Running tour · bronx

Marathon Course: The Bronx, Harlem and the Finish

7.0 mi run

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Willis Avenue Bridge

   Look back at the bridge you just crossed. It's the Willis Avenue Bridge, and its swing span arrived in an unusual way.

2. Mott Haven Historic District (Alexander Avenue)

   Look along Alexander Avenue. Long rows of brick and brownstone houses. On the corner at East 138th Street, a church with a domed corner tower. This is St. Jerome's. The congregation was founded in 1869, and built the church you see in 1898.

3. Mount Morris Park West row houses

   Look at the unbroken row of townhouses facing the park, with church towers at the corners. The landmarks commission says such a row, facing a park, is rare in Manhattan.

4. Duke Ellington Memorial at Duke Ellington Circle

   Look at the tall sculpture in the middle of the circle. It's Duke Ellington at his piano, 25 feet high, held aloft by three columns of women figures, three in each. They're known as his nine muses.

5. Conservatory Garden and the Vanderbilt Gate

   Look at the tall black iron gate set in the park wall. It was made in Paris in 1894, designed by George Post. It once gave access to the forecourt of a mansion at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street.

6. Fred Lebow and the Marathon

   Look for the bronze man in a running suit and cap, glancing at his watch. That's Fred Lebow. He was born Fischel Lebowitz in Romania in 1932, survived the Holocaust, and founded the New York City Marathon.

7. Cleopatra's Needle

   Look through the trees behind the Met for the tip of a pink granite obelisk. It's about 69 feet tall, weighs about 200 tons, and it's about 3,500 years old. It was cut as one of a pair, for a pharaoh's jubilee about 1443 BC.

8. Grand Army Plaza, the Sherman statue and the Plaza Hotel

   Look at the gilded general on horseback. That's William Tecumseh Sherman, coated in 23.5-karat gold. The winged figure beside him is Victory, based on the likeness of a model named Hettie Anderson. Saint-Gaudens was hired in 1892. The statue wasn't installed until 1903.

9. USS Maine Monument

   Look up at the tall marble pylon on the corner. On top, a gilded Columbia rides a seashell chariot, pulled by three sea-horses. Her model was Audrey Munson.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source