DeWitt Clinton Park
Encyclopedia
DeWitt Clinton Park is a 5.8 acres (23,471.8 m²) New York City public park in the Hell's Kitchen, New York neighborhood between West 52nd Street
and 54th Street (Manhattan)
and Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)
and the West Side Highway
in Manhattan
.
The park which was one of the first New York City parks in Manhattan on the working waterfront of the Hudson River
is named for DeWitt Clinton
who had created a business boom of Hudson commerce when he opened the Erie Canal
.
It is the biggest New York City park in the neighborhood and since 1959 the neighborhood has frequently been referred to as "Clinton." It is the only park on the west side of Manhattan to have lighted ball fields.
The park was the first community garden in New York City.
The park's original 1901 design by Samuel Parsons Jr.
encompassed a bigger park that was much less developed than the current park. The park was dramatically altered by the construction of the New York Passenger Ship Terminal
on its west side. Since Navy requirements set length limits on piers, the city was able to lengthen the piers by removing land from Manhattan so that longer piers could be built that would not extend beyond the Navy limits.
In the shrinking of land, a 250 feet (76.2 m) wide swath on the west of the park was removed in the 1930s for the Terminal and West Side Elevated Highway
.
have been affected by the construction of the New York Passenger Terminal (although a sidewalk along a sycamore
lined curved path on the west side side is a popular vantage point for viewing cruise ships at the terminal). The children's garden was removed in 1932. The undulating lawn, music stands, and lengthy arbor have been removed. In their place is a fenced in lighted area for three baseball fields, an asphalt basketball and handball courts and a children's playground as well as a dog park
.
The land for the park was part of the Striker and Hopper homestead farms which had been in those families for more than 200 years. The home of General Garrit Hopper Striker built in 1752 had been torn down in 1895. Another farmhouse called the Mott farmhouse built in 1796 on 54th Street was torn down in 1896. The city announced plans to purchase the land (called "Sriker's Lane") in 1896.
Other buildings on the site were torn down in 1902 and a tent was placed on the site in 1903. In 1906 the hilly terrain was graded at a cost of $200,000. At the same time the De Witt Clinton High School opened nearby on Tenth Avenue.
The park was designed by Samuel Parsons, Jr.
and was originally 7.4 acres (29,946.8 m²) and stretched nearly to the Hudson River
. It featured a recreation/bathing pavilion, gym
nasium, running track, playgrounds, and a series of curving paths with viewing desks of the Hudson River
and the Palisades
. The park’s centerpiece was a children’s farm garden, which operated from 1902 to 1932.
The farm which was the first of its kind in New York City was championed by Frances Griscom Parsons (no relation to the landscaper Samuel Parsons).
It featured flower beds, observation plots, a pergola, and 356 4' x 8' vegetable gardens each assigned to a “little farmer.”
The Atlantic Monthly describe the spot as it was about to be rehabilitated:
In 1930 a sculpture Flanders Field Memorial featuring a doughboy
by Burt Johnson
, a brother-in-law of Augustus Saint-Gaudens
, was dedicated in the park. Johnson also designed a similar statue in Doughboy Park
in Woodside, Queens
.
The gardens were discontinued in 1932 when 250 feet (76.2 m) wide swath on the west side of the park was removed to be used as part of the West Side Elevated Highway
. The removed earth was transported to Central Park
where it was used to fill in the Lower Reservoir for what would become the park's Great Lawn
. The park's unobstructed views of the Hudson were further diminished with the construction in 1935 of the New York Passenger Ship Terminal
.
In 1959 residents sought to soften the Hell's Kitchen and decided to name the neighborhood after the park.
In the 1980s and 1990s the area around the park had little residential population and it developed a reputation as an outpost for illegal drug use and homeless encampments. In October 1986 three teenagers murdered a homeless man in the park with a kitchen knife.
Various attempts to clean the park included an instance in 1995 a German
company set up a tent for seven months on the lawn for a dinner show production of Pomp Duck and Circumstance. The company promised to pay $100,000 for improvements to the park. The dinner show was intensely opposed by residents objected to commercialization of the neighborhood lone major park (Hell's Kitchen is the jurisdiction of Manhattan Community Board 4
which ranked 57th out of 59 Community Boards for open space in New York City).
Following the dinner show the park was extensively renovated with a new Erie Canal
Playground designed around a granite
outcropping. Other changes included new fencing and gates so that the park could be locked at night. A dog park
was added to a converted Bocce
court.
In 1998, legislation passed creating the 550 acres (2.2 km²) Hudson River Park
across the West Side Highway
from the park along the Hudson River between 59th Street (Manhattan)
and Battery Park
. The new park is a joint New York City and New York State park whereas the DeWitt Clinton Park is a city park. Currently there is no direct connection between the two parks. The New York Passenger Terminal is built along the entire west side.
In 2005, ENK International Trade Events applied to erect a tent for two weeks in September over the handball
and basketball
courts in exchange for some minor repairs to the park facilities for a Fashion week
event. After a subcommittee approved it, a storm of protest prompted the Community Board to veto it.
The fourth Internalional Quidditch
Association's World Cup was held in the park November 13–14, 2010.
52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
and 54th Street (Manhattan)
54th Street (Manhattan)
54th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-West Side Highway:*The route begins at the West Side Highway . Opposite the intersection is the New York Passenger Ship Terminal and the Hudson River...
and Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Eleventh Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the far West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, not far from the Hudson River. It carries downtown traffic only, south of West 44th Street, and two-way traffic north of it....
and the West Side Highway
West Side Highway
The West Side Highway is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A that runs from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, which was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
The park which was one of the first New York City parks in Manhattan on the working waterfront of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
is named for DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton
DeWitt Clinton was an early American politician and naturalist who served as United States Senator and the sixth Governor of New York. In this last capacity he was largely responsible for the construction of the Erie Canal...
who had created a business boom of Hudson commerce when he opened the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
.
It is the biggest New York City park in the neighborhood and since 1959 the neighborhood has frequently been referred to as "Clinton." It is the only park on the west side of Manhattan to have lighted ball fields.
The park was the first community garden in New York City.
Design
Samuel Parsons
Samuel H. Parsons Jr. . Parsons was a well-known American landscape architect remembered primarily for his "Beaux-Arts" designs in New York City, the development of Central Park, San Diego’s Balboa Park, and for serving as a founding member to the American Society of Landscape Architects...
encompassed a bigger park that was much less developed than the current park. The park was dramatically altered by the construction of the New York Passenger Ship Terminal
New York Passenger Ship Terminal
The New York Passenger Ship Terminal is a terminal for ocean-going passenger ships on Manhattan's west side....
on its west side. Since Navy requirements set length limits on piers, the city was able to lengthen the piers by removing land from Manhattan so that longer piers could be built that would not extend beyond the Navy limits.
In the shrinking of land, a 250 feet (76.2 m) wide swath on the west of the park was removed in the 1930s for the Terminal and West Side Elevated Highway
West Side Elevated Highway
The West Side Elevated Highway was an elevated section of Route NY-9A running along the Hudson River in the New York City borough of Manhattan to the tip of the island.It was an elevated highway, one of the first urban freeways in the world, and served as a...
.
Original design
Parsons described the park:- DeWitt Clinton Park is a children's play-ground situated on the banks of the Hudson River, bounded on the west by Twelfth Ave., on the south by 52nd Street, on the east by Eleventh Ave., and on the north by 54th Street, between nine and 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) in extent. This park is specially well arranged for the introduction of play-grounds. The borders on three sides are more or less steep and through the center extends a level plateau which has been made more level by grading. Walks wind up from all the four corners and at two intermediate points on one side and one on the other. The steepness of the ground makes it possible to produce a picturesque, park-like effect of trees and shrubs over a large extent of the territory. Natural rocks appear in several places throughout its surface. A broad path leads from the center of the park on Eleventh Ave. to a gymnasium ground surrounded by trees; and in front of this, on an undulating lawn of its own, is a fine music stand. Beyond this a farm garden for children has been established and five hundred or more little ones from this neighborhood farm their little plots throughout the season. Beyond this, in turn, on a high, steep bank overlooking the Hudson, extends a long pergola or arbor beneath which are rooms used as night schools by the farm children, where they are taught domestic economy.
Current design
The park's unobstructed views of the Hudson River and New Jersey PalisadesNew Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
have been affected by the construction of the New York Passenger Terminal (although a sidewalk along a sycamore
Sycamore
Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms....
lined curved path on the west side side is a popular vantage point for viewing cruise ships at the terminal). The children's garden was removed in 1932. The undulating lawn, music stands, and lengthy arbor have been removed. In their place is a fenced in lighted area for three baseball fields, an asphalt basketball and handball courts and a children's playground as well as a dog park
Dog park
A dog park is a facility set aside for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners...
.
History
Other buildings on the site were torn down in 1902 and a tent was placed on the site in 1903. In 1906 the hilly terrain was graded at a cost of $200,000. At the same time the De Witt Clinton High School opened nearby on Tenth Avenue.
The park was designed by Samuel Parsons, Jr.
Samuel Parsons
Samuel H. Parsons Jr. . Parsons was a well-known American landscape architect remembered primarily for his "Beaux-Arts" designs in New York City, the development of Central Park, San Diego’s Balboa Park, and for serving as a founding member to the American Society of Landscape Architects...
and was originally 7.4 acres (29,946.8 m²) and stretched nearly to the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. It featured a recreation/bathing pavilion, gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium, running track, playgrounds, and a series of curving paths with viewing desks of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and the Palisades
Palisades
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.Palisade or Palisades also may refer to:-Geology:United States...
. The park’s centerpiece was a children’s farm garden, which operated from 1902 to 1932.
The farm which was the first of its kind in New York City was championed by Frances Griscom Parsons (no relation to the landscaper Samuel Parsons).
It featured flower beds, observation plots, a pergola, and 356 4' x 8' vegetable gardens each assigned to a “little farmer.”
The Atlantic Monthly describe the spot as it was about to be rehabilitated:
- The most vivid imagination could not have conceived a more desolate spot than this was in the summer of 1902. Approached from the east, through filthy streets crowded with noisy, dirty urchins, it loomed up a dark blot upon the beautiful background of cool river, green hills, and blue sky. Rows of tumble-down houses, disused carts, piles of rubbish, stones, rags, and litter, among which the children played, made even the streets seem neat and orderly by comparison.
In 1930 a sculpture Flanders Field Memorial featuring a doughboy
Doughboy
Doughboy is an informal term for an American soldier, especially members of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. The term dates back to the Mexican–American War of 1846–48....
by Burt Johnson
Burt Johnson
Burt William Johnson was an American sculptor.Johnson was born in Flint, Ohio and moved to Claremont, California in 1907 to study at Pomona College, and then to New York City in 1909 to study at the Art Students League of New York. He worked with fellow sculptors James Earle Fraser and Louis St...
, a brother-in-law of Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
, was dedicated in the park. Johnson also designed a similar statue in Doughboy Park
Doughboy Park
Doughboy Park is a New York City public park in the Woodside neighborhood of Queens. It is located on a hilly parcel of land between Skillman Avenue and Woodside Avenue, and between 54th Street and 56th Street....
in Woodside, Queens
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
.
The gardens were discontinued in 1932 when 250 feet (76.2 m) wide swath on the west side of the park was removed to be used as part of the West Side Elevated Highway
West Side Elevated Highway
The West Side Elevated Highway was an elevated section of Route NY-9A running along the Hudson River in the New York City borough of Manhattan to the tip of the island.It was an elevated highway, one of the first urban freeways in the world, and served as a...
. The removed earth was transported to Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
where it was used to fill in the Lower Reservoir for what would become the park's Great Lawn
Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park
The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond, Central Park, are inseparable features of New York City's Central Park.-History:The lawn and pond occupy the almost flat site of the rectangular, thirty-five-acre Lower Reservoir constructed in 1842, which was an unalterable fixture of the location of Central Park as...
. The park's unobstructed views of the Hudson were further diminished with the construction in 1935 of the New York Passenger Ship Terminal
New York Passenger Ship Terminal
The New York Passenger Ship Terminal is a terminal for ocean-going passenger ships on Manhattan's west side....
.
In 1959 residents sought to soften the Hell's Kitchen and decided to name the neighborhood after the park.
In the 1980s and 1990s the area around the park had little residential population and it developed a reputation as an outpost for illegal drug use and homeless encampments. In October 1986 three teenagers murdered a homeless man in the park with a kitchen knife.
Various attempts to clean the park included an instance in 1995 a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
company set up a tent for seven months on the lawn for a dinner show production of Pomp Duck and Circumstance. The company promised to pay $100,000 for improvements to the park. The dinner show was intensely opposed by residents objected to commercialization of the neighborhood lone major park (Hell's Kitchen is the jurisdiction of Manhattan Community Board 4
Manhattan Community Board 4
The Manhattan Community Board 4 is a local government unit of New York City, encompassing the neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea in the borough of Manhattan...
which ranked 57th out of 59 Community Boards for open space in New York City).
Following the dinner show the park was extensively renovated with a new Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
Playground designed around a granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
outcropping. Other changes included new fencing and gates so that the park could be locked at night. A dog park
Dog park
A dog park is a facility set aside for dogs to exercise and play off-leash in a controlled environment under the supervision of their owners...
was added to a converted Bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
court.
In 1998, legislation passed creating the 550 acres (2.2 km²) Hudson River Park
Hudson River Park
Hudson River Park is a waterside park on the Hudson River that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Bicycle and pedestrian paths, including the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, span the park north to south, opening up the waterfront for...
across the West Side Highway
West Side Highway
The West Side Highway is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A that runs from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern tip of Manhattan. It replaced the West Side Elevated Highway, built between 1929 and 1951, which was shut down in 1973 due to neglect and lack of...
from the park along the Hudson River between 59th Street (Manhattan)
59th Street (Manhattan)
59th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan runs east-west, from York Avenue to the West Side Highway, with a discontinuity between Ninth Avenue/Columbus Avenue and Eighth Avenue/Central Park West for the Time Warner Center. Although it is bi-directional for most of its length, the...
and Battery Park
Battery Park
Battery Park is a 25-acre public park located at the Battery, the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City, facing New York Harbor. The Battery is named for artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years in order to protect the settlement behind them...
. The new park is a joint New York City and New York State park whereas the DeWitt Clinton Park is a city park. Currently there is no direct connection between the two parks. The New York Passenger Terminal is built along the entire west side.
In 2005, ENK International Trade Events applied to erect a tent for two weeks in September over the handball
American handball
American handball is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against a wall using their hands.- History :...
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
courts in exchange for some minor repairs to the park facilities for a Fashion week
Fashion Week
A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know...
event. After a subcommittee approved it, a storm of protest prompted the Community Board to veto it.
The fourth Internalional Quidditch
Quidditch
Quidditch is a fictional sport developed by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of novels. It is described as an extremely rough, but very popular, semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world...
Association's World Cup was held in the park November 13–14, 2010.