem River, brought a rise in population to The Bronx during the mid-19th century. Hunts Point, however, remained picturesque and undeveloped, attracting prominent, wealthy businessmen who purchased farmland and established grand country manors. Though most of the houses from this period have been demolished, the Peter S. Hoe House, known as Sunnyslope, is an unusual survivor of the neighborhood’s rural past. The construction of the Corpus Christi Monastery at the end of the 19th century was also motivated by this bucolic environment. After the area’s annexation to New York City in 1874, a series of infrastructure improvements were implemented to increase transportation communication with Manhattan. The opening of IRT stations at Simpson Street, Prospect Avenue and Intervale Avenue, provided more immediate access to Hunts Point, boosting the neighborhood’s development. City services were also expanded, with new buildings for the NYPD and the FDNY, as well as the Joseph R. Drake Public School. Industrial development was also fueled by the continuous improvements of transit to and from the area during the 20th century. Large companies like the American Bank Note established their operations in the area, also boosting residential development. One of the earliest examples of private homes for middle-class families are located in Manida Street. Urban growth continued throughout the first half of the 20th century, with population increases marked by immigration waves. This had a strong effect on the neighborhood’s character, most notably during the 1950s and 60s, when it became a hub for Latin American culture. Some of the most influential venues in Latin music were established in former theatres located alongside Southern Boulevard, attracting crowds from all boroughs. Community organizing has also been a constant element in Hunts Point, especially after the social and economic crisis of the 1970s and 80s. Organizations like Urban Health and The Point have had a strong impact in the neighborhood’s development, and continue to work towards its protection and improvement.

Southern Boulevard, East 163rd Street and Hunts Point Avenue, 1919. The semi circular building at no. 941 Southern Blvd, with the masonry medallion at the roofline, was referred to as the Community Building (as per the photographic notes of this 1919 shot). At the right is the entrance to the underground station of the IRT Pelham Line, which opened in January of 1919, likely only a few months before this photograph was taken.

The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant is endearingly referred to as the "Penny Plant" by locals. According to its landmark designation, it was "built at a time when industrial engineering was expressed in the design of industrial buildings." The arsenal-like quality of the three-building complex "embodies a sense of strength and efficiency."

Bryant Avenue between Garrison & Seneca Avenues, 1931. Strangely enough this empty boulder-strewn lot, captured here in 1931, looks nearly the same today.

Hunts Point Station, ca. 1915. The Hunts Point Station was a stop on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company. Situated on the “suburban” Harlem River Branch, the company constructed a series of new station houses between 1908 and 1910 while the line was being rebuilt. Cass Gilbert (who NYT architectural writer Christopher Gray called "the newly minted \[..] starchitect with the 1899 commission for the United States Custom House at Bowling Green.") designed nine stations in the Bronx. Each of the new stations had a different architectural look. Hunts Point is perhaps the most whimsical, rendered in a French Renaissance style, with pointed lacy dormer windows, spires, and crenellations. While the Harlem River Branch was originally opened for freight, it ended up a popular passenger route as well for a time. Revenue and ridership had dwindled by the late 1920s, and the line ceased service in 1931. Today the building still stands but is occupied by various small businesses including eateries, a beauty parlor, a dentist, and seemingly a topless bar. While many of the charming architectural features have been lost to time, the peaked dormers remain.

Hunts Point Branch, NYPL, 1929. The Hunts Point Branch of the New York Public Library was the final Carnegie Library to be built in the city. Built in 1928-1929 and designed by Carrère & Hastings, and funded by Andrew Carnegie's endowment, the Italian-Renaissance style building remains the neighborhood library today. The architects of this building designed the main branch of NYPL as well as 13 other Carnegie Libraries. This structure is unique in that it is the only Carnegie built by Carrère & Hastings that utilized terra cotta.

Hunts Point Branch. NYPL 877 Southern Boulevard Designed by Carrère & Hastings, 1929 NYC IL The Hunts Point Branch bears the distinction of being the very last of the Carnegie-funded NYPL branches to be built and was among the 14 Carnegie-funded branches to be designed by Carrère & Hastings. The two-story, palazzo-inspired structure was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style with a blind arcade at the base and arched windows throughout. Its brick façades are accented with ornate terra-cotta details and stone trim. At the time of its construction, automobiles had become a common mode of transportation, so the facility also includes a one-story garage on its west side. The garage housed the Bronx Book Wagon, which served the community from 1928 (a year before the library opened) until the 1980s. Hunts Point was designated a New York City Individual Landmark in 2009.

American Bank Note Company Printing Plant ca. 1925 Squeezed out of lower Manhattan by rising land prices and the need to expand and modernize its production line, in 1909 The American Bank Note Company began construction of a new plant in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx designed by Kirby, Petit & Green. Completed in 1911, the steel-framed, T-shaped building was organized along the sloped site and divided into two wings. A narrow five-story building with a crenellated tower containing the engraving and lithography departments fronted Lafayette Avenue, while the printing presses were housed in a larger interior three-story rear building with sawtooth skylights that flooded the spaces with glare-free northern light. Massive brick piers articulate the street façade, contributing to the building's fortress-like character. Two thousand employees worked in the factory which was considered the most advanced printing plant of the time. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 2009 and will be renovated for mixed office and retail uses.

Edward G. Faile Mansion, 1908. Edward Faile was a wealthy tea and sugar importer who constructed a massive mansion in 1832. The larger estate had been in his family since prior to the Revolutionary War and included other structures that dated to that century. Called "Woodside" the home was fronted with massive Doric columns and surrounded by forest woods. A late 19th century account of the home also noted three other random but specific features of the estate: a flock of peacocks, a large Cedar of Lebanon tree, and two sturdy wooden chairs that supposedly came over on the Mayflower. Faile died in 1870 and his family continued to reside in the home until the 20th century. In 1908, the American Bank Note Company purchased the large estate. The homes on the tract were soon after razed. Today the massive American Bank Note Company occupies the land that once included the stone mansion.

"877 Southern Boulevard. New York Public Library Hunts Point Branch. Children outside library, 1929." This photograph is likely on the opening day of the library.

American Bank Note Co.'s Plant, ca. 1911. The American Bank Note Company was incorporated in 1858 (though its history dates back to the 1790s and the work of engraver Joseph Perkins). For the rest of the 19th century it was the nation's most prominent printing and engraving company, producing bank notes, postage and revenue stamps, bonds, stock certificates, checks drafts and letters of credit for governments and institutions. American Bank Note produced American currency from 1858 to 1879 and even made Confederate money for a year or so during the Civil War. In 1911, they built this five-story brick plant in the Bronx, designed by Kirby, Petit & Green, a firm who were known for other printing facilities including the plant that produced the San Francisco Examiner. The Gothic, fortress-like character of the building with its large and complete frontage of Lafayette Avenue from Tiffany to Barretto Streets makes it an imposing structure in this neighborhood. The American Bank Note Plant moved out of this building in 1986 (to a modern facility in Rockland County) and in the ensuing decades the building housed garment manufacturing, an alternative high school, and most recently a luxury condo named The Banknote.

Simpson Mansion, 1903. The Simpson estate was a 120-acre picturesque property anchored by two large stone mansions. Contemporary descriptions note that the interior was "sumptuously" decorated and a large pipe organ was the owner's prized possessions. The land surrounding the mansions were used to breed Shetland ponies and keep queen bees. The land and structures were sold in 1913 for the development of tenements in the then booming neighborhood.

"The Locusts" on the former Edward G. Faile estate, 1905. This home, called "The Locusts," stood on the massive estate of tea merchant Edward G. Faile. According to a late 19th century description of the structure, it dated back to before the Revolutionary War and was once used for a night's rest by American spy Captain Nathan Hale. When the Faile family constructed their massive stone home elsewhere on the property in 1832, this structure became a private school. It was demolished in the early 20th century.