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List of Parks

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* indicates it is a redirect

https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/pools

Common Material

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History

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Works Progress Administration renovations

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In 1934, Robert Moses was nominated by mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia 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".[1][2] By the time he was in office, several hundred projects were underway across the city.[3]

Moses was especially interested in creating new pools and other bathing facilities, such as those in Jacob Riis Park, Jones Beach, and Orchard Beach.[4][5] He devised a list of 23 pools around the city, including one at <Park>.[6][7] The pools would be built using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal agency created to combat the Depression's negative effects as part of the New Deal.[4][8] 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 each of the 11 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 55-yard (50 m) 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.[9][10][11]

Construction for some of the 11 pools began in October 1934.[9][12] By mid-1936, ten of the eleven WPA-funded pools were completed and were being opened at a rate of one per week.[4] The pool was the <Blank> pool to open.[13][14][a]

Decline

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By the 1970s, <Park> and other city parks were in poor condition due to the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis. NYC Parks commenced a project to restore the pools in several parks in 1977, including at <Park>, for whose restoration the agency set aside an estimated <blank2>.[13] These projects were not carried out due to a lack of money, and by March 1981, NYC Parks only had 2,900 employees in its total staff, less than 10 percent of the 30,000 present when Moses was parks commissioner.[13][15] 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 <Park Project>.[16]

NYC Parks continued to face financial shortfalls in the coming years, and the pools retained a reputation for being unsafe.[17] 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[18] and $1.8 million from other sources.[17] Additionally, in the 1990s, a practice called "whirlpooling" became common in New York City pools such as <Park>, wherein women would be inappropriately fondled by teenage boys.[19][20] By the turn of the century, crimes such as sexual assaults had decreased in parks citywide due to increased security.[17]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ 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.[14][11]

Citations

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  1. ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 2007, pp. 4–5.
  2. ^ Rodgers 1952, p. 82.
  3. ^ Rodgers 1952, p. 84.
  4. ^ a b c Caro, Robert (1974). The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York. New York: Knopf. p. 456. ISBN 978-0-394-48076-3. OCLC 834874.
  5. ^ Stern, Robert A. M.; Gilmartin, Patrick; Mellins, Thomas (1987). New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars. New York: Rizzoli. p. 717. ISBN 978-0-8478-3096-1. OCLC 13860977.
  6. ^ "23 Bathing Pools Planned by Moses; Nine to Be Begun in a Month to Meet Shortage of Facilities Caused by Pollution". The New York Times. July 23, 1934. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  7. ^ "Public Swimming Facilities in New York City" (PDF) (Press release). New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. 1934-07-23. p. 3 (PDF p. 30). Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  8. ^ "City to Construct 9 Pools To Provide Safe Swimming". New York Daily News. July 23, 1934. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-01-01 – via newspapers.com Open access icon.
  9. ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 2007, p. 7.
  10. ^ Shattuck, Kathryn (2006-08-14). "Big Chill of '36: Show Celebrates Giant Depression-Era Pools That Cool New York". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-08.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b "History of Parks' Swimming Pools". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  12. ^ "Park Work Is Begun on 2 Bathing Pools; Construction Under Way at High Bridge and Hamilton Fish -- 7 Others to Be Started Soon" (PDF). The New York Times. October 4, 1934. p. 48. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 13, 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 2007, p. 10.
  14. ^ a b Gutman, Marta (November 1, 2008). "Race, Place, and Play: Robert Moses and the WPA Swimming Pools in New York City". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 67 (4). University of California Press: 555. doi:10.1525/jsah.2008.67.4.532. ISSN 0037-9808.
  15. ^ Carmody, Deirdre (1981-03-15). "Parks Department to Start Hiring for First Time Since Fiscal Crisis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  16. ^ Carmody, Deirdre (June 25, 1982). "City to Start Repairing Three of Its Swimming Pools". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  17. ^ a b c Landmarks Preservation Commission 2007, p. 11.
  18. ^ "Donation Will Keep 32 Public Pools Open". The New York Times. 1991-05-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  19. ^ Marriott, Michel (1993-07-07). "A Menacing Ritual Is Called Common in New York Pools". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  20. ^ "Deep at City Pool; Sex harass is pervasive". New York Daily News. July 11, 1994. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-01-01 – via newspapers.com Open access icon.

Sources

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