The battle of Marble Hill rages on!
Denouncing Manhattan as a bastion for hipsters and billionaires, a group of intrepid Bronx residents planted the county flag Saturday in Marble Hill — which is technically a part of Manhattan — and called for the annexation of the community on the 75th anniversary of a similar stunt by the Bronx’s former borough president.
“No longer must you suffer the spoiled ramblings of the effete bourgeoisie and the ever encroaching menace of hipsterism,” roared Isaac Moore, the leader of the so-called revolutionary group the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx.
After planting the flag, Moore and his compatriots demanded the residents of Marble Hill declare their “loyalty to the mightiest, most glorious and obviously, most handsome, borough and county of The Bronx.”
The mission was a nod to former borough president James Lyons, who attempted to annex the neighborhood in 1939.
A current borough president, Gale Brewer of Manhattan, stubbornly shot down the group’s efforts.
“On the 75th anniversary of its would-be annexation by the Bronx, I am happy to declare that the flag that flies over Marble Hill is still that of the Manhattan archipelago,” Brewer told The Daily News on Tuesday.
Marble Hill was once, geographically, a part of Manhattan. The Spuyten Duyvil Creek separated it from the Bronx.
In 1895, a canal was dug to the south that detatched the disputed nabe from Manhattan; in 1913, the northern creek was filled in, physically attaching the area to the Bronx.
When Lyons attempted his claim on the area on March 11, 1939, his pitch garnered a less-than-enthusiastic reception.
“He was received with some boos and hisses, so he had to retreat,” said Angel Hernandez, a Bronx historian who said things went a little smoother Saturday. “This was all in fun. People were more curious than aggressive.”
In addition to the freedom from streets clogged with tourists, the Grand Army promised the 8,463 Manhattanites “affordable-ish rents, humanely priced coffee at old-time coffee shops, good music, great food and real bars.”
The neighborhood already has an outer-borough zip code and receives its city services from the Bronx, but in 1984 the state legislature put the debate to rest by formally declaring Marble Hill part of Manhattan.
“Like the bodies of water separating Manhattan’s other far-flung possessions — including Governors Island, Roosevelt Island and Randall’s Island — the Harlem Ship Canal is no obstacle to the ties that bind Manhattanites,” Brewer added.
Eventually the defeated, yet enthusiastic, “Grand Army” did retreat, to the Bronx Beer Hall where they drowned their sorrows in a pint from Jonas Bronck’s Beer Co.
