Highbridge Park is a public park on the western bank of the
Harlem River
The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland.
The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...
in
Washington Heights,
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It stretches between
155th Street and
Dyckman Street
Dyckman Street ( ), occasionally called West 200th Street, is a street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is commonly considered to be a crosstown street because it runs from the Hudson River to the Harlem River and inter ...
in
Upper Manhattan
Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park ( 110th Street), ...
. The park is operated by the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
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 ecolog ...
. The City maintains the southern half of the park, while the northern half is maintained by the non-profit
New York Restoration Project
New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is a non-profit organization that has planted trees, renovated gardens, restored parks, and transformed open space for communities throughout New York City’s five boroughs. It is the only citywide conservancy ...
. Prominent in the park are the Manhattan end of the
High Bridge, the High Bridge Water Tower, and the Highbridge Play Center.
History
Early history
![Photomechanical print of the Harlem River Speedway in the early 20th century](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Photomechanical_print_of_the_Harlem_River_Speedway_in_the_early_20th_century.jpg)
Highbridge Park derives its name from New York City’s oldest standing bridge, the
High Bridge (1848), which was built to carry the Old
Croton Aqueduct
The Croton Aqueduct or Old Croton Aqueduct was a large and complex water distribution system constructed for New York City between 1837 and 1842. The great aqueducts, which were among the first in the United States, carried water by gravity from ...
over the Harlem River. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, the area was sparsely populated with scattered farms and private estates. During the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, General
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
used the
Morris-Jumel Mansion, adjacent to the southern end of the park near Edgecombe Avenue and West 160th Street, as his headquarters in September and October 1776.
The land for Highbridge Park was assembled piecemeal between 1867 and the 1960s. It was designed in 1888 by
Samuel Parsons Jr. and
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...
.
The area between 190th and 192nd Streets was occupied by the
Fort George Amusement Park
Fort George Amusement Park was a trolley park and amusement park that operated in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights and Inwood, Manhattan, Inwood neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan, New York City, in the late 19th and early 20th ...
, a
trolley park
Trolley may refer to:
Vehicles and components
* Tram, or trolley or streetcar, a rail vehicle that runs on tramway tracks
* Trolleybus, or trolley, an electric bus drawing power from overhead wires using trolley poles
** Trolleytruck, a trolleyb ...
/
amusement park
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
, from 1895 to 1914; its site is now a seating area in Highbridge Park.
The park was the site of the 1887
USA Cross Country Championships
The USA Cross Country Championships is the annual national championships for cross country running in the United States. The championships is generally held in mid-February and it serves as a way of designating the country's national champion, as ...
.
In the 1890s, the City of New York built a racetrack for horses, the
Harlem River Speedway, along the riverbank of the park.
20th century
Early 20th century
The cliffside area from West 181st Street to Dyckman Street was acquired in 1902, and the parcel including Fort George Hill was acquired in 1928. In 1934 the Department of Parks obtained the Highbridge Tower and the site of the old
Highbridge Reservoir.
By the early years of the 20th century, upper-middle class New Yorkers would promenade along the wide boardwalks in top hats and bustles. The park provided access to the
Harlem River
The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland.
The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...
and places for horseback riding and other outdoor sports. By the 1920s dirt and other materials from the build-up of the new
Washington Heights neighborhood threatened to ruin the nascent park; a harbinger of bad times to befall the park.
Works Progress Administration renovation
In 1934, mayor
Fiorello H. La Guardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...
nominated
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
to become commissioner of a unified
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
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 ecolog ...
. At the time, the United States was experiencing the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
; immediately after La Guardia won the
1933 election, Moses began to write "a plan for putting 80,000 men to work on 1,700 relief projects". By the time he was in office, several hundred such projects were underway across the city.
Moses was especially interested in creating new pools and other bathing facilities, such as those in
Jacob Riis Park
Jacob Riis Park, also called Jacob A. Riis Park and Riis Park, is a seaside park on the southwestern portion of the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It lies at the foot of the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Brid ...
,
Jones Beach, and
Orchard Beach.
He devised a list of 23 pools around the city, including one at Highbridge Park. The pools would be built using funds from the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
(WPA), a federal agency created as part of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
to combat the Depression's negative effects.
Eleven of these pools were to be designed concurrently and open in 1936. Moses, along with architects
Aymar Embury II
Aymar Embury II (June 15, 1880 – November 15, 1966) was an American architect. He is best known for commissions from the City of New York from the 1930s through to the 1950s. In this period, Embury frequently worked with Robert Moses in t ...
and
Gilmore David Clarke
Gilmore David Clarke (July 12, 1892 – August 8, 1982''New York Times'', August 10, 1982, p. B19: Gilmore D. Clarke, 90, is dead; designed major public works'.) was an American civil engineer and landscape architect who designed many park ...
, created a common design for these proposed aquatic centers. Each location was to have distinct pools for diving, swimming, and wading; bleachers and viewing areas; and bathhouses with locker rooms that could be used as gymnasiums. The pools were to have several common features, such as a minimum length, underwater lighting, heating, filtration, and low-cost construction materials. To fit the requirement for cheap materials, each building would be built using elements of the
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
and
Classical architectural styles. The buildings would also be near "comfort stations", additional playgrounds, and spruced-up landscapes.
Construction for some of the 11 pools began that October,
with work commencing on the Highbridge and
Hamilton Fish
Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senator from New York from 1851 to 1857 and the 26th United States Secretary of State fro ...
Pools.
[ Highbridge Park had been among the first pool sites to be selected, having been announced by ''The New York Times'' in April 1934. By mid-1936, ten of the eleven WPA funded pools were completed and were being opened at a rate of one per week.] The Highbridge Pool was the fifth of these pools to open, being opened on July 14, 1936. The complex included a main pool and wading pool.
Later 20th century
In 1940, Moses turned portions of the Speedway into the Harlem River Drive
The Harlem River Drive is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km) long north–south limited-access parkway in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs along the west bank of the Harlem River from the Triborough Bridge in East Harlem to 10th Avenue i ...
, a 6-lane highway from the Manhattan end of the Triborough Bridge
The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (RFK Bridge; formerly known and still commonly referred to as the Triborough Bridge) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City. The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, a ...
at 125th Street, to the tunnels under Manhattan to the George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United St ...
. New fences blocked public recreational access to the riverfront. It was this series of actions, according to Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, that "ruined" the park. The Highbridge Play Center bathhouse was restored in the 1960s, during which the original murals by Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.
Early life
Th ...
were destroyed or covered over. The -long, -tall High Bridge walkway was closed to regular public use around 1970.
The controversial ' Daisy Girl' political advertisement
In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to Social influence, influence a political debate, and ultimately, voters. These ads are designed by political consulting, political consultants and polit ...
was filmed in Highbridge Park in the summer of 1964.
By the 1970s, Highbridge Park and other city parks were in poor condition following the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. Ha ...
. Particularly in Highbridge Park, large sections set aside as natural areas, had been taken over by homeless people who built permanent shacks made of sheet metal and steel pipes driven into the earth. Prostitutes, drug dealers and drug users frequented the park. NYC Parks commenced a project to restore the pools in several parks in 1977, including at Highbridge Park, for whose restoration the agency set aside an estimated $5.8 million. These projects were not carried out due to a lack of money. By March 1981, NYC Parks had only 2,900 employees in its total staff, less than 10 percent of the 30,000 present when Moses was parks commissioner. In 1982, the NYC Parks budget increased greatly, enabling the agency to carry out $76 million worth of restoration projects by year's end; among these projects was the restoration of the Highbridge Park pool. The play center and pool were completely renovated over a three-year period following a design by architect Stephen B. Jacobs. The play center reopened on June 14, 1985.
NYC Parks continued to face financial shortfalls in the coming years, and the pools retained a reputation for high crime. In June 1984, a man set fire to the Highbridge Tower roof before jumping to his death. By the mid-1980s, Highbridge had become so degraded that during a manual cleanup in 1986, 250 tons of garbage and 25 auto wrecks were removed, but garbage again began to fill the park within a matter of days. For the summer of 1991, mayor David Dinkins had planned to close all 32 outdoor pools in the city, a decision that was only reversed after a $2 million donation from a trust created upon the death of real estate developer Sol Goldman
Sol Goldman (born Usher Selig Goldman, September 2, 1917 – October 18, 1987) was an American real estate investor and philanthropist. Goldman was the founder of Solil Management, a real estate investment firm he founded in the 1950s with his ...
and $1.8 million from other sources. Additionally, in the 1990s, a practice called "whirlpooling" became common in New York City pools such as Highbridge Park, wherein women would be inappropriately fondled by teenage boys. By the turn of the century, crimes such as sexual assaults had decreased in parks citywide due to increased security.
The condition of Highbridge Park has gotten better, and it is no longer a haven for petty crime and other illegal activities. In November 1991, the water tower was restored. The New York Restoration Project
New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is a non-profit organization that has planted trees, renovated gardens, restored parks, and transformed open space for communities throughout New York City’s five boroughs. It is the only citywide conservancy ...
, chaired by Bette Midler
Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
, has been working since 1999 to restore the park. The park also received a renovation in 1996, which included a $305,000 pool filtration system and a $445,000 renovation of heating and ventilation in the pool area.
21st century
On May 19, 2007, the first legal mountain bike trails and dirt jumps in New York City were opened in Highbridge Park. New York City Mountain Bike Association, working with NYC Parks & Recreation, and the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), worked to design and install the trails; the opening weekend featured a festival and cross-country mountain bike race. Around 2010, the waterfront Speedway was rehabilitated and reopened as the Harlem River portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway
The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separate ...
.
By late 2011, despite the efforts of both the NYRP and NYC Parks, the infrastructure of the park had decayed significantly. The city announced plans for a skatepark under the Hamilton Bridge in 2013, and it opened the following year. The city also announced plans for an ice-skating rink in 2014. A citizen-driven restoration movement culminated in a grant from the Bloomberg administration to repair the bridge and make some other improvements. The restored bridge was reopened on June 9, 2015. However, the park itself still faced several problems. A writer for ''Curbed NY'' observed that there were homeless encampments under the Harlem River Drive, and that much of the park south of Washington Bridge
The Washington Bridge is a -long arch bridge over the Harlem River in New York City between the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The crossing, opened in 1888, connects 181st Street (Manhattan), 181st Street and Tenth Avenue (Manhattan), Am ...
remained overgrown. In contrast, the NYRP-maintained northern section of the park was extremely clean.
In 2016, about $30 million in funding was allocated for further improvements to the park's recreational facilities as part of the city's Anchor Parks program. At the time, NYC Parks postponed plans for an ice-skating rink due to a lack of interest. The first phase of Highbridge Park's renovations started in December 2018. This entailed upgrades to lighting and paths, cleanup of a 10-block section of the park, restoration of the "Grand Staircase", creation of a "welcome garden" at Dyckman Street, and creation of an ADA-accessible entrance plaza at 184th Street. The second phase, which started in July 2019, included restoration of the water tower and the Adventure Playground at 164th Street.
Attractions and facilities
Playgrounds
There are six playgrounds in Highbridge Park:
* Adventure Playground, at the intersection of 164th Street and Edgecombe Avenue. It was created in 1973, emulating the concept of adventure playgrounds
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
in Europe, and was renovated again in 1989 and 2017.
* CPF Playground, at 173rd Street near the pool
* Fort George Playground, at the intersection of Fort George Avenue and St. Nicholas Avenue. It was named after Fort George and was formerly the site of Fort George Amusement Park
Fort George Amusement Park was a trolley park and amusement park that operated in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights and Inwood, Manhattan, Inwood neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan, New York City, in the late 19th and early 20th ...
before it was destroyed in 1914. The playground was acquired by NYC Parks in 1928 and restored in 1999.
* Quisqueya Playground, at the intersection of 180th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The name "Quisqueya", honoring the local Dominican community, means "cradle of life" which was a native name for Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...
. The playground was created in 1934 and restored in 1998.
* Sunken Playground, at the intersection of 167th Street and Edgecombe Avenue
* Wallenberg Playground, at the intersection of 189th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
High Bridge Water Tower
The High Bridge Water Tower, in the park between West 173rd and 174th Streets, was built in 1866–1872 to help meet the increasing demands on the city's water system. The -tall octagonal tower was designed by John B. Jervis
John Bloomfield Jervis (December 14, 1795 – January 12, 1885) was an American civil engineer. America's leading consulting engineer of the antebellum era (1820–60), Jervis designed and supervised the construction of five of America's earliest ...
in a mixture of Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
and neo-Grec
Néo-Grec was a Neoclassical Revival style of the mid-to-late 19th century that was popularized in architecture, the decorative arts, and in painting during France's Second Empire, or the reign of Napoleon III (1852–1870). The Néo-Grec vo ...
styles, and was accompanied by the Highbridge Reservoir. The High Bridge system was inaugurated in 1872, and reached its full capacity by 1875. With the opening of the Croton Aqueduct, the High Bridge system became less relied upon; during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
it was taken out of service when sabotage was feared. In 1949 the tower was disconnected from the system, and a carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
, donated by the Altman Foundation, was installed in 1958. The tower's cupola was damaged by an arson fire in 1984. The tower and cupola were rehabilitated and restored in 1989–1990.
The High Bridge Water Tower was designated a New York City landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967. The High Bridge Water Tower underwent a 10 year, $5 million renovation, and reopened to the public for scheduled tours in November 2021. Tours are free through NYC Parks Department and usually take place several times a month.
Highbridge Play Center
The Highbridge Play Center, on Amsterdam Avenue between West 172nd and West 174th Streets, was built in 1934-36 in the Art Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
style, during the Fiorello LaGuardia administration. The supervising architect was Aymar Embury II
Aymar Embury II (June 15, 1880 – November 15, 1966) was an American architect. He is best known for commissions from the City of New York from the 1930s through to the 1950s. In this period, Embury frequently worked with Robert Moses in t ...
, and the landscape architect was Gilmore D. Clarke
Gilmore David Clarke (July 12, 1892 – August 8, 1982''New York Times'', August 10, 1982, p. B19: Gilmore D. Clarke, 90, is dead; designed major public works'.) was an American civil engineer and landscape architect who designed many pa ...
, among others. It was built on the site of the reservoir which had formerly served the High Bridge Water Tower, and features a swimming pool.
Bathhouse
The bathhouse is set on an ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
base above the surrounding street level, while the rest of the structure is made of brick. The building is rectangular: the longer side is on a north-south axis (i.e. parallel to Amsterdam Avenue), while the shorter side is on a west-east axis (i.e. parallel to 173rd Street). Its main entrance is on an elevated, slightly projecting portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
at Amsterdam Avenue and 173rd Street. Stone staircases on either side ascend to the portico. The portico itself consists of two brick towers with flagpoles, two concrete piers that carry a concrete architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
, and a bronze sign with the words at the top of the architrave. Just inside the portico, there is a circular turret with a second-story loft, overlooking the first-floor entrance.
The north and south wings respectively contain the women's and men's locker rooms and are nearly identical. Both have nine windows separated by eight brick pilasters
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...
. The stone capitals
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
of the pilasters line up with the lintels
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...
of the windows. Ramps lead from the extreme ends of each wing. The ground slopes down northward, so that the northern wing is at a higher elevation above the ground than the southern wing. The eastern facade is similar to the western facade, except that it contains entrances to both genders' respective locker rooms, as well as a bronze clock hanging from the architrave. A cellar is below the northern wing.
Pools
The Highbridge Pool contains two rectangular pools: a main pool to the east and a wading pool to the west. The main pool measures wide by long, with the wider dimension extending north-south, and a depth of . The wading pool measures wide by long. A promenade surrounds the pool area on the north, south, and east sides. A set of concrete bleachers is to the north of the pool area. A short brick wall encloses the pool area, and niches along the eastern boundary provide another seating area. Just east of the pool area is a set of stairs that leads to the High Bridge. The water tower is at the northeast corner of the pool area.
Landmark designations
The High Bridge Water Tower was designated a New York City landmark
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
in 1967. The Play Center was designated a New York City landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2007. The commission had also considered the pool for landmark status in 1990, along with the other ten WPA pools in the city.
See also
*
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
External links
nycgovparks.org: Highbridge Park
Alliance For Progress - Advocacy Project
wirednewyork.com: Highbridge
High Bridge Park Development Association
{{Protected areas of New York City
1865 establishments in New York (state)
Cross country running courses in New York (state)
Parks in Manhattan
Protected areas established in the 1860s
Robert Moses projects
Works Progress Administration in New York City
Skateparks in New York City
Skateparks in the United States
Urban public parks
Washington Heights, Manhattan