Found 102 blog entries tagged as New York City Parks.

In 1909, the City of New York acquired 105 acres of land in the neighborhood of Willowbrook. Twenty years later, this area of land was assigned to the Parks Department. In 1939 and 1940, land was purchased for the carosel_at_willowbrook_park_400Willowbrook Parkway. This parkway would have extended from Great Kills Park to the Bayonne Bridge; however, it was never built, and so the land instead went to Willowbrook Park, making it a whopping 164-acre park. Today, the park consists of over 200 acres in the neighborhood which bears the same name. It is located to the east of Richmond Avenue, between the streets of Ashworth Avenue and Victory Boulevard. The eastern boundary of the park is the 240-acre campus for the College of Staten Island.

One of the most popular Greenbelt parks of…

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It's hard to find a person in America who has never heard of the World War One.  As a refresher course, I'll give you a little back story.  It all began on the 28th of July in 1914, when Austria-Hungary had invaded Serbia.  Soon, many other countries became involved and eventually, an enormous war broke out.  For roughly two and a half years, the United States stayed neutral during the war-even after Germany sank the Lusitania, a British ocean liner which was cwhite_playground_5_400arrying 128 Americans.  During the beginning of 1917, however, Germany sank several American ships heading toward Britain, knowing full well that it would result in the United States entering the war.  As you can imagine, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Up until 1918, roughly three…

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Von Briesen Park, also known as Arthur Von Briesen Park, is located on the northeastern shore of Staten Island. The park is bordered by Bay Street and North Road. Von Briesen Park extends outward from Bay Street into The Navon_briesen_park_bridge_400rrows. This park contains about ten acres of park-land and about two acres of water. Von Briesen Park was named after Arthur Von Briesen (1843 – 1920). This park used to hold Arthur Von Briesen's estate before he passed away. He bought this property in 1901 as a summer home, which he named "Gernda", a German term for "wishing to be there".

Arthur Von Briesen was a German immigrant who came to the United States in 1858. He studied law up until the start of the Civil War when he enlisted in the First New York Volunteers. In the war he…

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From the beginning of the American Civil War, Major General Richard Delafield was in charge of the defenses at New York Harbor. By 1864, he became the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, a title he held until his walker_park3_400retirement in 1866.  At the time of his retirement, he resided at his estate on Bard Avenue, which was located in northeastern West Brighton, a community known as Livingston. Major General Richard Delafield passed away on November 5, 1873.

In 1872, one year prior to Major General Richard Delafield's passing, the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club was formed. The club had originally made their home at Camp Washington, which was a part of the current St. George neighborhood. In 1874, two years after having been establishing, the…

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The history of Westerleigh Park has much to do with the history of the entire neighborhood of Westerleigh, itself.  It all began with the American Civil War, which took place during the 1860s. If you learned about American history in grade school, there's a high chance you were taught of the American Civil War. During those schools days, you probably awesterleigh_park_1_400lso learned about causes and effects. The American Civil War, as you may know, had many of both.  One effect about which you may not have learned at such a young age was the fact that this specific war led to excessive alcoholism.

Once people began to realize how horrible the effects of the beverage actually were, concerned citizens decided to do something about it.  In 1869, just four years after the…

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On January 1, 1898, the City of Greater New York was created. New York City consisted of Bronx County, Kings tappen_park_1_400County, New York County, Queens County, and Richmond County. At the time, there were just three public parks located in Richmond County, or Staten Island. These were Port Richmond Park, Washington Square Park, and Westerleigh Park. During the late eighteenth century, Staten Island consisted of four towns: Castleton, Northfield, Southfield, and Westfield.  By the middle of the nineteenth century, portions of both Castleton and Southfield were merged to create Middletown.  Throughout the years, these towns were comprised of smaller villages.  At first, the village known as Stapleton was located in the town of Southfield.  By the time Middletown was…

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Quite often in Staten Island, you will find parks and neighboring streets bearing the same name. This happened in the neighborhood of Great Kills, just above the Staten Island Railroad line. In 1982, roughly twenty-three acres of land were acquired by the City of New York. This land, which is bounded by the streets of Dewey Avenue to the north, Greaves Avenue to the west, and Evergreen Street to the east, was put under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Owing to its location, it was named Evergreen Park.

Soon, the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences took over the park, after coming to an agreement with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Until the end of the decade, the Staten Island…

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In 1675, a couple from Warwickshire, England immigrated to America. This couple, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Merrill, settled in Staten Island, where they owned much land. By 1683, the area in which they resided came to be known saw_mill_1_400as the town of Northfield. Beginning in 1866, the towns were dissolved and smaller villages were created. These villages became neighborhoods, in which you will find even smaller communities today. Now, the area in which Mr. and Mrs. Richard Merrill originally moved is known as Bloomfield.

From the beginning of the eighteenth century, well into the nineteenth century, Staten Island was largely dependent upon farming. The land owned by Richard Merrill was made up entirely of farmland, with a few exceptions, such as their house. Richard…

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In the community of Midland Beach, you will find two sites operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation: Midland Field and Midland Playground.  The two parks are parallel to each other, being separated by midland_playground_1_400Midland Avenue to the Field's south and the Playground's north.  Midland Field, which is on top, is bounded to the north by Bedford Avenue, the west by Boundary Avenue, and the east by Mason Avenue.  It takes up almost eight acres of land.  Midland Playground, on the other hand, is only a fraction of Midland Field's size.  It is almost two acres in total and, like Midland Field, is bounded to the east by Mason Avenue.  However, since it does not extend as far along Midland Avenue as Midland Field does, its imaginary western boundary…

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Located on the North Shore of Staten Island, in the neighborhood of Mariner's Harbor, is Mariners Marsh Park. It is on the western section of the North Shore and is bordered by only two streets. The park is bound by Richmond Terrace to the north and Holland Avenue to the east.

mariners_marsh_400Prior to becoming a park, this parcel of land was an ancient Indian village and was used as an industrial site. In 1903, the Milliken Brothers' Structural Iron Works and Rolling Mill opened a plant on this site. The Milliken Brothers were one of the largest manufactures of steel products during this time. While opening this plant in 1903, the American Museum of Natural History excavated the spot to find the burial and village site of the Lenape Indians, along with many artifacts…

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