Story
The Man Who Sold the Bronx
During the 1910s, Joseph P. Day was a real-estate developer on the rise. He'd earned a formidable reputation by the age of 21 after auctioning off large swaths of land in Brooklyn and Queens. Day set his eyes on the Bronx as the next up-and-coming portion of the city. He commissioned photographer William D. Hassler to capture areas of undeveloped land—in effect creating a survey of a quickly growing city. Over two days in 1914, Day sold over four hundred lots of undeveloped land.
Joseph P. Day's Auction Tent
Over a period of 50 years, Joseph P. Day sold what amounted to one-third of the Bronx and one-third of Queens, in addition to portions of Brooklyn, Westchester County, and North New Jersey.
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Joseph P. Day's Auction Tent
He was a driving force in the real estate market. After auctioning off land on Manhattan Beach, Day looked to the Bronx for new development. This circus tent was set up for one of his Bronx auctions.
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Pelham Parkway and Williamsbridge Road
The auction's purpose was for the sale of the Pearsall Estate in the present-day Morris Park neighborhood. Prior to the sale, it had been divided into lots and given street names.
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Narragansett Avenue and Lydig Avenue
On May 31 and June 1, 1914, Day sold 420 lots of undeveloped land in this area. He didn't stop there: In 1921, Day sold 1,500 homes in the Morris Park area in just 12 hours.
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Paulding Avenue and 232nd Street
Joseph P. Day was a native New Yorker. His father, a soda water manufacturer, died when Day was just five years old. After years of struggle, the young man became a successful realtor by the age of 21. His first major sale was of 2,000 lots in 1907.
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Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street Station, IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line
The realtor's hopes for the Morris Park area were not without reason. A trolley line had been completed to connect the neighborhood to the Second and Third Avenue El, and residents were promised a future station on White Plains Road.
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684 East 233rd Street
Then a rural area, the neighborhood now has a population density of 22,000 people per square mile. After the sale, Day would move on to build what LIFE Magazine regarded as the "World's Largest Privately Owned Playground," a housing development chock-full of amenities in Manhattan Beach.
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