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123-667: Annually there are a total of four regional championship races (usually in late November), that lead up to the national championship in San Diego in December. The Northeast Region comprises most of the states in New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont) plus Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. After being held at Van Cortlandt Park in

246-451: A 10-minute walk , provides multiple benefits. A park is an area of open space provided for recreational use, usually owned and maintained by a local government. Grass is typically kept short to discourage insect pests and to allow for the enjoyment of picnics and sporting activities. Trees are chosen for their beauty and to provide shade , with an increasing emphasis on reducing an urban heat island effect. Some early parks include

369-510: A metamorphic rock that is very hard to weather . The Tibbetts Brook valley is set in Inwood marble , which weathers more easily. The east side of the park near Indian Field contains Yonkers granite, an igneous rock that mixed with Fordham gneiss as a hot magma before later cooling. Van Cortlandt Park contains the Bronx's largest freshwater lake , the eponymous Van Cortlandt Lake. The lake

492-504: A nursery needed to be built to transport the plants during the garden's reconstruction. The rustic wooden bridges were to be replaced with stone bridges, while the wooden stairs were to be superseded by stone stairs. Not only did many plants die during the process, but the actual rebuilding was delayed until 1911. Two years later, the Parks Commissioner for the Bronx refused to allocate reconstruction funds because, he stated,

615-461: A park conservancy , "friends of" group, or private sector company. Depending on size, budget, and land features, which varies considerably among individual parks, common features include playgrounds , gardens , hiking, running, fitness trails or paths, bridle paths , sports fields and courts, public restrooms, boat ramps, performance venues, or BBQ and picnic facilities. Park advocates claim that having parks near urban residents, including within

738-626: A 1910s excavation for a sewer pipe, stones were unearthed that were suspected to be from the old van der Donck estate. During World War I , the Parade Ground was used to train soldiers. Eight tennis courts opened in 1914 with admission being $ 1 per person, and owing to the Van Cortlandt Golf Course's immense popularity, the Mosholu Links also opened that year. By 1917, the Parade Ground contained 10 out of

861-399: A boat. To thwart robbers, besieged golfers quit playing in traditional foursomes and instead ventured forth in football-team-sized units. Some players added an extra club—a night stick—or tucked tear gas spray into their golf bags." Years later, one writer recalled that dozens of the course's trees died, and "flagsticks were reduced to broken bamboo poles stuck into the ground." Weeds overgrew

984-556: A need for a larger water supply. Major David Bates Douglass was appointed to perform engineering studies on the future Old Croton Aqueduct in March 1833. Douglass made estimates for the new aqueduct in 1833–1834 and John Martineau performed a separate study in 1834. Both found the proposed route, which ran through the present-day park, to be okay. Thus, in 1837, construction started on the Aqueduct, which ran 41 miles (66 km) from

1107-478: A sawmill, creating a mill pond at the site where the lake is. Later, he also added a gristmill. The sawmill was relocated around 1823 and stayed in operation until 1889. The gristmill was destroyed by lightning in 1901. By the time the park was created, Van Cortlandt Lake needed to be cleaned, as cesspools in Yonkers had leaked sewage into Tibbetts Brook, which fed into the lake. A 1903 annual report from

1230-423: A series of culverts before draining into the south edge of the lake at approximately West 242nd Street. There are efforts to daylight this south end into the former New York and Putnam Railroad right-of-way that runs through the park as part of the park's faster plan. There is no surviving documentation for the creation of Van Cortlandt Lake. In 1699, Jacobus Van Cortlandt dammed Tibbetts Brook to power

1353-549: A sprawling lawn dubbed the "Parade Ground," while the Van Cortlandt House was converted into a public museum. The construction of the Parade Ground required demolition of a few old buildings and cornfields. The Parade Ground was immediately used by the National Guard for brigade practice, replacing the parade ground of Prospect Park . The ground received unspecified "improvements" in 1893–1894. With

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1476-415: A study to determine the specific elements of the park that needed restoration. Highway structures were also reconfigured to clean runoff from these structures. An excavation in the 1990s yielded over 2,500 artifacts. A set of tennis courts were proposed within the park east of the Van Cortlandt House in the 1990s; despite concerns from preservationists, though the courts were approved. The city built

1599-418: Is 4 to 8 feet (1.2 to 2.4 m) deep at various times of year, and has an area of 18 acres (7.3 ha). The lake is used for recreational fishing, as it includes species such as largemouth bass , black crappie , brown bullhead , bluegill , pumpkinseed , golden shiner , common carp , white sucker , and yellow perch . It is fed by Tibbetts Brook , a stream originating in Yonkers, which runs through

1722-438: Is a park or botanical garden in cities , densely populated suburbia and other incorporated places that offers green space and places for recreation to residents and visitors. Urban parks are generally landscaped by design, instead of lands left in their natural state. The design, operation and maintenance is usually done by government agencies, typically on the local level, but may occasionally be contracted out to

1845-1176: Is a 1,146-acre (464 ha) park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City . Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation , it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-largest, was named for the Van Cortlandt family , which was prominent in the area during the Dutch and English colonial periods. Van Cortlandt Park's sports facilities include golf courses and several miles of paths for running, as well as facilities for baseball , basketball , cricket , cross-country running , football , horseback riding , lacrosse , rugby , soccer , softball , swimming , tennis and track and field . The park also contains five major hiking trails and other walking trails. Its natural features include Tibbetts Brook; Van Cortlandt Lake ,

1968-455: Is considered by many to be the most potent region with the most runners appearing in the national championship. States included in the west: California, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Wyoming, and Overseas Military. This regional race is generally conducted at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California and is generally a week later than

2091-711: Is declared based on which region had won the meet. There have only been a total of six girls and five boys who have repeated as Foot Locker national champions. None have been national champions three times at the Kinney/FL Cross Country Championships. There have been a total of sixteen Foot Locker Champions to win NCAA Titles in Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field, or Outdoor Track and Field, including eleven men and five women. Van Cortlandt Park Van Cortlandt Park

2214-543: Is held at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside yearly. The South Region is made up of states in the southern and southeastern United States including: Florida, Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Louisiana. The South Region event is held annually at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. The West Region

2337-638: Is known as the Peach War . This forced the settlers, including van der Donck's widow, to flee to Manhattan. Following the takeover of the New Netherland colony by the British in 1664, the claim to the estate was awarded to Hugh O'Neale, the new husband of van der Donck's widow. Because the O'Neales lived far away from the land, the claim was awarded to O'Neale's brother-in-law and van der Donck's widow's brother, Elias Doughty, who proceeded to sell off

2460-492: Is the park's only east–west trail that connects the three northern forested areas. It was established in 1997. Various species of trees and flowering plants can be seen along the trail, such as northern red oak , sweetgum, and tulips . There is a large, steep hill in the center of the trail. Urban park An urban park or metropolitan park , also known as a city park , municipal park (North America), public park , public open space , or municipal gardens ( UK ),

2583-560: Is the third-largest park in New York City, behind the Staten Island Greenbelt (1,778 acres (720 ha)) and Pelham Bay Park (2,772 acres (1,122 ha)). It has numerous attractions and features that are both recreational and educational. The different parts of Van Cortlandt Park have a varied geology. The Northwest Woods and Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway have a steep terrain dotted with Fordham gneiss ,

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2706-533: The Bronx River Parkway , and Pelham Parkway between Jerome Avenue and Pelham Bay Park. By the 1960s, large portions of the park, such as Tibbetts Brook, were being polluted by human activity; in addition, the brook now flowed into the Broadway sewer at the south end of Van Cortlandt Lake. Pollution from upstream and the highways, and spillover of chemicals used in the golf course, killed fish in

2829-546: The Croton Water Filtration Plant , a drinking water treatment facility, under the park's Mosholu Golf Course. Plant operations began in 2015. The plant was needed in order to filter contaminants from urban runoff pollution in the Croton River watershed and protect the public from Giardia and Cryptosporidium , microorganisms which can cause serious health problems. The Croton plant

2952-562: The La Alameda de Hércules , in Seville , a promenaded public mall, urban garden and park built in 1574, within the historic center of Seville. The Városliget ( City Park ) in the City of Pest , what is today Budapest, Hungary , was a city property when afforestation started in the middle of the 18th century, from the 1790s with the clear aim to create a public park. Between 1799 and 1805 it

3075-622: The New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera performed in the field during the summer. However, it too had deteriorated because of intensive use: the grounds' topsoil had eroded away and the sidewalks started to buckle. In 1978, the Perrier Company donated a fitness trail consisting of 12 exercise machines to the park; there were originally supposed to be 18 machines, but the extra six machines were deemed unnecessary. Two shuffleboard courts were also installed in

3198-658: The Unami language . The strip of land on the Hudson River's east bank, between the current-day Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Yonkers , was sold to the Dutch West India Company in the early 17th century. Adriaen van der Donck , a Dutch settler, bought the land from the company in 1646. Van der Donck also paid the Indian chief Tacharew, whose tribe used to live on the land, as a friendly gesture. He named

3321-623: The Village of Yorkville Park in Toronto , which won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Parks are sometimes made out of oddly shaped areas of land, much like the vacant lots that often become city neighborhood parks. Linked parks may form a greenbelt . There is a form of an urban park in the UK (officially called a "recreation ground", but commonly called a "rec" by

3444-480: The national championship in San Diego, with each region also sending two alternates. From 1981–2004, the race had 32 runners, with each region sending eight. In 1979–1980, there were 35 runners from five regions. The number of divisions vastly differs on the region, however there are races set aside for specific age groups and one or two open events sponsored by Nike for athletes not in high school (parents, fans, supporters) to compete in. The West Regional contains

3567-557: The Bronx, New York for its first 30 years, in 2009 it moved to Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park, Long Island, before moving back to Van Cortlandt Park in 2012. The Midwest Region comprises the heartland states and is by far the largest region in the FLCCC series, which has states including: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan. This event

3690-650: The Croton River upstate to the New York Public Library Main Branch and Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan . The project was built by 3,000–4,000 laborers who completed the entire aqueduct in five years. The aqueduct's builders constructed a gatehouse within the present-day park to provide access to the aqueduct's interior. The old aqueduct was supplemented by the New Croton Aqueduct in 1890, which also ran through

3813-589: The Croton Water Filtration Plant project, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection was given $ 200 million to mitigate the effects of constructing the plant. A feasibility study in 2009 found that a bridge near the location of 233rd Street was the most feasible, and would connect the two sections of the trail. This bridge was deferred over lack of funding in 2014 before planning resumed in 2015. The John Kieran Nature Trail (1.25 miles (2.01 km), easy), which connects to

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3936-539: The Mosholu Golf Course, was also built using Croton mitigation funds. As part of the "Van Cortlandt Park Master Plan 2034", critical ecological elements of the park, such as the forest, the rural landscape, and Tibbetts Brook, would be restored, and the brook would be diverted. As of March 2014 when the report was written, the lack of natural drainage points within Van Cortlandt Park led to

4059-540: The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation mentioned that the lake had probably not been cleaned since the mid-18th century, and now contained a layer of "refuse and vegetation on top, and an ooze two to three feet deep on the bottom," with qualities more like a "semi-bog." Cleaning of the lake started in 1903. The lake's original earthen dam was removed, the lake was emptied, and 30,000 cubic yards (23,000 m ) of deposits were dredged from

4182-579: The Parade Grounds the same year, but went unused because of a lack of playing equipment. In response to studies and accounts that showed the bad condition of the lake, the state restored the fish population of the lake in 1978. In 1977, the Bronx Borough Board created a special committee to oversee and develop plans for improving Van Cortlandt Park. The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park soon came up with its own suggestions to improve

4305-581: The Parks Department proposed to dredge the swamp and create a lake in its stead, but despite this plan receiving $ 70,000 in funding in 1906, it was deemed "not feasible" to drain the swamp directly into the Broadway sewer. Another plan to remove the swamps in the park's southwest was approved in 1904. The plan was to build an athletic field in the southwest swamp's place, but all swamp-infill proposals for this sector were rejected in 1917. By 1922, there were 23 acres (9.3 ha) of swampland left in

4428-546: The Putnam Branch tracks, and a fungicide with 8.5% cadmium content that was being sprayed on the golf course. A year later, a private landscaping firm estimated that it would cost $ 4–7 million to restore the Van Cortlandt Lake. By this point, the lake was so dirty that a small boat could not float on it, even though the lake was 15 feet (4.6 m) deep. Catfish were the only fish that could survive in

4551-549: The Putnam Trail, opened in 1987 and is named after local writer and naturalist John Kieran. The path features 13 stone pillars, each made of a different variety of stone, that were tested for the facade of Grand Central Terminal during the terminal's construction . The variety eventually chosen was Indiana limestone because it was cheap. The trail hugs the edge of the Van Cortlandt Lake and Tibbetts Brook marsh. The John Muir Trail (1.5 miles (2.4 km), moderate)

4674-602: The UK, with around 2.6 billion visits to parks each year. Many parks are of cultural and historical interest, with 300 registered by Historic England as of national importance. Most public parks have been provided and run by local authorities over the past hundred and seventy years, but these authorities have no statutory duty to fund or maintain these public parks. In 2016 the Heritage Lottery Fund 's State of UK Public Parks reported that "92 per cent of park managers report their maintenance budgets have reduced in

4797-522: The United States and the world, though cow grazing did not end until the 1830s. Around the country, the predecessors to urban parks in the United States were generally rural cemeteries . The cemeteries were intended as civic institutions designed for public use. Before the widespread development of public parks, the rural cemetery provided a place for the general public to enjoy outdoor recreation amidst art and sculpture previously available only for

4920-785: The United States are Central Park in New York, Lincoln Park in Chicago, Mission Bay Park in San Diego. In the early 1900s, according to Cranz, U.S. cities built neighborhood parks with swimming pools, playgrounds and civic buildings, with the intention of Americanizing the immigrant residents. In the 1950s, when money became available after World War II , new parks continued to focus on both outdoor and indoor recreation with services, such as sports leagues using their ball fields and gymnasia. These smaller parks were built in residential neighborhoods, and tried to serve all residents with programs for seniors, adults, teens and children. Green space

5043-541: The Van Cortlandt Course during winters. Also in the late 1960s, the city decided to build a series of public pools on the site of the Colonial Garden, consisting of a diving, a swimming, and a wading pool. Construction on the $ 1.5 million pools started in early 1969 and was completed by 1970. Because of the swampy nature of the ground underneath it, the pools soon began to crackle and set. By 1979,

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5166-529: The Van Cortlandt Golf Course compounded the lake's dirty condition, and by 1912, the lake and brook contained significant sedimentation. Nearby residents also disliked the wetlands near the lake, as they could be used to breed malaria -borne mosquitoes, and were thus seen as "unsightly and unsanitary." In 1896, they proposed to fill the wetlands in, and the infill proposal was funded by the New York City Board of Estimate in 1899. Subsequently,

5289-567: The Van Cortlandt House on the former Tippett property, but died before its completion. The Van Cortlandts did not primarily live in that house, instead staying in Manhattan most of the time. A family burial ground was created in 1749, later to be known as "Vault Hill." Frederick, who was buried in Vault Hill, had willed the massive home and surrounding lands to his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727–1787). The Van Cortlandt family land

5412-609: The Van Cortlandt House on the property, but died before its completion. Later, the land was used during the Revolutionary War when the Stockbridge militia was destroyed by the Queen's Rangers . In 1888, the family property was sold to the City of New York and made into a public parkland. The Van Cortlandt House, later designated as a historic landmark, was converted into a public museum, and new paths were created across

5535-494: The city border. The new course, which started at the original polo fields, did not conflict with either of the golf courses. In 1922, there was a proposal to acquire land for the future Saw Mill River Parkway , which would connect the park to 424 acres (172 ha) of open space in Westchester when completed. Through the 1930s, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation kept adding new recreational facilities in

5658-654: The city purchase the property. Around the same time, New York Herald editor John Mullaly pushed for the creation of parks in New York City, particularly lauding the Van Cortlandt and Pell families' properties in the western and eastern Bronx respectively. He formed the New York Park Association in November 1881. There were objections to the system, which would apparently be too far from Manhattan, in addition to precluding development on

5781-493: The city to propose alternate sites for the plant. The plant was built 160 feet (49 m) below the Mosholu Golf Course, at a cost of $ 3.2 billion. To lessen the disruption caused by the plant's construction, in 2010 the city used mitigation funds from the construction budget to restore the Van Cortlandt Park Parade Ground. The Sachkerah Woods Playground, located at the park's southeast corner near

5904-463: The city's approval, particularly overgrown areas of the property were made passable. Wide walking paths were built over original walkways, including the thin paths that led to the Van Cortlandt family cemetery, high on the nearby bluffs. "Certain lands" around the house were then filled in for the purpose of creating a "Colonial Garden," which was proposed in 1897. During excavation of the grounds, Indian artifacts and graves were found, corresponding to

6027-496: The confines of a serpentine carriageway, put in place the essential elements of his much-imitated design for Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead . The latter commenced in 1843 with the help of public finance and deployed the ideas which Paxton had pioneered at Princes Park on a more expansive scale. Frederick Law Olmsted visited Birkenhead Park in 1850 and praised its qualities. Indeed, Paxton is widely credited as having been one of

6150-433: The course, and golfers would wear long-sleeved shirts to ward off against the city's insufficient mosquito repellents. Homeless squatters moved into the park, while courses fell into disrepair, replaced by dirt tracks and "huts and forts" built by neighborhood kids. In 1985, the city licensed control of the courses to Los Angeles -based American Golf Corporation for 60 years, leading to their restoration. Other parts of

6273-453: The designed landscape as a setting for the suburban domicile (an idea pioneered by John Nash at Regent's Park in London) and re-fashioned it for the provincial town in a most original way. Nash's remodelling of St James's Park from 1827 and the sequence of processional routes he created to link The Mall with Regent's Park completely transformed the appearance of London's West End . With

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6396-499: The establishment of Princes Park in 1842, Joseph Paxton did something similar for the benefit of a provincial town, albeit one of international stature by virtue of its flourishing mercantile sector. Liverpool had a burgeoning presence in global maritime trade before 1800, and during the Victorian era its wealth rivalled that of London itself. The form and layout of Paxton's ornamental grounds, structured about an informal lake within

6519-501: The fact that Luther R. Marsh, vice president of the New York Park Association, owned land near Van Cortlandt Park in particular. Opponents argued that building a park system would divert funds from more important infrastructure like schools and docks; that everyone in the city, instead of just the property owners near the proposed park, was required to pay taxes to pay for the parks' construction; and that since Marsh

6642-530: The first recorded people to inhabit in the area now referred to as Van Cortlandt Park. They settled in the area around the 14th or 15th centuries. The Lenapes used the geographic features of the area to support their community; for instance, they used the Tibbetts Brook , Spuyten Duyvil Creek , or Hudson River for fishing, and flatland areas for farming. They formed a village named Keskeskick, whose name roughly translates to "sharp grass or sedge marsh" in

6765-432: The flooding of recreational areas within the park during heavy rains. The park's paths would also be restored with the addition of three new pedestrian bridges; a playground; four activity centers, of which two would be outdoors and two would be indoors; a skate park; an athletic field; and three basketball courts built within the park. "Comfort stations" and food concessions would also be added. The Van Cortlandt Golf Course

6888-408: The following June. Besides plants, the garden had rustic wooden bridges and wooden stairs and a "handsome fountain and central court." A "Shakespeare Garden" was also opened that year, with a grand stairway leading down to it. The next year, park officials realized that the Colonial Garden's construction was of poor quality and hard to cultivate. The garden had to be raised 3.5 feet (1.1 m), and

7011-655: The following additional divisions: The South Regional contains the following additional divisions: The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, then referred to as the Kinney Cross Country Championships started off as a small event in San Diego, California in 1979. The races moved to Orlando for the 1981 and 1982 national championships, but quickly was moved back to Balboa Park in San Diego in 1983. Additional races run in Orlando were held in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. The Orlando course

7134-525: The forests. The stock of younger, replacement trees in the old-growth forest had relatively little diversity compared to other natural forests. In 1979, New York City Councilwoman June Eisland released a report on Van Cortlandt Park. The report noted that pollutants from the Major Deegan Expressway were entering Van Cortlandt Lake, and that the park ecosystem was also being harmed by inadequate drainage, soil sterilants that were used on

7257-779: The form of walking, running, horse riding, mountain biking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing; or sedentary activity such as observing nature, bird watching, painting, photography, or picnicking. Limiting park or open space use to passive recreation over all or a portion of the park's area eliminates or reduces the burden of managing active recreation facilities and developed infrastructure. Many ski resorts combine active recreation facilities (ski lifts, gondolas, terrain parks, downhill runs, and lodges) with passive recreation facilities (cross-country ski trails). Many smaller neighborhood parks are receiving increased attention and valuation as significant community assets and places of refuge in heavily populated urban areas. Neighborhood groups around

7380-454: The former Van Cortlandt Park station can be seen along the trail. As part of the park's 2034 master plan, NYC Parks undertook a project to pave the entirety of the trail through Van Cortlandt Park as well as a short extension to the south, making it usable for both pedestrians and bicyclists. A construction contract for the paving project was awarded in October 2018 to Grace Industries, and it

7503-449: The garden looked just fine. Under threat of tearing the garden down, the city had to find money to fill and drain the ground. The rebuilding contract was awarded in 1909 and completed by 1911. Various adjustments were made over succeeding years. A network of roads through the park was built soon after, allowing the construction of picnic areas and hiking trails as well as making the forests more accessible to visitors. A stone memorial

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7626-469: The house to deceive the British into thinking that his troops were still on the grounds. Washington used the house one final time in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris . The British had just withdrawn their troops from Manhattan, and Washington and George Clinton were getting ready to enter the island, stopping over at the house before doing so. In the 1830s, officials in a rapidly expanding New York City saw

7749-476: The lake and forest, which had been overtaken by invasive species introduced during highway construction. Since then, there have been seven plans for restoring natural elements of the park, as well as three plans for park restoration. Gradual improvements began taking place in the late 1980s, including the addition of new pathways, signage, and security, as well as the restoration of playgrounds and other recreational facilities. In January 1988, NYC Parks conducted

7872-415: The lake bed. A new 2,270-foot (690 m) retaining wall was then erected along the lake's eastern shore, and a new dam was installed to reform the lake and to allow future cleaning of the lake without having to dredge it. After the opening of an overflow drain in 1911–1912, which connected to the sewer under Broadway completed in 1907, Tibbetts Brook was directed into the new sewer, The construction of

7995-753: The lake was used by up to 3,000 skaters on weekdays and 10,000 on weekends. The ice-skating house, shared with the golf course, was added in 1902. By 1935, the lake was used by approximately 20,000 skaters daily. There are several old-growth forests with tree species and genera such as black oak , hickory , beech , cherry birch , sweetgum , red maple , and tuliptree . The forests also contain wild turkeys , red-tailed hawks , great horned owls , bats , Eastern chipmunks , Eastern gray squirrels , groundhogs , gypsy moths , Eastern cottontail rabbits , striped skunks , North American raccoons , Virginia opossums , white-tailed deer and Eastern coyotes . In addition, over 130 species of butterflies can be found in

8118-525: The lake water. The city of Yonkers eventually attributed the cause of the Van Cortlandt Lake's pollution to four storm sewers that were found to be illegally connected to Tibbetts Brook upstream. The utter disrepair in the park prompted some informal rules at the park's golf courses. For instance, the Los Angeles Times noted that "a player was allowed to drop his ball a club length away if it rolled up against an abandoned auto, or, in one case,

8241-432: The lake's surface area was being lost to sedimentation every year. In addition, an algal bloom caused the lake to be in a low-oxygen condition, endangering plants and animals in and around the lake. "Unpleasant odors" in the summer also reduced recreational opportunities on the lake, and these conditions combined made it virtually impossible to come into contact with the lake's water without getting sick. By 1976, there

8364-496: The lake. This problem was first noticed in May 1961 when thousands of dead bass , pickerel , catfish , perch , and carp floated up at the edge of the lake. The mass-death of fish was blamed on siltation, Three years later, fish were still being killed by siltation. City investigators took water samples from the lake and found that they contained large amounts of weeds and sediment . About 22,000 square feet (2,000 m ) of

8487-525: The land " Colen Donck " and built a house upon the land. The house was built between current-day Van Cortlandt Lake and Broadway . It faced south, probably because this was the location of a natural marshland. What is now the parade ground was used by van der Donck for farming. Van der Donck died in 1655. That year the Munsee bands that lived in the lower Hudson River valley briefly occupied New Amsterdam and attacked Pavonia and Staten Island during what

8610-497: The land part of the Philipsburg Manor , which extended from Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Croton River in modern Westchester County . Philipse's wife died, and he remarried Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt's daughter, herself a widow. Philipse's daughter Eva later married Jacobus Van Cortlandt , who was Mrs. Philipse's brother. The land that Van Cortlandt Park now occupies was acquired by Van Cortlandt from Philipse in

8733-525: The large amount of open space and natural habitat in the former pleasure grounds, they now serve as important wildlife refuges, and often provide the only opportunity for urban residents to hike or picnic in a semi-wild area. However, city managers or politicians can target these parks as sources of free land for other uses. Partly for this reason, some of these large parks have "friends of X park" advisory boards that help protect and maintain their semi-wild nature. There are around estimated 27,000 public parks in

8856-515: The largest freshwater lake in the Bronx; old-growth forests; and outcrops of Fordham gneiss and Inwood marble . Contained within the park is the Van Cortlandt House , the oldest known surviving house in the Bronx, and the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in the country. The land that Van Cortlandt Park now occupies was purchased by Jacobus Van Cortlandt from John Barrett around 1691. His son Frederick built

8979-400: The locker rooms were heavily vandalized and the diving pool had been closed. The city's fiscal crisis in the 1970s caused the rest of the park to fall into disrepair. A dearth of funds exacerbated the pollution of the park. Hands-on education programs at the park were reduced to passive observations of flora and fauna. Elsewhere in the park, excessive foot traffic was eroding the soil in

9102-501: The mid-to-late 1690s. In 1699, Van Cortlandt dammed Tibbetts Brook in order to power a sawmill (and later, a gristmill , ), creating Van Cortlandt Lake as a mill pond in the process. In 1732, Van Cortlandt acquired an additional parcel from the Tippett family. The estate was then passed on to Jacobus's son Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699–1749) and family in 1739; it was once a vast grain plantation. In 1748, Frederick built

9225-533: The national championships. The course is winded in a figure-8 fashion through the Morley Field portion of the nearly 5 km (1.9 sq mi) park. There is no shortage of hills and mounds, which makes this course the definitive cross country course. (Although the San Diego venue has always been Balboa Park, the Championships in 1979 and 1980 were run on a course other than Morley Field—a course on

9348-567: The need to provide substantial space to congregate, typically involves intensive management, maintenance, and high costs. Passive recreation, also called "low-intensity recreation" is that which emphasizes the open-space aspect of a park and allows for the preservation of natural habitat. It usually involves a low level of development, such as rustic picnic areas, benches, and trails. Passive recreation typically requires little management and can be provided at very low costs. Some open space managers provide nothing other than trails for physical activity in

9471-649: The new park was being planned, the New York City & Northern Railroad, later the New York and Putnam Railroad , was built through the center of the park. It had two stops in the Bronx: one inside the park, and another to the south at Kingsbridge . South of Kingsbridge, the railroad merged with the present-day Hudson Line of the Metro-North Railroad . The tracks were used for passenger traffic until 1958, and by freight trains until 1981. A shuttle train

9594-560: The old aqueduct. The trail features vestiges of an old, disused brick tunnel that brought water to Manhattan, as well as a gatehouse for the aqueduct. Within the park, the Old Croton Aqueduct trail borders Mosholu Golf Center and Driving Range, as well as the Allen Shandler Recreation Area. Its southern end is cut off by the Major Deegan Expressway in the southwestern end of the park. As part of

9717-460: The old village of Keskeskick. The nine-hole Van Cortlandt Golf Course opened on July 6, 1895, as the country's first and oldest public golf course. The 2,561-yard (2,342 m) course comprised current holes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, and 14. The first eight holes were easier and less than 200 yards (180 m) apart, but the last one had a fairway 700 yards (640 m) in length. The ninth hole, which spanned two stone walls and two small brooks,

9840-409: The other three regional races. The Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship is held annually in San Diego's Balboa Park (though it has been held in Orlando, Florida on seven occasions), just as it started in 1979. A total of 40 elite cross country runners race 5 kilometers (3.1 mi), for superiority in both individual and regional standings. The top ten runners from each region are invited to

9963-504: The park also fell into disrepair, such as Vault Hill, whose headstones and crypts were vandalized in the 1960s. As early as 1962, a New York Times reader wrote of vandalism on Vault Hill. A lack of annual maintenance of the park's jogging tracks and bridle paths had caused them to erode and become overgrown at some places. In 1978–1979, NYC Parks performed a wholesale renovation of the park's eroded and dilapidated bridle paths and jogging tracks. The Parade Ground remained popular, and

10086-405: The park into six pieces and demolished most of the remaining marsh in the park. This construction also induced siltation of the brook, leading to further creation of marshes. Moses also made improvements to the park itself, building new walkways, paving dirt roads, creating playgrounds, and installing lights. Baseball, soccer, and cricket fields were added in 1938. The Van Cortlandt Stadium

10209-460: The park since 1875, when records were first kept. Amphibians present include American bullfrogs , red-backed salamanders , and spring peepers . Also present in and around the park's waterways and wetlands are common snapping turtles and Eastern painted turtles , as well as red-eared sliders that were introduced to the region. There are five major hiking trails in the park. The Putnam Trail (1.5 miles (2.4 km), easy), runs north through

10332-462: The park to fall into disrepair. Gradual improvements began taking place from the late 1980s on including the addition of new pathways, signage, and security. In 2014, the "Van Cortlandt Park Master Plan 2034" was published. The forest in what is now Van Cortlandt Park has been around for 17,000 years, since the end of the Wisconsin glaciation . The Wiechquaskeck , a Wappinger people, were among

10455-404: The park was built was purchased by Richard Vaughan Yates, an iron merchant and philanthropist, in 1841 for £50,000. The creation of Princes Park showed great foresight and introduced a number of highly influential ideas. First and foremost was the provision of open space for the benefit of townspeople and local residents within an area that was being rapidly built up. Secondly it took the concept of

10578-507: The park's baseball diamonds. The park's recreational facilities were quite popular, with more than 10,000 people using them on a busy day. However, during and following World War I, the Parade Ground was used for war training. Until 1926, the baseball fields did not contain backstops , and had to be vacated by July 4 of every year, so the National Guard could use the field. The 6.2-mile (10.0 km) cross-country running course

10701-406: The park, and two airplane pilots were fined in 1947 for unauthorized airplane landings. Around 1939, the old aqueduct, which was now a popular hiking trail, started becoming a popular route with cyclists. Soon after, there was a proposal to redevelop the trail as a bike path. This proposal never came to fruition, although in the mid-1970s, the city built a separate bike path along Mosholu Parkway,

10824-486: The park, and the Parks Department hoped to convert parts of it for some athletic purpose, but this required the New York Central Railroad to raise one of its bridges first so the swampland could be accessed. However, there are no records of that bridge being raised or of the swamp being converted. In its early years, the lake was used for boating , canoeing , curling , and ice skating . By 1899,

10947-549: The park, the width of the parkways ' lanes was reduced. Tibbetts Brook was dredged and landscaped in 1938 to accommodate construction. Such construction continued until 1955, during which the Major Deegan Expressway (current Interstate 87 ) was also built, bisecting the Mosholu Parkway. This conflicted with Moses's plans for the park as a "rural oasis", as highway construction ultimately separated

11070-414: The park. In 1937, it was noted that the marshlands had fauna such as red-winged blackbirds , yellowthroats , green bottle flies , beetles , dragonflies , tadpoles , herons , kingfishers , and ospreys . Its flora included cattail , skunk cabbage , and moss . Its avian population during the winters has exceeded that of either Central or Prospect Parks; a total of 301 bird species have been seen in

11193-441: The park. After the parcourse for the parade grounds was approved in 1978, the New York City Department of Parks promised to cooperate on the Van Cortlandt Park improvement plans. The 1979 Eisland plan also detailed suggestions for park improvements. This culminated in the 1980 appointment of a park coordinator who would start devising details of a "master plan" for the park. In 1985, a study recommended ecological restoration of

11316-501: The park. The Colonial and Shakespeare Gardens had a combined 250,000 flowers by 1931, but both were demolished by the end of the decade due to bad drainage. In 1934, Robert Moses became the New York City Parks Commissioner, and during his 16-year tenure as commissioner, altered almost every aspect of the park. His job partially entailed balancing the needs of area residents, whose numbers had grown in

11439-509: The park. The Old Croton Aqueduct was in use until 1955, though the part that ran through the park was closed down in 1897 after the new aqueduct was connected to the Jerome Park Reservoir . In 1876, Frederick Law Olmsted was hired to survey the Bronx and map out streets based on the local geography. Olmsted noted the natural beauty of the Van Cortlandt estate, comparing it to Central Park which he designed, and recommended

11562-428: The parks would appreciate greatly over time; that the commission had only chosen property that could easily be converted into a park; and that Pelham Bay Park would soon be annexed to the city. Ultimately, the parks were established despite the objections of major figures like Mayors William Russell Grace and Abram Hewitt ; Comptroller Edward V. Loew; and Assemblymen Henry Bergh and Theodore Roosevelt. In 1880 while

11685-554: The past decade, with transit users who traveled to the park from the north and south. Moses's development plans in the 1930s called for the construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway and Mosholu Parkway to bisect Van Cortlandt Park and meet at a trumpet interchange about half a mile north of the center, merging into the Saw Mill River Parkway. Due to objections over the construction of roads inside

11808-420: The past three years and 95 per cent expect their funding will continue to reduce". Parks can be divided into active and passive recreation areas. Active recreation is that which has an urban character and requires intensive development. It often involves cooperative or team activity, including playgrounds , ball fields, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and skateparks . Active recreation such as team sports, due to

11931-497: The portions of the property. In 1668, a portion of the land was sold to William Betts, an English turner , and his son-in-law George Tippett, whom Tibbetts Brook would later be named for. This property included the modern park parade grounds. Next, Doughty sold a 2,000-acre (810 ha) tract of land, including the current site of the Van Cortlandt House , to Frederick Philipse , Thomas Delavall , and Thomas Lewis. Philipse bought out Delavall's and Lewis's land shares, making

12054-457: The principal influences on Olmsted and Calvert's design for New York's Central Park of 1857. Another early public park, the Peel Park, Salford , England, opened on 22 August 1846. Boston Common was purchased for public use grazing cows and as a military parade ground and dump in 1634. It first started to get recreational elements in 1728, arguably making it the first municipal park in

12177-581: The property to make it more passable. In the 1930s, the Robert Moses –directed construction of the Henry Hudson Parkway and Mosholu Parkway fragmented Van Cortlandt Park into its six discontinuous pieces. The last remaining freshwater marsh in New York State , Tibbetts Brook , was dredged and landscaped to accommodate construction, causing large-scale ecological disruption within the park. The 1975 New York City fiscal crisis caused much of

12300-622: The site. However, newspapers and prominent lobbyists, who supported such a park system, were able to petition the bill into the New York State Senate , and later, the New York State Assembly (the legislature's lower house ). In June 1884, Governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law, authorizing the creation of the park system. Legal disputes carried on for years, exacerbated by

12423-486: The southwest of the Van Cortlandt Station was converted to a lake. An "outlet sewer" under Broadway was built in 1907. From 1903 to 1911, NYC Parks cleaned the 13-foot-deep (4.0 m) Van Cortlandt Lake, removed the original earthen dam , and emptied the lake in order to dredge the lake bed to a lower depth. A new dam was installed to reform the lake. The former marshland was filled in. During

12546-429: The war, however. Later, the grounds were used by Patriot militia leaders Comte de Rochambeau , Marquis de Lafayette , and George Washington . The house itself was Washington's headquarters after his troops were defeated in the 1776 Battle of Long Island . That same year, Augustus Van Cortlandt hid city records under Vault Hill to protect them during the war, turning them over to the new American government after

12669-430: The war. It was in "Indian Field," at the present-day intersection of Van Cortlandt Park East and 233rd Street, that the Stockbridge militia was destroyed by the Queen's Rangers , and 38 Indians from the militia were killed in 1778. In 1781, Washington returned to the house to strategize with Rochambeau while their troops waited outside on what is now the Parade Ground and Vault Hill. He later lit campfires outside

12792-490: The wealthy. In The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1982), Professor Galen Cranz identifies four phases of park design in the U.S. In the late 19th century, city governments purchased large tracts of land on the outskirts of cities to form "pleasure grounds": semi-open, charmingly landscaped areas whose primary purpose was to allow city residents, especially

12915-432: The western edge of Balboa Park.) All-Time Balboa Park San Diego/CA Cross Country Championships Record—Boys: Reuben Reina , 14:36, 1985 All-Time Balboa Park San Diego/CA Cross Country Championships Record—Girls: Melody Fairchild , 16:39, 1990 In addition to a national champion being crowned in each gender division, the top 15 finishers in each gender division receive All-American honors and an overall team champion

13038-584: The woods to the east of this lawn and west of Van Cortlandt Lake, through the golf course and along Tibbetts Brook and the former New York and Putnam Railroad line into Yonkers, where it connects to Westchester County's paved South County Trailway . Previously unpaved, the Putnam Trail underwent a reconstruction project starting in August 2019 and was reopened in October 2020 as a paved pedestrian and bicycle path. The rails themselves were overrun with weeds, but they were no longer usable by trains. The remains of

13161-488: The workers, to relax in nature. As time passed and the urban area grew around the parks, land in these parks was used for other purposes, such as zoos, golf courses and museums. These parks continue to draw visitors from around the region and are considered regional parks , because they require a higher level of management than smaller local parks. According to the Trust for Public Land , the three most visited municipal parks in

13284-531: The world are joining together to support local parks that have suffered from urban decay and government neglect. A linear park is a park that has a much greater length than width. A typical example of a linear park is a section of a former railway that has been converted into a park called a rail trail or greenway (i.e. the tracks removed, vegetation allowed to grow back). Some examples of linear parks in North America include New York's High Line and

13407-401: Was a moratorium on all boating activities on the lake. The Van Cortlandt Golf Course was used as a ski slope during the winters starting in 1961, and up to 3,000 visitors would use the slopes each weekend. By 1964, with the use of artificial snow, it was also possible to ski during warmer days. The seasonal ski slope was closed in the late 1960s when the city decided to allow golfers to use

13530-479: Was added in 1939 on the site of a former swamp, and a pool followed in 1970. Moses also landscaped the areas near the Woodlawn and 242nd Street subway stations to attract park visitors from other neighborhoods. During his tenure as Parks Commissioner, Moses took aggressive approach to preserving the park's quality. For instance, six mothers were issued court summonses in 1942 after letting their children dig in

13653-436: Was among the country's hardest holes. Four years after the course opened, the city hired Tom Bendelow , nicknamed the "Johnny Appleseed of Golf", to expand it to 18 holes. The course added a clubhouse in 1902, which also doubled as an ice-skating house. At first, the park was sparsely used for sports. In 1899, there were 10, 7, and 5 permits issued for lawn tennis, baseball, and football, respectively. The Parade Ground

13776-463: Was built after a lawsuit was filed in 1997 against the city by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and the State of New York . The city settled the suit and a consent decree was issued with the condition that the city would build the plant by 2006. The project experienced delays and ballooning costs due to objections from the local community, which required

13899-481: Was completed in October 2020. The Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway (1.1 miles (1.8 km), easy/moderate), was created in 1968 when the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation had bought a 26.2-mile (42.2 km) stretch of the Old Croton Aqueduct, for use as a walking trail. It starts in Van Cortlandt Park as a grass-and-dirt trail and runs north along the route of

14022-546: Was converted to recreational use starting in 1902, when the National Guard added fields for polo . In 1907, due to overcrowding, Dr. William Hornaday transferred 15 of the Bronx Zoo 's then-rare bison to the Parade Ground, where they stayed until they were shipped to prairie land in Oklahoma later that year. The Colonial Garden, designed by landscape architect Samuel Parsons , started construction in 1902 and opened

14145-417: Was extremely flat, but deceivingly slow in terms of runners' times. Patches of grass and sand were scattered throughout the flat, 5,000m course. All-Time Orlando Kinney/FL Cross Country Championships Record—Boys: Dathan Ritzenhein, 14:29, 1999 All-Time Orlando Kinney/FL Cross Country Championships Record—Girls: Amber Trotter, 16:24, 2001 Balboa Park in San Diego has served as the most frequent venue for

14268-594: Was inaugurated in 1914. The track started out as a flat path, became hilly, turned onto a "little spell of road work," went into the forest, and crossed a water before turning back. A year later, it hosted the Metropolitan Association of the Amateur Athletic Union's Junior and Senior Cross Country championships. A modified 3.1-mile (5.0 km) cross-country course opened on November 5, 1921, with runners simply changing direction at

14391-530: Was of secondary importance. As urban land prices climbed, new urban parks in the 1960s and after have been mainly pocket parks . One example of a pocket park is Chess Park in Glendale, California. The American Society of Landscape Architects gave this park a General Design Award of Honor in 2006. These small parks provide greenery, a place to sit outdoors, and often a playground for children. All four types of park continue to exist in urban areas. Because of

14514-416: Was operated by Yonkers Rapid Transit Railway between Kingsbridge and Yonkers . It ran off the main New York and Putnam Railroad line immediately north of the Van Cortlandt station. Service began in March 1888 and ran until 1942 (see § Former railroads ). The family property was sold to the City of New York and made into a public parkland in 1888. The majority of the grain fields were converted into

14637-443: Was placed at Indian Field in 1906, with a plaque misspelling the name of the Indian chief, Abraham Ninham, as "Abraham Nimham." One particular concern was the threat of the wetlands serving as breeding grounds for malaria -borne mosquitoes, which had drawn the ire of local residents and property owners as they believed the wetlands to be "unsightly and unsanitary." The marshlands were filled in between 1906 and 1922. The marsh to

14760-488: Was renovated in 2016. The skate park, new playground, and path improvements were completed in 2020. NYC Parks started renovating the Woodlawn Playground in 2021 for $ 1 million. One of the pedestrian bridges, which would have crossed the Major Deegan Expressway, was postponed in 2020 after its cost had increased to $ 23 million; the bridge was canceled in 2023. At 1,146 acres (464 ha), Van Cortlandt Park

14883-547: Was rented out to the Batthyány family to carry out such a project but the city had eventually taken back control and in 1813 announced a design competition to finally finish the park; works started in 1816. An early purpose-built public park, although financed privately, was Princes Park in the Liverpool suburb of Toxteth . This was laid out to the designs of Joseph Paxton from 1842 and opened in 1843. The land on which

15006-420: Was trying to parcel off some of his land to developers, the park's size should be reduced in order to prevent him from profiting off park usage. However, most of this opposition was directed at the construction of Pelham Bay Park , which was then in Westchester. Supporters argued that the parks were for the benefit of all the city's citizens, thus justifying the citywide park tax; that the value of properties near

15129-696: Was used during the American Revolution by both the Loyalists and Patriots , owing to James's leadership role early on in the revolution. On May 30, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress placed James on a committee to create a report on whether it was feasible to build a fort near his family's house. British General William Howe made the house his headquarters on November 13, 1776, thus placing it behind British-held ground. The Van Cortlandts wished to stay neutral in

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