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Forest Park (Queens)
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. It has an area of 538 acres (2.15 km²). The park is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation is the department of government of the City of New York 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...
.
History
The Wisconsin glacier molded this land 20,000 years ago and left the Harbor Hill Moraine, a series of small hills known as “knob and kettle” terrain, including Forest Park. The land was inhabited by the Rockaway, LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, and Delaware Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
when the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
settled the area in 1635.
Early development
The site of Forest Park was occupied by various landowners until the late 19th century, when City of Brooklyn officials looked for land for a large public park. In 1892, the New York State Legislature authorized the park search, and the Brooklyn Parks Department purchased the first parcel of this space on August 9, 1895, whereupon the name Brooklyn Forest Park was first used.
Frederick Law Olmsted
Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
surveyed the park and designed the Forest Park Drive. As Olmsted noted in 1895, the park is bisected by several transportation arteries; two lines of the Long Island Rail Road
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...
, the Montauk Branch
Montauk Branch
The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east...
and the Rockaway Beach Branch
Rockaway Beach Branch
The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica Bay to Hammels in the Rockaways turning west there to a...
, ran through the land before Forest Park was acquired. Although only the Montauk Line still operates today, Forest Park is divided by Woodhaven Boulevard and the Jackie Robinson Parkway
Jackie Robinson Parkway
The Jackie Robinson Parkway is a parkway in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The western terminus of the parkway is at Jamaica Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. It runs through Highland Park, along the north side of Ridgewood Reservoir, and through Forest Park...
, which was completed in 1935. Despite these thoroughfares, Forest Park is the third-largest park in Queens, and contains the largest continuous oak forest in Queens and a 110 acre (0.4451546 km²) golf course. Forest Park is bounded by Myrtle Avenue, Union Turnpike, Park Lane, Park Lane South, Cypress Hills Cemetery, and Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens, Queens
Kew Gardens is a triangular-shaped neighborhood in central Queens bounded to the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway , to the east by Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to the south by Hillside Avenue, and to the west by Park Lane, Abingdon Road and 118th Street...
.
Forest Park contains several species of trees, including the Northern red oak (Quercus rubra), Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), White oak (Quercus alba), and Wild black cherry (Prunus serrotina). Several trees here are more than 150 years old, and create a canopy with an under-layer of Dogwood (genus Cornus), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), and Corktree (Genus Phellodendron). The park was ravaged in 1912 by a chestnut blight, and - for a time - was used for lumbering; about the same time, greenhouses were set up to grow plants for parks throughout the city. These have since been moved to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, and Park Slope neighborhoods, the garden includes a number of specialty "gardens within the Garden," plant collections, and the Steinhardt Conservatory,...
and Bronx Park
Bronx Park
Bronx Park, laid out along the Bronx River in the Bronx, New York, is the home of the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo. Bicycle paths go northwest, north and east, along Mosholu Parkway, Bronx River Parkway and Pelham Parkway respectively...
.
A 9-hole golf course opened in 1901. Its club house, which was designed in the Dutch Colonial
Dutch Colonial
Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house...
Revival style by the firm of Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell (who also designed the Williamsburgh Savings Bank
Williamsburgh Savings Bank
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was an important institution in Brooklyn, New York, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. A series of bank mergers brought it into the HSBC group late in the 20th century...
tower), and which now houses the park's Administration Office, first opened in 1905.
Carousels designed by Daniel Muller
Daniel Müller
Daniel Müller is a Swiss curler and Olympic champion. He received a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.-References:...
were added in 1918, with one of them destroyed by fire in 1966, and the other in 1972.
Jackson Pond was used for fishing and ice skating, but was filled in for redevelopment.
Recent development
During the park’s centennial celebration in 1995, 100 trees were planted as a part of Operation Pine Grove, funded by American ForestsAmerican Forests
American Forests is a 501 non-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. Their stated mission is to "grow a healthier world with trees". The organization was established in 1875 as the American Forestry Association by physician and...
and the Texaco Global Re-leaf Program. Parks uses the greenhouse, built in 1910, to grow trees and plants for many other city parks. In addition, the kettle ponds in the forest provide a haven for bird watching. Forest Park Drive between the Bandshell and the entrance to the Jackie Robinson Parkway
Jackie Robinson Parkway
The Jackie Robinson Parkway is a parkway in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The western terminus of the parkway is at Jamaica Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. It runs through Highland Park, along the north side of Ridgewood Reservoir, and through Forest Park...
rides along the top of the glacial moraine. In the winter, when the trees are bare, people who walk or drive along the route can see a panoramic view of Southwest Queens and Southeast Brooklyn all the way to Rockaway Beach
Rockaway Beach, Queens
Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located on the South Shore of Long Island. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west...
nearly 10 miles (16.1 km) away.
The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway
Brooklyn-Queens Greenway
The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway is a bicycling and pedestrian path connecting parks and roads in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, connecting Coney Island in the south to Fort Totten in the north, on Long Island Sound...
also runs through Forest Park, westward to Ridgewood Reservoir
Ridgewood Reservoir
Ridgewood Reservoir is a decommissioned 19th century reservoir that sits on the Brooklyn-Queens border and is part of Highland Park. The reservoir and park are bounded on the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway, on the south by Highland Boulevard, on the west by Vermont Place and on the east by...
and eastward to Kew Gardens.
Features
Within Forest Park is "The Overlook", the administration building for Queens Parks, and "Oak Ridge", the former golf course clubhouse and current administration building for Forest Park. Forest Park also offers a wide array of recreational facilities, such as the George Seuffert, Sr. Bandshell, the Carousel, the Bridle Path, tennis courts, playgrounds, and Victory Field. Annual events such as the Halloween Walk, the Victorian Christmas, Nature Trails Day, orienteering and battle reenactments draw the participation of the surrounding neighborhoods of Kew GardensKew Gardens, Queens
Kew Gardens is a triangular-shaped neighborhood in central Queens bounded to the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway , to the east by Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to the south by Hillside Avenue, and to the west by Park Lane, Abingdon Road and 118th Street...
, Woodhaven
Woodhaven, Queens
Woodhaven is a middle-class neighborhood located in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.Woodhaven is bordered on the north by a public park, Forest Park, and Park Lane South. Woodhaven also borders Richmond Hill to the east, and Ozone Park to the south at Atlantic Avenue...
, Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...
, Forest Hills
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...
, and Glendale
Glendale, Queens
Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is bounded by Cooper Avenue to the north, Woodhaven Boulevard to the east, Myrtle Avenue to the south and Fresh Pond Road to the West...
.