| St. Mary's Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Mott Haven, Bronx, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′40″N73°54′42″W / 40.8111°N 73.9118°W |
| Area | 35.31 acres (14.29 hectares) |
| Operated by | New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Status | Open all year |
St. Mary's Park is a public park in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the South Bronx section of the Bronx, New York City. The park has sporting facilities and an indoor recreation center. [1]
Originally part of the estate of Jonas Bronck (1600–1643), for whom the Bronx is named, it was occupied by a group of Loyalist military refugees during the Revolutionary War, as a camp. Years later the land was held by the family of Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), one of the authors of the U.S. Constitution.
In April 1857 Adrian Janes purchased the land from Gouverneur Morris II and lived in a mansion on the property. A photo of his residence can be viewed here. Janes owned a local iron foundry that manufactured the Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building, the Bow Bridge in Central Park and railings for the Brooklyn Bridge. St. Mary's Park (and a Protestant Episcopal church that once stood on the property at Alexander Ave and E 142nd St until 1959) takes its name from Adrian's daughter, Mary. In the park’s north end is Janes’ Hill, where the Janes mansion once stood. [2] [3] [4] [5]
During the mid-19th century, a segment of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad (est. 1842) was built through the land. The line was acquired by the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1853, [6] which itself was acquired by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1864, and transformed it into a freight branch.
In 1874, New York City annexed parts of the southern Bronx from Westchester County. Seeking to create public parks in the Bronx, journalist John Mullaly (1835–1915) founded the New York Park Association in 1881. His efforts culminated in the 1884 New Parks Act and the city's 1888–90 purchase of lands for St. Mary's, and several other large parks throughout the borough, including three parkways. St. Mary's Park was named for a Protestant Episcopal church that stood three blocks to the west until 1959. [7]
In 1903, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation granted the New York Central Railroad permission to lay tracks underneath the park, as part of the realignment of the Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad line. The 2,200-to-2,300-foot-long (670 to 700 m) [8] tunnel was finally built through the park in 1905, [9] and the former segment of the line was eventually abandoned, and the 1.2 acres (0.49 ha) occupied by the tracks were returned to the park in 1912. Parkland was expanded further by an additional .8 acres (0.32 ha) in 1968. [7]
The park spawned numerous recreation programs in the Bronx. The borough's first playground opened in St. Mary's Park in 1914. At this time, the park also had a baseball diamond, two tennis courts, and a children's farm garden. In response to rapid population growth and residential construction in the neighborhood, three additional playgrounds opened in the park between 1938 and 1941. After World War II, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses inaugurated a citywide recreation program to provide places to play and socialize in cold weather months. New York's first full-service, indoor recreation center opened at St. Mary's in 1951. Designed by the architectural firm of Brown, Lawford, and Forbes, the building housed an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium, locker and shower rooms, and meeting rooms for classes and community programs. Murals of Marvel Comics superheroes were painted in the center in the early 1970s and repainted in 1991. [7]
In 1996, a quarter-mile fitness loop and two additional tennis courts were installed in St. Mary's Park with city funds allocated by the City Council. [7]
In 2006, the Parks Department completed the installation of synthetic turf at the park. [7]
In a New York Post exposé, it was claimed that the park is saturated with drug needles, drug users, and is hence unsafe, with 21,434 needles found within the park between May and October 2018. Efforts to stop the amount of needles within the park, particularly through specially placed receptacles, have not been successful according to the Post, with just 163 needles being collected between May and October 2018. [10]
Though St. Mary's Park is the largest park in the surrounding area, it was too small to have an advocacy group to lobby for the park's renovation. In 2015, New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito allocated $1.5 million toward the renovation of one of the playgrounds. [11] The next year, $30 million in funding was allocated for further improvements to the park's recreational facilities as part of the city's Anchor Parks program. [12] [13] St. Mary's Playground West was renovated for $4 million between 2018 and 2019. The project removed fencing; renovated the basketball courts, swings, and spray showers; and upgraded picnic and seating areas. [14] [15] A second phase began in 2019 and comprises improvements between St. Ann's Avenue and East 143rd Street, including a new amphitheater, plaza, and benches. The entire project is slated to cost $19.6 million. The renovations would be completed by late 2021. [16]
New York Road Runners hosts a weekly 2.75-mile Open Run. [17]
Marble Hill is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is one of the few areas within the borough that are not located on Manhattan Island. Marble Hill was occupied as a Dutch colonial settlement in 1646, and gained its current name in 1891 from the Tuckahoe marble deposits discovered underneath the neighborhood.
Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point, at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Riverdale's boundaries are disputed, but it is commonly agreed to be bordered by Yonkers to the north, Van Cortlandt Park and Broadway to the east, the Kingsbridge neighborhood to the southeast, either the Harlem River or the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Riverdale Avenue is the primary north–south thoroughfare through Riverdale.
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's residents and visitors.
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Spuyten Duyvil is a neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is bounded on the north by Riverdale, on the east by Kingsbridge, on the south by the Harlem River, and on the west by the Hudson River, although some consider it to be the southernmost part of Riverdale.
Bronx Park is a public park along the Bronx River, in the Bronx, New York City. The park is bounded by Southern Boulevard to the southwest, Webster Avenue to the northwest, Gun Hill Road to the north, Bronx Park East to the east, and East 180th Street to the south. With an area of 718 acres (2.91 km2), Bronx Park is the eighth-largest park in New York City.
The Hudson Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by the Metro-North Railroad in the U.S. state of New York. It runs north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River, terminating at Poughkeepsie. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad, and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago.
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Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad was a railroad built in what is today the West Bronx and South Bronx in New York City, United States. It ran from the junction between the West Side Line and the Hudson River Railroad near Spuyten Duyvil Creek, then along the Harlem River to the northwestern shore of the East River in what is today the Port Morris section of the Bronx.
Tibbetts Brook, originally Tippett's Brook or Tibbitt's Brook, is a stream in the southern portion of mainland New York, flowing north to south from the city of Yonkers in Westchester County into the borough of the Bronx within New York City. Originally emptying into Spuyten Duyvil Creek as part of the Harlem River system, the stream is now partially subterranean, ending above ground at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake within Van Cortlandt Park. There it proceeds into city sewers, draining into either the northern end of the Harlem River or the Wards Island Water Pollution Control Plant. The brook provides significant watershed to both Van Cortlandt Park at its south end and Tibbetts Brook Park at its north end. There have been modern proposals to daylight the southern portion of the brook back onto the surface.
Printer's Park is a small park on Hoe Avenue between Aldus Street and Westchester Avenue, in the Longwood neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. The park is run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
A list of skateparks in New York City.
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