William F Moore Park

What was here before?
The Munsee used the forests, marshes, and meadowland around Flushing Creek as hunting grounds before Europeans arrived. The area, then part of the village of Newtown, remained sparsely populated farmland for over a century. John H. Smith established Shady Lake Farm (also called Yankee Smith’s Farm because of northern New York origins) in 1837 around a kettle pond formed by retreating glaciers a block south of this property. Smith harvested and sold ice from the pond in the winter and opened it to the public for picnicking in the summer.

With railroad development, the town grew quickly. By the nineteenth century, newly planned roads created this triangular plot of land. Homes and buildings were built along the triangle’s border, but it remained undeveloped for the next several decades.

How did this site become a park?
This triangle was mapped as parkland in 1922 and acquired by the City by condemnation in 1924. Originally known as Corona Heights Triangle, in 1929 it was renamed to commemorate Wiliam F. Moore, reported to be the first neighborhood soldier killed in World War I. After 1929 a 40-foot strip of land along 51st Avenue was taken from the park to widen the street.

Local law named the southern tip of the park Joseph Lisa Memorial Place after Joseph Lisa, Sr. (1898–1977), Democratic District Leader from Corona from 1950 to 1976. A tablet honors his work in the community.

The park was renovated in 1980, including a bocce court and new lights. It was unofficially referred to as “Spaghetti Park” by the community, which was formerly made up of Italian descendants.

Who is this park named for?
William F. Moore (1897–1918) was a Marine private killed in battle during World War I (1914-1918). A graduate of PS 17, Moore grew up nearby on the corner of 103rd Street and Corona Avenue. Moore enlisted in the Marine Corps in April 1917 and was killed in 1918 while serving with the 47th Company, Fifth Regiment at Belleau Wood in France, in one of the bloodiest engagements fought by the United States during the war. The flagstaff’s engraved granite base commemorates Moore and his valiant sacrifice.