Yonkers is just north of New York City. It covers 18 square miles and is on the east bank of the Hudson River. It is the fourthlargest city in the state, and it is adjacent to the Bronx.

The Lenape people were the original inhabitants. The Dutch West India Company purchased their village in 1639. In 1646 Adriaen Van der Donck, known as De Jonkheer, or “the young lord,” acquired the area as part of a land grant from the Dutch West India Company. He built a sawmill and the area became known as De Jonkheers Landt, giving the city its permanent name. With the advent of the railroad in the mid-1800s, Yonkers grew as an industrial center.

Manufacturing industries here at this time included textiles, carpets, insulated wire and cable, and also patent medicines. Elisha Otis invented the “Perpendicular Stairway,” or the elevator, in Yonkers in 1853 and the production of elevators kept growing, attracting immigrant laborers to the factories.

Today the city is a manufacturer of plastics and chemicals and a vast commercial hub. It is also a bedroom community for New York City. Its population is 192,200.

The Hudson River Museum is the main attraction. Financier John Bond Trevor built Glenview Manor, a stone mansion overlooking the Hudson River, in 1876. The museum is partially housed here with the remaining displays in an adjacent wing. The Andrus Planetarium is also at this site. Untermyer Park is a grand Beaux Arts-style garden. The Philipse Manor Hall was built in the 1680s and offers historical displays and a collection of American portraits.

Yonkers Raceway, which holds harness races, was built in 1898.

Sarah Lawrence College and St Joseph’s Seminary and College are also located in Yonkers.

Dining and lodging options are plentiful if somewhat uninspiring.

Yonkers is to the north of Manhattan via I-87 and is served by the John F. Kennedy and La Guardia Airports in Queens, as well as the local Westchester Airport.