Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 census, Mount Vernon had a population of 73,893,[3] making it the 24th-largest municipality in the state and largest African-American majority city in the state. Mount Vernon has 12,898 Jamaicans with African and Indian descent that had immigrated from their homeland of Jamaica after the country gained its independence from Britain on August 6, 1962.
For other places with the same name, see Mount Vernon (disambiguation).
Mount Vernon has two major sections. South-side Mount Vernon is more urban, while north-side Mount Vernon is more residential. Mount Vernon's downtown business district is on the city's south side, which includes City Hall, Mount Vernon's main post office, Mount Vernon Public Library, office buildings, and other municipal establishments.[4]
St. Paul's Church is a Mount Vernon attraction designated as a National Historic Site.[26]
Mount Vernon sites included on the National Register of Historic Places include:
Economy[edit]
Mount Vernon's three major employers are the Mount Vernon city school district with (1,021 employees), Michael Anthony Jewelers (712 employees), and Mount Vernon Hospital (700 employees).
Mount Vernon has a large commercial sector, with industries such as electronics, engineering, high tech, historical metal restoration, and manufacturing mainly in the Southside section of the city.
Mount Vernon also has an established Empire Zone for commercial and industrial use, in the southern portion of the city.
Infrastructure and services[edit]
Fire department[edit]
The city of Mount Vernon is protected by the City of Mount Vernon Fire Department (CMVFD).The CMVFD currently operates out of four firehouses, throughout the city, under the command of a Deputy Chief each shift. The department operates four engine companies, two ladder companies, and one rescue company. The department responds to approximately 8,000 emergency calls annually.[59]
Police department[edit]
As of 2021, the Mount Vernon Police Department has 184 officers.[60]
In May 2021, the District Attorney for Westchester County requested intervention by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for civil rights violations by the Mount Vernon Police Department. The DOJ announced its civil investigation in December 2021.[61]
Healthcare[edit]
The 115-year-old Mount Vernon Hospital[62] has 121 beds.[63] It is part of the Montefiore Health System and provides in-patient, critical care, and ambulatory services to residents of Mount Vernon and neighboring communities. The hospital is most known for its premier Chronic Wound Treatment and Hyperbaric Center, which is one of the most advanced in the Northeast. It also offers a variety of services, including the Assertive Community Treatment Center (ACT), the Family Health and Wellness Center, the Hopfer School of Nursing, Hyperbaric Medicine, and Intensive Case Management.[64]
Mount Vernon Hospital is one of four hospitals in the county that provides programs in medicine, nursing, podiatry, and surgery. (Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, Westchester Medical Center, and White Plains Hospital are the others.)
Mount Vernon Hospital's emergency room treats 25,000 patients a year and is going to be expanded at a cost of $2.5 million, doubling its size from 9,000 to 18,500 square feet (800 to 1,700 m2). The expansion plans include 15 private treatment rooms and upgrades to the waiting area, triage room and other areas in the emergency department.
The area around the hospital has many medical office buildings and treatment facilities which provide healthcare to residents living in Mount Vernon, the southeast section of Yonkers, and the north Bronx, which shares a border with the city. For example, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, the Planned Parenthood affiliate that serves New York's Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, opened its first medical center in Mount Vernon in 1935; the affiliate remains a vital source for reproductive health care services to Mount Vernon residents.
Places of worship[edit]
The city's previous motto was "A City That Believes". This is reflected in the houses of worship in the city that represent more than 25 denominations.[65]
Research has confirmed the tradition that Grace Baptist Church was founded in 1888 by a few women who formally had been enslaved and it discovered their names: Emily Waller, Matilda Brooks, Helen Claiborne, Sahar Bennett, and Elizabeth Benson.[66]
Transportation[edit]
In late 2005, the RBA Group conducted a study and found that over 5,000 commuters traverse the area on a daily basis; about 3,600 commuters use the Westchester County Bee-Line Bus System, and 1,500 use the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Metro-North Railroad commuter rail service.
