Mafera Park (officially Joseph F. Mafera Park) is a park in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, United States. It is approximately in size, located adjacent to the New York City Subway's

Fresh Pond Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betw ...

and close to the Fresh Pond Junction between the Long Island Rail Road's

Bay Ridge Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...

and Lower Montauk branches. It has facilities for baseball, basketball, roller hockey, and handball. The park is named after Ridgewood resident Joseph F. Mafera; when Mafera died in 1967, the park was renamed by law in his honor. The

City of New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

purchased the land in 1948, and on June 28, 1949, a groundbreaking ceremony was held, featuring New York City mayor

William O'Dwyer William O'Dwyer (July 11, 1890November 24, 1964) was an Irish-American politician and diplomat who served as the 100th Mayor of New York City, holding that office from 1946 to 1950. Life and career O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ir ...

, Queens Borough President James A. Burke, and Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Robert Moses. Mafera Park was also known as Farmers' Oval due to the park's history hosting the semi-professional Glendale Farmers Base Ball Club for almost 50 years, from the 1900s until the 1950s. In the late 1940s and early 1950s it was also briefly called Ridgewood Park and Glen Ridge Park, as the park is between

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

and Ridgewood. It was renovated in the early 1990s, and a ribbon cutting ceremony was hosted by mayor Rudy Giuliani, Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, and New York City parks commissioner Henry Stern on March 18, 1995.

References

External links

Mafera Park, NYC Parks
{{coord, 40.706827, -73.891306, display=title Parks in Queens, New York Nature reserves in New York (state) Glendale, Queens