Parks and recreation in New York City
Encyclopedia
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s in New York City
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...
include Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, Prospect Park
Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park is a 585-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn located between Park Slope, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...
, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, often referred to as Flushing Meadow Park, Flushing Meadows Park or Flushing Meadows, is a public park in New York City. It contains the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the current venue for the U.S...
, Forest Park
Forest Park (Queens)
Forest Park is a park in the New York City borough of Queens. It has an area of 538 acres . The park is operated and maintained by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.-History:...
, and Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
. The largest is Pelham Bay Park
Pelham Bay Park
Pelham Bay Park, located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough of The Bronx and extending partially into Westchester County, is at the largest public park in New York City. The section of the park within New York City's borders is more than three times the size of Manhattan's...
, followed by the Staten Island Greenbelt
Staten Island Greenbelt
The Staten Island Greenbelt is a system of contiguous public parkland and natural areas in the central hills of the New York City borough of Staten Island...
. City Parks Foundation
City Parks Foundation
City Parks Foundation is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer programs in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City...
offers more than 1200 free performing arts events in parks across the city each year, including Central Park Summerstage
Summerstage
SummerStage is an annual, free performing arts summer festival founded in 1986 which takes place at Rumsey Playfield in New York City's Central Park and, since 2010, in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York. In 1994, SummerStage was transferred to the City Parks Foundation, where it has...
, the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free, two-day festival in New York City that celebrates the life and musical genius of Charlie Parker. Produced by the nonprofit organization City Parks Foundation, the longstanding jazz festival takes place every August in the neighborhoods that Parker both...
and dance, theater, and children's arts festivals.
The city has 28,000 acres (113 km²) of parkland and 14 miles (22 km) of public beaches. Prospect Park in Brooklyn, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted
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...
and Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
, has a 90 acre (360,000 m²) meadow thought to be the largest meadow in any U.S. park. Flushing Meadows Park in Queens is the city's third largest park and hosted the World's Fair in 1939 and 1964. Manhattan's Central Park, also designed by Olmsted and Vaux, is the most visited city park in the United States. The park offers hundreds of spaces and places for relaxation and cultural experience, including free concerts, dance, spoken word, and film events at Summerstage
Summerstage
SummerStage is an annual, free performing arts summer festival founded in 1986 which takes place at Rumsey Playfield in New York City's Central Park and, since 2010, in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York. In 1994, SummerStage was transferred to the City Parks Foundation, where it has...
, and performances for children at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre
Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre
The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre was imported to the U.S. in 1876 as Sweden’s exhibit for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The Swedish architecture and craftsmanship of the structure, suggestive of a model schoolhouse, caught the eye of Frederick Law Olmsted, who brought it to...
.
In the summer of 1936 Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
opened eleven monumental pools across the five boroughs: four in Manhattan, one each in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island, and four in Brooklyn. With each ribbon cutting, La Guardia famously switched on the underwater lights and boomed, "Okay kids, it’s all yours!"
Built with money from the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA), the pools were a great feat of engineering, architectural design, and urban planning and over the years have been the setting for everything from amateur wading to Olympic competition. But the city has been true to La Guardia’s words and to this day, the pools are free and open to the public. With a total capacity of 43,000 people, they are a place where all New Yorkers can go to catch a free swimming lesson and a glimpse of New York City’s history.
See also
- List of New York City parks
- New York City Department of Parks and RecreationNew York City Department of Parks and RecreationThe 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...