Grant Park

Parks & Recreation Cuts Ribbon On Phase II Of The Bronx’s New Grant Park

Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe today joined representatives of Community Board 4, students from P.S. 88, and residents to celebrate completion of the second phase of construction at Grant Park in the Bronx. The $1.1 million project included a decorative entranceway and bench-lined pathways with flowering trees and shrubs grouped around a central lawn. A 7-foot perimeter fence and safety lighting were added to complete the project. Phase I of the project was completed in September 2003.

"This project marks the continued development of Grant Park into a multi-use space for New Yorkers young and old," said Commissioner Benepe. "Thanks to funding from the construction of the Croton Filtration Plant, we are making tremendous progress in revitalizing Bronx parks. Grant Park is just one example of this effort, and we look forward to further progress throughout the borough over the next few years."

The project was made possible with funds from the City’s Croton Water Filtration Plant agreement, which includes more than $220 million generated from water and sewer revenue for improvements to Bronx parks.

Phase I of the plan was completed in 2003 and was funded by the City Council at a cost of $1.5 million. It featured climbing equipment, slides and swings with safety surfacing, a spray shower, benches and checker tables. The park was originally named Grant Avenue Park and was renamed Grant Park on April 29, 1998.

Grant Park was acquired by Parks & Recreation in 1995 and officially named on April 29, 1998. The park is named for Ulysses S. Grant, 18^th president of the United States, who served two terms from 1869 to 1877. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Grant was a brilliant strategist who won repeated victories in the West before President Lincoln appointed him commander in chief of the Union army during the Civil War. In April 1865, Grant’s Union army closed in on Robert E. Lee’s Confederate troops, ending the Civil War and uniting the Country.

Grant went on to become the country’s first general in 1866 and Secretary of War in 1867. He retired to New York City in 1884 and died in July of 1885. Grant’s Tomb is a National Memorial on Riverside Drive at West 122^nd Street and is the largest mausoleum in the United States.