Crotona Parkway Malls

What was here before?
This area was once the land of the Lenape which stretched from the Hudson Valley to Delaware. They used the nearby Bronx River which they called Aquahung. During the 19th century, this was the site of tenements, single family homes, and businesses. It was cleared away and the land was transferred to the city for purposes of a park.

How did this site become parkland?
The Crotona Parkway Malls were designed to follow Crotona Parkway for nine blocks between Crotona Park and Bronx Park. The parkway opened in 1910, replacing an earlier unpaved road known as Penfold Street. On the east side of the malls is Southern Boulevard, a grand thoroughfare built in the 1870s and extends from East 133rd Street and Third Avenue to the New York Botanical Garden. 

On the mall between East Tremont Avenue and East 178th Street is a stone obelisk commemorating a fire that broke out in the Happy Land Social Club on March 25, 1990, killing 87 people. The memorial, composed of a rose-colored granite obelisk and wall with the names of those lost, was erected in 1995. It is located opposite the site of the former social club and serves as a gathering space for friends and families.

Drainage upgrades were made to the section of Crotona Parkway Malls between Fairmount Place and East 179th Street in 2005and between East 178th Street and East Tremont Avenue in 2015. These improvements are part of the Green Infrastructure Program, a multiagency effort that promotes the natural movement of storm water runoff from streets, sidewalks, parking lots and rooftops and directing it to engineered naturalistic systems that typically feature soils, stones, and vegetation. This process prevents storm water runoff from entering the city’s combined sewer system.

Who is this site named for?
These malls are named after Crotona Park, the largest park in the southern portion of the Bronx, and the sixth largest park in the borough. Crotona is named after Croton, a Greek colony known for its athletes. Croton is also the name of the old New York City aqueduct.