Highbridge Park

Public park in Manhattan, New York

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 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, General George Washington 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 New York City Department of Public Parks acquired a 2.25 mile (4 km) strip of land on the Harlem River between 155th and Dyckman Streets in May 1884. Afterward, several commissioners were appointed to assess the value of existing land lots within the park. Local landowners complained about a New York state law that would force them to pay for half of the park's assessed value. A New York Supreme Court judge halted the project in 1886 following disputes over property appraisals. The park hosted the 1887 USA Cross Country Championships. In February 1888, Samuel Parsons Jr. and Calvert Vaux were ordered to prepare plans for Highbridge Park, with a main entrance at 159th Street. That June, the secretary of the city's Board of Street Opening was asked to prepare a resolution setting the park's northern and southern borders at 186th and 155th Streets, respectively. The borders were revised in December 1888 to encompass the land between Tenth (Amsterdam) Avenue to the west and the Harlem River to the east. Three men were appointed in April 1889 to appraise 1,976 lots on the site; one of the appointees, former U. S. President Grover Cleveland, declined the position. Property owners continued to oppose the new park, speaking out against a proposed northward extension to Dyckman Street that would have cost $2.5 million. In December 1889, the Board of Street Opening formally decided to reduce the park from , running only from 170th to 181st Street. The majority of the new park, approximately , was to incorporate the original High Bridge Park on the same site. A racetrack for horses, the Harlem River Speedway, was opened along the riverbank of the park in 1898.

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 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.

In 1934, mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia nominated Robert Moses to become commissioner of a unified New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. At the time, the United States was experiencing the Great Depression; 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, 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 (WPA), a federal agency created as part of the New Deal 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 and Gilmore David Clarke, 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 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 Pools. By mid 1936, ten of the eleven WPA funded pools were completed and were being opened at a rate of one per week. efn|The pools opened in the following chronological order: Hamilton Fish Park, Thomas Jefferson Park, Astoria Park, Tompkinsville Pool, Highbridge Park, Sunset Park, Crotona Park, McCarren Park, Betsy Head Park, Colonial Park, and Red Hook Park. The complex included a main pool and wading pool.

In 1940, Moses turned portions of the Speedway into the Harlem River Drive, a 6 lane highway from the Manhattan end of the Triborough Bridge at 125th Street, to the tunnels under Manhattan to the George Washington Bridge. 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 were destroyed or covered over. The 1200 feet (366 m) long, 116 feet (35 m) tall High Bridge walkway was closed to regular public use around 1970. The controversial 'Daisy Girl' political advertisement 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. 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. 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. 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 and $1.8 million from other sources. By the turn of the century, crimes such as sexual assaults had decreased in parks citywide due to increased security. 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. Around 2010, the waterfront Speedway was rehabilitated and reopened as the Harlem River portion of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. 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 remained overgrown. In contrast, the NYRP maintained northern section of the park was extremely clean. At the time, NYC Parks postponed plans for an ice skating rink due to a lack of interest. The second phase, which started in July 2019, included restoration of the water tower and the Adventure Playground at 164th Street.

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 200 feet (61 m) tall octagonal tower was designed by John B. Jervis in a mixture of Romanesque Revival and neo Grec styles, and was accompanied by the Highbridge Reservoir. The High Bridge system was inaugurated in 1872, and reached its full capacity by 1875. 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.

The Highbridge Play Center, on Amsterdam Avenue between West 172nd and West 174th Streets, was built in 1934 36 in the Art Moderne style, during the Fiorello LaGuardia administration. The supervising architect was Aymar Embury II, and the landscape architect was Gilmore D. Clarke, 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.

The bathhouse is set on an ashlar 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 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, and a bronze sign with the words highbridge play center at the top of the architrave.

The Highbridge Pool contains two rectangular pools: a main pool to the east and a wading pool to the west. The main pool measures 228 feet (69 m) wide by 165 feet (50 m) long, with the wider dimension extending north south, The wading pool measures 228 feet (69 m) wide by 97 feet (30 m) long. A 29 feet (9 m) 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.