When NYU was (mostly) in the Bronx

New York University isn’t exactly popular among East and West Villagers—mainly due to its obnoxiously large dorms and obnoxiously loud students.

In fact, most residents probably wouldn’t mind if the school relocated to an outer borough.

That’s exactly what NYU did in 1894, when overcrowding at its Washington Square digs compelled the school to find a spacious campus.

Its new home was just over the Harlem River in the Bronx. The neighborhood, renamed University Heights, housed most academic programs and operations—including the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, pictured below—for decades.

So what brought the school back downtown? Financial problems. In 1973, NYU sold its Bronx campus to CUNY, which established Bronx Community College there.

And NYU embarked on a plan to establish itself as a world-class institution in the Village once again.