Queensbridge Park

What was here before?

Dr. Thomas Rainey (1824-1910), a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, spent twenty-five years of his life and most of his fortune advancing the construction of a bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City.  The area that now accommodates Rainey Park (just to the north) was to be the Queens anchor for the “Blackwell Island Bridge.”  The bridge, planned with one ramp south to Brooklyn and another out to Long Island, was promoted as a catalyst for developing growth in Queens and as a railroad link to Long Island. The effort fell apart during the financial Panic of 1873, but interest in building a bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan continued. 

On July 19, 1901, construction on the Queensboro Bridge began. After several delays, including a lengthy steel strike, the final link in the superstructure was completed in 1908.  One year later, the bridge opened to traffic, at the cost of $20 million and fifty lives. The original 1909 configuration of the bridge accommodated six lanes for motor vehicles, four pairs of trolley tracks, two elevated subway lines, and lanes for pedestrians and bicyclists.  By the 1930s, this connection with Manhattan had transformed Queens from a rural outpost into a borough with a population of over two million by the 1950s. The bridge was renamed the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge in 2011 to honor the former mayor.

How did this site become a park?

The City acquired the land that is now Queensbridge “Baby” Park in 1939.  The nearby Queensbridge Houses, which opened in 1939, entitled the New York City Housing Authority to jurisdiction over the land.  However, NYC Parks has since maintained the site as parkland. The surface rights under the bridge span were assigned to Parks in 1943. 

For several years, much of Queensbridge “Baby” Park housed maintenance facilities and satellite offices for Parks, as well as several handball courts and a bike path. The park is under construction until 2026, which will transform the site into an open green space, with a seating area, ping pong tables, a paved plaza with a labyrinth motif, and improvements to the landscaping.

What is this park named for?

Queensbridge “Baby” Park is small appendage of the larger Queensbridge Park, which derives its name from the nearby bridge.