FDR Opens The Triborough 87 Years Ago And Notes His Family’s Roots In Harlem

President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke 87 years ago at the Dedication of the Triborough Bridge noting his Harlem roots:

`MANY of you who are here today, old people like myself, can remember that, when we were boys and girls, the greater part of what is now the Boroughs of the Bronx and Queens was cultivated as farm land. A little further back, but not much more than a hundred years ago, my own great-grandfather owned a farm in Harlem, right across there [indicating], close to the Manhattan approach of this bridge. But I am quite sure, Bob Moses, that he never dreamed of the bridge.

See: https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/eras/great-depression/triborough-bridge-dedication-1936/ for the full address.

As Seen In Harlem


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