Getty Square

20 South Broadway in Getty Square, in Yonkers, NY, former Putnam RR station

Daylighted Saw Mill River, after being unearthed from the parking lot covering it. US Post Office to left, pedestrian bridge and train station ahead, and boardwalk of Van Der Donck Park on right.

Getty Square refers to both a square in the downtown area of Yonkers, New York, United States of America, and the surrounding neighborhood. The neighborhood serves multiple functions, including as Civic center of Yonkers, New York, central shopping district, and transit hub. It also is a growing residential area.

Getty Square is a bustling ethnic shopping district serving Mexican, Central American, Caribbean, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and African-American customers. Local businesses catering to these ethnic groups offer goods and services not easily found in other parts of Westchester. Most retail businesses are independent, proprietor-owned stores, contrasting it with other retail areas in Yonkers like the Cross County Shopping Center and the Ridge Hill Mall which feature chain stores. Farmers' markets in the neighborhood sell mostly locally-grown produce, and specialize in foods in demand by local residents. Farmers' markets operate seasonally on Thursdays at St. John's Episcopal Church and on Saturdays in Van Der Donck Park.

Getty Square's heavy pedestrian foot traffic is derived from its role as a transit hub. Multiple Bee-Line Bus System bus lines from all over Westchester and New York City converge in the area, and connections often require walking a short block or two—a huge boon to retailers along these blocks. Additional transit riders making connections come from the nearby Beaux-Arts Yonkers Train Station which serves Metro-North Railroad, Amtrak, and some Bee Line Bus lines. The train station is the sole southern Westchester station on the Amtrak Hudson River Line. Getty Square also features a relatively large number of bicycles used as transportation, not recreation.

Getty Square is also the Civic center of Yonkers, and important cultural, government, business, and NGO institutions are located there, notable of which include:

Yonkers City Hall and municipal offices; the Yonkers New York State Department of Motor Vehicles office; 20 South Broadway office building housing important NGOs; the Roosevelt Ballroom in the Beaux-Arts Philipsburgh Building; the Classical Revival Yonkers Post Office Building; Saint John's Episcopal Church; the Riverfront Branch of the Yonkers Public Library; the Science Barge; Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company; Mindspark Interactive Network; and Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site.

Getty Square was once surrounded by mills relying on hydropower generation from the Saw Mill River. Later, it served as the terminus of the Yonkers Branch of the New York and Putnam Railroad with the original headhouse and shed station in the square replaced by the office building and train platform at 20 South Broadway. (The office building remains, but the train platform has been replaced by a parking lot.) Also, the Third Avenue Railway trolley system had its Yonkers trolleys stored and maintained in the Yonkers Trolley Barn in the Getty Square neighborhood.

Like many cities in the northeastern United States, Yonkers suffered severe de-industrialization after World War II and the downtown suffered as a result. The shutdown of the Yonkers Branch of the New York and Putnam Railroad occurred in 1944, and the [[Third Avenue Railway] trolley system was finally ended in 1952. The Otis Elevator Company factory closed in 1983.

Getty Square is named for Robert Parkhill Getty.

External links

• Yonkers Neighborhood Maps (City-Data.com)
• (Getty Square on Google Maps)