Bronxville Native Janet Johnson Turns 100
By Carol P. Bartold, Senior Reporter
Dec. 20, 2017: Bronxville has a new centenarian as of December 15. That’s when village resident Janet Johnson celebrated her one-hundredth birthday.
Practically a Bronxville native, Janet moved with her parents to the village from Brooklyn, where she was born in 1917. “My family lived in a big house up on Elm Rock Road,” she remembered. The best part of growing up here, Janet said, was being part of a small village and knowing almost everyone. “I don’t think Bronxville has changed much over the years,” she added. “I love Bronxville.”
Janet went to school at the private Brantwood Hall School for Girls, which was on Woodland Avenue. “I didn’t get to go away to college,” she said. “It was the Depression, so I learned shorthand and typing and got a job at a real estate firm in the city.” She had to get a job, she remembered, because her father lost his and the family had to move to a smaller house across the village. “We sort of traded houses with someone,” she recalled.
Janet met and married her husband in Bronxville. “He was one of five bachelors who all moved out to the village. I don’t think in this day and age that five bachelors would move here.” She and her husband married in 1940 at Christ Church in the village. The first of their four children--two sons and two daughters--was born in 1942. Today she has seven grandchildren.
“I was an only child and I hated it,” Janet shared. “I had said I wanted six children but after four, I decided that was enough to take care of.”
Janet and her family hosted a foreign exchange student from Germany for a year. “He was like my fifth child,” she said, and added that she made sure to keep in touch with him when he returned home.
Janet also enjoyed traveling with her husband, a tax attorney, when he spoke at meetings and conferences. She named Germany as the country she felt the most affection for. “We had the connection,” she related.
Through the years, Janet was active in the Junior League and at The Reformed Church. “I grew up in Christ Church,” she said, “but my husband was a member of The Reformed Church. After about a year, I joined the church with him and I’m still a member.”
What is Janet Johnson’s secret to a long life? She laughed and said, “I don’t know. Just lucky, I guess!”
Pictured here (from top down): Janet Johnson (photo by J. Murrer); Janet Johnson (R) with Joyce Balint (photo by A. Warner).
Government & History Directory
Bronxville is a quaint village (one square mile) located just 16 miles north of midtown Manhattan (roughly 30 minutes on the train) and has a population of approximately 6,500. It is known as a premier community with an excellent public school (K-12) and easy access to Manhattan. Bronxville offers many amenities including an attractive business district, a hospital (Lawrence Hospital), public paddle and tennis courts, fine dining at local restaurants, two private country clubs and a community library.
While the earliest settlers of Bronxville date back to the first half of the 18th century, the history of the modern suburb of Bronxville began in 1890 when William Van Duzer Lawrence purchased a farm and commissioned the architect, William A. Bates, to design a planned community of houses for well-known artists and professionals that became a thriving art colony. This community, now called Lawrence Park, is listed on the National register of Historic Places and many of the homes still have artists’ studios. A neighborhood association within Lawrence Park called “The Hilltop Association” keeps this heritage alive with art shows and other events for neighbors.
Bronxville offers many charming neighborhoods as well as a variety of living options for residents including single family homes, town houses, cooperatives and condominiums. One of the chief benefits of living in “the village” is that your children can attend the Bronxville School.
The Bronxville postal zone (10708, known as “Bronxville PO”) includes the village of Bronxville as well as the Chester Heights section of Eastchester, parts of Tuckahoe and the Lawrence Park West, Cedar Knolls, Armour Villa and Longvale sections of Yonkers. Many of these areas have their own distinct character. For instance, the Armour Villa section has many historic homes and even has its own newsletter called “The Villa Voice” which reports on neighborhood news.
Link to Village of Bronxville One Square Mile Monthly Newsletter
Village of Bronxville Administrative Offices
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