Pest Control in Williamsbridge, Bronx
Williamsbridge is a busy residential neighborhood in the north-central Bronx, stretching along White Plains Road from Gun Hill Road north toward East 225th Street and bordered by the Bronx River to the west. White Plains Road, under the elevated 2 and 5 lines with stops at Gun Hill Road, 219th Street and 225th Street, is packed with Caribbean bakeries, jerk chicken restaurants, beauty salons and small shops. Metro-North's Harlem Line stops at Williams Bridge station. The side streets hold a mix of frame houses, two-family homes and walk-up apartments. Once heavily Italian, Williamsbridge is now one of the Bronx's major Jamaican and West Indian communities.
Also known as: Olinville, Laconia.
About Williamsbridge
The neighborhood is named for John Williams, who owned a farm here and built a bridge across the Bronx River in the 1600s. The New York and Harlem Railroad arrived in the 1840s, turning the area into a small village. After annexation to New York City in the 1890s and the arrival of the White Plains Road elevated line in the 1910s and 1920s, Williamsbridge filled with houses and small apartment buildings, many built for Italian immigrant families.
Common Pest Problems in Williamsbridge
White Plains Road is one of the Bronx's busiest food corridors, and the restaurants, groceries and bakeries under the elevated tracks produce the kind of waste that keeps rats and German cockroaches thriving. Rats burrow in tree pits and backyards along the commercial blocks, and roaches spread from ground-floor businesses into the walk-up apartments above. The elevated structure is also a major pigeon roost, and buildings facing the tracks deal with droppings on windows, ledges and awnings.
On the residential side streets, older frame houses and two-family homes see a lot of mice in fall and winter, entering through basements, garages and gaps around utility lines. Some of these wood-framed houses, especially those with porches or additions close to the soil, are vulnerable to subterranean termites. Pavement ants nest under sidewalks, stoops and driveways and invade kitchens in summer, particularly where fruit or sweets are left out.