Fort Washington Park (Manhattan)

The name references the nearby site of Fort Washington, a fortified position that was the site of the 1776 Battle of Fort Washington during the American Revolutionary War. The fort is physically located and commemorated in Bennett Park.[1][2]

Fort Washington Park covers 160 acres (65 ha). It is bounded on the west by the Hudson River, on the north by Dyckman Street, on the east by the Henry Hudson Parkway, and on the south by 155th Street. The park contains connections to Inwood Hill Park to the north and Fort Tryon Park and Riverside Park to the south; all are part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. The Henry Hudson Parkway (NY 9A) and Amtrak's Empire Connection run through the western part of the park.[3]

During the American Revolutionary War, a series of fortifications were built on the steep cliff east of the park's northeast corner, which was known by the Americans as Fort Washington.[1] The actual site of Fort Washington is less than a mile south at Bennett Park.[1][2] The area was an ancillary site of the Battle of Fort Washington, fought on November 16, 1776,[4][5] in which British troops took Fort Washington after a two-hour battle, renaming it Fort Knyphausen, named after Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen.[1] The British peacefully withdrew from Manhattan in 1783.[1][6][7] The fortification was later demolished and the surrounding area came to be known as Washington Heights.[3] A rock commemorating the "American Redout" (using an archaic spelling of redoubt) is located in the park near 181st Street, at a location that is hard to access.[8][9]

Pathway near 176th Street

During the construction of Riverside Park and Riverside Drive to the south in the late 19th century, Frederick Law Olmsted devised plans for Riverside, Fort Washington, and Morningside Parks, which called for these parks to be designed around the existing landscape.[10] Fort Washington Park was created in 1894 through city legislation. Between 1896 and 1927, most of the parcels were acquired through five incidents of eminent domain.[3]

Several plans for development within Fort Washington Park were proposed during the early 20th century, such as a plan to build a waterside annex for the West End Hotel in 1912, and a theater-and-comfort-station complex the following year. These were never built due to neighborhood opposition. Two structures were built within the park during this time: the Little Red Lighthouse and the Inspiration Point shelter.[3] Improvements to the park in the 1910s, which entailed clearing hundreds of trees for bridle paths and walkways, resulted in a lawsuit from sculptor Gutzon Borglum.[11] Another project in the same area concerned the presence of the New York Central Railroad's West Side Line (now the Empire Connection) within the park. In 1916, the railroad and local groups agreed on a plan to build a tunnel for the railroad under Riverside and Fort Washington Parks.[12] Concurrently, Riverside Drive was to be extended northward through Fort Washington Park and to the Bronx.[13]

In January 1917, John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased Fort Tryon Park adjacent to the northeast corner of Fort Washington Park. That June, he announced that Fort Tryon would be given to the city on the conditions that it be joined to the existing Fort Washington and Riverside Parks on the Hudson River, and that the city maintain that park.[14][15] To preserve the views from the parks along the Hudson River, Rockefeller had purchased land on the opposite side of the Hudson, thereby preventing it from being developed; this later became Palisades Interstate Park.[16][17] The city acquired 30 acres (12 ha) of land in 1921 to connect the two park sites.[18] In 1927, part of Fort Washington Park was given to the Port of New York Authority, which built the George Washington Bridge directly above the park.[3] During construction, one advocacy group expressed concerns that the presence of the bridge's towers would degrade the quality of Fort Washington Park directly underneath.[19][20] The bridge was opened in 1931[21] and the connection to Fort Tryon Park opened four years later.[22] The Henry Hudson Parkway, running east of the park, opened in 1936.[23]

In the following years, additional land for Fort Washington Park was acquired. This included from the Port of New York Authority in 1939, the New York City Board of Estimate in 1966, and the New York City Department of Real Property in 1989.[3] A survey in 2013 found that Fort Washington Park was 24 acres (9.7 ha) larger than previously measured,[24] making the park 160 acres in total.[3]

Several improvements were also made to Fort Washington Park. As part of the construction of a nearby psychiatric facility at 165th Street in 1994, a new footbridge to the park was built.[25] A marina at Dyckman Street was opened the following year,[26][27] and the Lily Brown Playground was renovated from 2001 to 2002.[28] In 2014, a $3.5 million, 1-mile (1.6 km) bicycle path was opened within the park, running from Dyckman Street to a dead end at 186th Street. A connection between the new bike path and the existing Manhattan Waterfront Greenway at 180th Street would cost $22 million, since it would require the construction of additional shoreline on the river.[29]

• Fort Washington (Manhattan)

Notes

Sources

• "Fort Tryon Park" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. September 20, 1983.
• Grimm, E.; Schroeder, E.P. (2007). Riverside Park: The Splendid Sliver. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-51219-0.
• "Historic Structures Report: Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. 1978.
• Torrey, Raymond H. (1936). "Fort Tryon Park : a new and distinctive unit of the New York City park system, of unusual scenic and historic qualities, given by John D. Rockefeller". American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society – via Internet Archive.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Washington Park (Manhattan).

• Fort Washington Park - NYC Parks
• Secrets of Fort Washington Park