Marble Hill, Manhattan

Marble Hill
Neighborhood
An overview of Marble Hill seen from the west with John F. Kennedy High School (foreground) and the rest of Marble Hill (center) bound by the Harlem River (on right, the site of the Harlem Ship Canal), and The Bronx (background)
Coordinates: 40°52′34″N 73°54′36″W / 40.876°N 73.91°W / 40.876; -73.91
Country	United States
State	New York
City	New York City
Borough	Manhattan
Community District	Bronx 8[1]
Founded	1891
Named for	Local deposits of dolomitic marble quarried for federal buildings in lower Manhattan when New York was the capital of the United States in the 1780s.
Area [2]
• Total	0.38 km2 (0.145 sq mi)
Population  (2010)[2][3]
• Total	9,481
• Density	25,000/km2 (65,000/sq mi)
Economics [2][3]
• Median income	$44,096
ZIP Code	10463
Area code	718/347/929, and 917
Website	www.marblehillalliance.com

Marble Hill is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Although once part of Manhattan Island, it has been cut off from the island since 1817. The Bronx surrounds the neighborhood to the west, north, and east, while the Harlem River is its southern border.

The area of Marble Hill became a Dutch colonial settlement in 1646. It served as a crossing point to the mainland when the colonial British had the King's Bridge constructed in 1693 to span the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. It gained its current name in 1891 from the Tuckahoe marble deposits discovered underneath the neighborhood.

Marble Hill once unmistakably belonged to Manhattan, forming the island’s northernmost tip.^[4][5][6] The Spuyten Duyvil Creek flowed to the neighborhood’s north, connecting the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The creek separated Marble Hill from the Bronx, and by extension, the North American mainland. Marble Hill became an island in its own right in 1817, when two small streams were dug up to form a canal. The waterway ran from the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River, cutting off Marble Hill from Manhattan Island.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

The mill canal was expanded in 1895 to become the Harlem River Ship Canal. The new channel, constructed at the direction of the federal government, was 400 feet wide and at least 15 feet deep at its competition. Marble Hill remained an island for years until it was physically connected to the Bronx in 1913, when the old Spuyten Duyvil Creek was filled in.^[4][6]

The boundaries of the neighborhood are approximately between Terrace View Avenue and Johnson Avenue to the west, between 228th Street and 230th Street to the north, and cutting through the Marble Hill Houses and River Plaza Shopping Center to the east.^[10] It is connected to the rest of Manhattan by the Broadway Bridge.^[11]

Because of this change in topography, Marble Hill is often associated with the Bronx and is part of Bronx Community District 8.^[1] In addition, Marble Hill has a Bronx ZIP Code of 10463,^[12] and is served by the New York City Police Department's 50th Precinct, headquartered in the Bronx.^[13] Unlike the rest of Manhattan, it carries the Bronx area codes 718, 347, and 929, which are overlaid by the citywide area code 917.