Mott Haven

Economically depressed inner-city district in the southwest Bronx, New York City. Formerly the site of numerous factories, foundries, and railway yards, Mott Haven now suffers from 50% unemployment and has been largely derelict following closures and a wave of arson attacks on vacant buildings in the 1970s.

Mott Haven was named after J Lake Mott, inventor of coal stoves, who established a factory here in 1828. It is bounded on the west by the Harlem River, on the south by Bronx Kill (a passage north of Randall's Island that joins the Harlem and East rivers), and on the east by Hunt's Point. The Bruckner and Major Deegan expressways pass over and through the area; the Grand Concourse is its former commercial and residential spine. Yankee Stadium lies just to the northwest. The ethnic make-up of Mott Haven is nowadays almost entirely Hispanic and Black.