O'Donohue Park is a public green space located in the

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...

neighborhood on the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...

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 ...

. The park is located at the eastern tip of the

Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk The Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk is a public park in Rockaway, Queens, New York, composed of the Rockaway Beach and the adjacent Rockaway Boardwalk. The beach runs from Beach 9th Street in Far Rockaway to Beach 149th Street in Neponsit, a dis ...

. Prior to its acquisition by the city, O’Donohue Park was a private community of summer homes and common space at the foot of Jarvis Lane, which later became Beach 9th Street. The land was purchased by Mary O'Donohue in 1868 and her heirs continued to develop the property as a summer beach destination. In 1925, developer Isaac Zaret purchased the property, naming it O'Donohue Park with the intention of building fifty homes on the site. The plan failed to materialize and by 1938, it had fallen into foreclosure. The city acquired it in 1942 and added another to it in 1957, expanding the park westward towards Beach 17th Street. In 1963, the NYC Parks Department constructed the current park at this location, extending the Rockaway Boardwalk from Beach 19th Street to Beach 9th Street. Instead of the traditional wood boardwalk, the new extension was made of concrete, at elevation 10. A public beach was included and fill provided to nourish the beach. Parking, a baseball field and substantial brick concession and bathroom were constructed at Beach 17th Street. A picnic area and handball courts were also built. In 2012, O'Donohue Park was reconstructed in a project that transformed an underutilized 500-space parking lot into a lawn, Far Rockaway Skate Park, basketball courts, exercise equipment, and sitting area. At Beach 17th Street is a baseball field and lifeguard station, while at Beach 9th Street is a children's playground and comfort station. O’Donohue Park overlooks

East Rockaway Inlet The East Rockaway Inlet is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean which separates the Rockaway Peninsula from the barrier island which includes the Nassau County, New York communities of Atlantic Beach, Long Beach and Lido Beach. The inlet is on the south ...

, an extension of

Reynolds Channel Reynolds Channel is a strait in Nassau County, New York that separates Long Beach Barrier Island, which contains the City of Long Beach and the villages of Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach, and Point Lookout, from Long Island, Barnum Island, Har ...

connecting to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

References

{{Protected areas of New York City Parks in Queens, New York Rockaway, Queens