Thursday, March 28, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
A Bronx Tragedy

MARCH 20, 2007 --

The Highbridge section of The Bronx rises from Jerome Avenue. Yankee Stadium is located a block east of Jerome Avenue.


Yankee Stadium near Woodycrest.


The new Yankee Stadium is rising …


The stadium-to-be is under construction on Jerome Avenue, and across 161st Street from the current home of the
Yankees. Woodycrest Avenue is one of the streets that go up the Highbridge hill.


The snow-covered construction site of Yankee Stadium, Jr., Monday morning, March 19. The Highbridge section of The Bronx rises back of the apartment buildings along Jerome Avenue (rear).


Two families, the Soumares and the Magassas, whose parents immigrated from the west African country of Mali, lived In a house on Woodycrest, just below 165th Street and near the top of the hill.

Late at night, March 14, a fire broke out in the house, taking the lives of five of the Magassa children, and four of the Soumare children, and their mother.


Cranes for the new Yankee Stadium.


On a street a block from the tragedy, the tops of construction cranes at the site of the new stadium are visible. Near the house, many posters of condolence have been placed on a fence. And in front of a store, owned, LPR was told, by one of the families, candles and dolls represent
spontaneous expressions of sympathy for the aggrieved families.

During Yankee home games, early-arriving fans park their cars on grassy areas bordering on Woodycrest and Jerome Avenues. Perhaps some fans drive their
cars up Woodycrest looking for parking places. There has been no indication that members of the Soumare and Magassa families ever went to Yankee games.


Woodycrest Avenue in the Bronx …


The tragic house …


Condolences sign …


In loving memory …


Dolls and candles line the sidewalk in memory of the Soumares and Magassas.