Van Cortlandt Park is a 1146 acres (463.8 ha)
parkAn urban park, is also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space or municipal gardens , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality...
located in the Bronx in
New York CityNew 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...
. It is the fourth largest park in
New York CityNew 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...
, behind
Pelham Bay ParkPelham 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...
, Flushing Meadows Park and
Staten Island GreenbeltThe 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...
.
The park was named for
Stephanus Van CortlandtStephanus van Cortlandt was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor's executive council from 1691 to 1700. His brother, Jacobus Van Cortlandt also served as...
, who was the first native-born mayor of New York, and the Van Cortlandt family, which was prominent in the area during the
DutchNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
and
EnglishThe Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
colonial periods. Contained within the Park is the
Van Cortlandt House MuseumThe Van Cortlandt House Museum, also known as Frederick Van Cortlandt House or Van Cortlandt House, is the oldest building in The Bronx, New York City....
, the oldest building in the Bronx. The park is operated by the
New 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...
.
The eastern side of the park is served by the
WoodlawnWoodlawn is the northern terminal of the New York City Subway's IRT Jerome Avenue Line. Located at the intersection of Bainbridge and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx neighborhood of Woodlawn, it is served by the 4 train at all times, providing service to the South Bronx, the East Side of Manhattan and...
subway station ( train), and the western side by Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street station ( train).
Van Cortlandt Park contains New York City's
largest freshwater lake.
History
The land that Van Cortlandt Park now occupies was purchased by
Jacobus Van CortlandtJacobus Van Cortlandt was a merchant and Mayor of New York from 1710 to 1711 and again from 1719 to 1720.He was born in 1658.Van Cortlandt purchased a parcel of land in what is now Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, New York, from John Barrett, after his father, Samuel Barrett, died around 1691. At that...
from John Barrett around 1691. Passed on to his son Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699–1749) and family, it was once a vast grain plantation. In 1748, Frederick built what is now known as the
Van Cortlandt HouseThe Van Cortlandt House Museum, also known as Frederick Van Cortlandt House or Van Cortlandt House, is the oldest building in The Bronx, New York City....
on the property, but died before its completion. Frederick willed the massive home and surrounding lands to his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727–1787).
The Van Cortlandt family land was used during the Revolutionary War by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and
WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. It was in this area that the
Stockbridge militiaThe Stockbridge Militia was a military unit from Stockbridge, Massachusetts which served in the American Revolutionary War. The militia was composed of American Indians, mostly Mahican, Wappinger, and Munsee from the Stockbridge area...
was destroyed by the
Queen's RangersThe Queen's Rangers was a military unit who fought on the Loyalist side during the American War of Independence. After the war they moved to Nova Scotia and disbanded, but were reformed again in Upper Canada before disbanding again, in 1802, a decade prior to the War of 1812.-French and Indian...
; a stone memorial was placed at "Indian Field" in 1906.
In 1888, the family property was sold to the City of New York and made into a public parkland, with the majority of the grain fields converted into a sprawling lawn dubbed "The Parade Ground". The Van Cortlandt House was converted into a public museum and, with the city's approval, particularly overgrown areas of the property were made passable. Wide walking paths were built over original walkways, including the thin paths that led to the Van Cortlandt family cemetery, high on the nearby bluffs.
In 1907, due to overcrowding, Dr. William Hornaday transferred several of the Bronx Zoo's then-rare
bisonMembers of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
to Van Cortlandt Park's parade grounds. Later that year, they were shipped to prairie land in Oklahoma.
Robert MosesRobert 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...
's development plans in the 1930s called for the construction of the
Henry Hudson ParkwayThe Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
and
Mosholu ParkwayThe Mosholu Parkway is a hybrid freeway-standard parkway and grade-level roadway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, constructed from 1935 to 1937 as part of the roadway network created under Robert Moses...
to bisect Van Cortlandt Park and meet at a
cloverleaf interchangeA cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns, reverse direction in left-driving regions, are handled by ramp roads...
about half a mile north of the center. The last remaining freshwater
marshIn geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
in New York State was dredged and landscaped to accommodate construction.
The Van Cortlandt House was added to the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1967 and became a
National Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1976.
The city's fiscal crisis in the 1970s caused much of the park to fall into disrepair. Gradual improvements began taking place from the late 1980s through the mid-2000s, including the addition of new pathways, signage, and security.
Attractions
The Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the nation's first public golf course, opened in 1895 and is located centrally on the park grounds. The "Parade Ground" north of the museum in the western part of the park is one of New York's principal
cricket fieldA cricket field consists of a large circular or oval-shaped grassy ground on which the game of cricket is played. There are no fixed dimensions for the field but its diameter usually varies between 450 feet to 500 feet...
s. The Putnam Trail, an unpaved trail, runs north through the woods to the east of this lawn and west of Van Cortlandt Lake, through the golf course and along Tibbets Brook and the former
New York and Putnam Railroad line into
YonkersYonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
where it connects to Westchester County's paved
South County TrailwayThe South County Trailway is a long trail stretching from Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx to Elmsford, New York. Construction started in the 1990s and was completed in 2011.- Bronx and Yonkers :...
. Another bikeway runs east from the golf course's clubhouse to connect to the
Mosholu ParkwayThe Mosholu Parkway is a hybrid freeway-standard parkway and grade-level roadway in the New York City borough of the Bronx, constructed from 1935 to 1937 as part of the roadway network created under Robert Moses...
bike path. The Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway begins in Van Cortlandt Park.
Cross-Country
Van Cortlandt Park is a popular site for
cross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
owing to its miles of cinder trails and hills. The path surrounding the Parade Grounds, known to runners as the "flats," is 1.37 miles (2.2 km) around. The infamous "back hills" provide a 1.3-mile (2.1 km) loop in the northwestern section of the park.
The park was used for the Northeast regional championships of the Foot Locker Cross-Country Championships until 2009 and is used as numerous college championships each fall. The famed 2.5-mile (4 km) course is used for most high school races, including the Manhattan College Invitational, one of the largest high school cross-country meets in the nation. In 2006, the USA Cross-Country Championships were held at Van Cortlandt and organised by USATF and
New York Road RunnersNew York Road Runners , founded in 1958 with 47 members, has grown into the foremost running organization, with a membership of 40,000. NYRR conducts more than 100 events each year, including races, classes, clinics, and lectures...
.
The park is also used for many college races and is the home course for
Fordham UniversityFordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
,
Iona CollegeIona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....
,
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and
Manhattan CollegeManhattan College is a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in the Lasallian tradition in New York City, United States. Despite the college's name, it is no longer located in Manhattan but in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, roughly 10 miles north of Midtown. Manhattan College offers...
(which is located right across the street). The college course is 5 miles (8 km). It is used annually for the ICAAAA championships and has hosted the NCAA championships on numerous occasions (10k).
The park is the home course for the
Van Cortlandt Track Club. From its humble origins in the late 1970's as a small group of runners meeting for jaunts around the Jerome Park Reservoir in the Bronx, Van Cortlandt Track Club has grown into one of the most prominent running clubs in New York City.
In popular culture
Van Cortlandt Park was referenced in
Jose Rivera's playMarisol is a play in two acts written by the Puerto Rican playwright José Rivera. The work earned Rivera a 1993 Obie Award for playwriting.-Synopsis:...
Marisol as a place where neo-Nazis burn homeless people alive in the apocalyptic world of the play.
In
Sol Yurick-Biography:He was born in 1925 to a working class family of politically active Jewish immigrants. At the age of 14, Yurick became disillusioned with politics after the Hitler-Stalin pact. He enlisted during World War II, where he trained as a surgical technician. He studied at New York University...
's book
The WarriorsThe Warriors is a novel written by Sol Yurick in 1965. It became the inspiration for the cult classic movie The Warriors. Compared to the movie, the novel takes a closer look at the concepts of sexuality, reputation, family, and survival...
, the meeting called by Ismael Rivera, leader of the Delancey Thrones, takes place in Van Cortlandt Park.
External links