USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 30
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The southeastern section of the park, bordering on the Boston Post Road and the river and south of Pelham Avenue, comprises 264 acres and is in charge of the Zoological Society. The fine collection of beasts and birds is open free to the public, except on Mondays and Wednesdays, when a charge of twenty-five cents is made. There are about sixty buildings, cages, and ranges; and the visitor is able to see several spec- imens of the American bison. An attempt has also been made to show the beaver at work, an animal that once occupied the streams in West- chester. One of the favorite objects of attention is the bear-pit, and the antics of these animals always interest a crowd of gazers. The "rocking- stone" is an immense boulder weighing several tons, left there, as before remarked, by some melting glacier, the course of which is plainly marked by the scratches on the exposed surfaces. The boulder is so nicely bal- anced that a slight force will set it rocking. The purpose aimed at in the establishment of the Zoological Park has been not only to furnish an exhibition of animals to the public, but also to afford opportunities for a study of their habits, forms and peculiarities to those interested in nature study.
The Zoological Park was originated in 1895 by the New York Zoolog- ical Society, a scientific corporation having for its objects a "public zoo-
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logical park, the preservation of our native animals, and the promotion of zoology." The grounds, many of the buildings, and an annual main- tenance fund were provided by the city. The remainder of the buildings and the animal collections were provided by the Society. The park con- tains thirty-five acres under water, and its land consists of heavy forests, open forest and meadow glades in about equal proportions. The princi- pal buildings of the park are the Elephant House, Lion House, Primate House, Zebra House, Large Bird House, Reptile House, Antelope, Small Deer, Ostrich and Small Mammal houses, Aquatic Bird House, the Ad- ministration Building, and the Museum of Heads and Horns. The prin- cipal open-air enclosures are the Bear Dens, Flying Cage, Pheasant Av- iary, and the Eagle and Vulture Aviary, Wolf and Fox Dens, Burrowing Rodent Quarters, Beaver Pond, Duck Aviary, Wild Fowl Pond, and Mountain Sheep Hill. The most valuable collections in the park are the elephants, hippopotami and rhinos; the lions, tigers and leopards ; the tropical hoofed animals, the deer of the world, the bears, the bison herd of twenty-two animals, and the great collection of apes, baboons and monkeys. The collection of Asiatic deer is important, and the park surroundings of its various herds are beautiful. The most interesting animals in the whole collection are the chimpanzees and orangutans, in the Primate House, and the Pigmy Hippopotami. The collections of mammals are certainly equal to the largest and finest of their kind to be found elsewhere, and the collection of reptiles is also unsurpassed. The collection of living birds is now the richest in species that it ever has been. It contains a great number of rare tropical species, including Birds of Paradise, Cock of the Rock, a great collection of Toucans, many spe- cies of Pigeons and Doves, large collections of Parrots, Macaws and Cockatoos, of Eagles and Vultures, of Cranes and Pelicans, Swans and other Water-fowl, Ostriches, Cassowaries and Emeus. Of species that are threatened with extinction the park contains Trumpeter Swans, Whooping Cranes and three Guilding's Amazon Parrots.
Pelham Bay Park-Pelham Avenue develops into The Bronx and Pel- ham Bay Parkway, a fine thoroughfare four hundred feet wide and two and a quarter miles long, connecting Bronx Park with Pelham Bay Park. For almost its whole length it is paralleled by an asphalt brick roadway, opened in 1911 and restricted to automobiles. Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in the city, including within its boundaries 1756 acres, over twice as many as Central Park. It has over seven miles of water-front on the Sound and Pelham Bay, from which latter it takes its name. It was acquired by the City of New York in 1888, seven years before the annexation of Westchester and Pelham, in which former an- cient townships it lies. It also includes Hunter Island and the Twin Islands adjoining.
SOUTH FRONT OF THE ELEPHANT HOUSE
THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK IDEA EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF BUFFALOES
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In Pelham Bay Park there is found a remarkable combination of big stretches of untouched woodland, great expanses of lawn and meadow, salt water bays and inlets, islands, and miles and miles of shore front. It is an excellent park for rural picnics, shore outings, and popular out- door sports. There are two fine sandy bathing beaches, maintained by the city. There is an athletic field containing a running track, and with gymnastic apparatus for public use : The Rice Memorial Playfield in the park is equipped with an athletic field, swimming pool, and other inter- esting features. The Hutchinson River and Eastchester Bay divide the park into two parts, the more northerly, Pelham Neck (formerly Annes Hoeck) and Rodman's Neck being very much the larger. The northern boundary of this part is the city line; the eastern, the Sound; the west- ern, the Hutchinson River. The smaller section south of Pelham Bridge is rather irregular in shape, lying between Furmen's Lane and the three hamlets of Baychester, Stinardtown, and Middletown.
The Eastern Boulevard passes through the park from south to north, changing its name to the Pelham Bridge, or more popularly, the Shore Road, after it crosses the bridge near the mouth of the Hutchinson River. The Suburban branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail- road traverses the park from north to south, having stations at Bay- chester, on the edge of the park, and at Bartow, within it. From the lat- ter the City Island Road leads to the east of Rodman's Neck and over the bridge to City Island. Connecting Bartow with the village of Pel- ham Manor, at the northwest corner of the park, is the Prospect Hill Road, better known as the "Split Rock Road." The whole section con- sisted of farms and estates bordering on the Sound and belonging to the old families and their descendants-Drake, Pell, Furmen, Morris, Bar- tow, Hunter, Schuyler, Spencer, Rodman, Marshall, are among the names we find as owners; and a good deal of the property had been in the families from colonial days. Many of the old mansions erected sub- sequent to 1840 still remain and are rented by the Park Department. Several of them are used as restaurants and roadhouses and others serve as tenements for laborers and employes of the park. Some of the oldest houses were removed in 1902, and the Park Commissioner utilized the materials in the erection of free bath-houses along the shore south of the bridge. In February, 1903, a number of the older houses were sold at auction with the proviso that they should be removed within thirty days.
When Howe, the British general, occupied Throgg's Neck in October, 1776, he attempted to cross Westchester Creek both at Westchester town and at the head of the creek, about where the Bronx and Pelham Bay Parkway crosses the Westchester meadows. Hunt's Riflemen con- situted the outposts at both places and successfully resisted the British attempts, being supported at the head of the creek by Colonel Graham
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with a regiment of Westchester County militia and by Captain Jackson with a six-pounder. Howe, having failed in these attempts to get across the creek on to Washington's flank, was obliged to cross from Throgg's Neck to Rodman's Neck in boats, landing near the Bowne House, later occupied by the Morris Yacht Club, but destroyed by fire in 1904, and marching towards the site of Bartow station. It was here that he came in contact with Colonel Glover, whom he succeeded in driving back, but with heavy losses to himself. A tablet bearing the following inscription has been affixed to the large boulder at the point where the battle began :
GLOVER'S ROCK IN MEMORY OF THE 550 PATRIOTS WHO, LED BY COL. JOHN GLOVER, HELD GEN. HOWE'S ARMY IN CHECK AT THE BATTLE OF PELL'S POINT OCTOBER 18, 1776, THUS AIDING WASHINGTON IN HIS RETREAT TO WHITE PLAINS. FAME IS THE PERFUME OF HEROIC DEEDS.
ERECTED BY BRONX CHAPTER OF MOUNT VERNON, N. Y. DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, OCTOBER 18, 1901.
Glover's retreat was by way of the "Split Rock" Road, which gets its name from the remarkable boulder which lies alongside the road not far from the city line. A tree grows out of the split in such a way as to give the observer the idea that the tree is the cause of the separation of the two parts of the rock. The road is one of the most beautiful of the neighborhood and is a favorite with drivers. It is shady in the summer time, and the views of the valley of Hutchinson River are very attrac- tive. As we stand near the rock and look over the meadows below, we are overlooking the site of Anne Hutchinson's house. The exact spot has never been determined; but those who are interested incline to the opinion that the house stood somewhere near the spring a few yards south of the boulder. However that may be, it can only be a few rods distant from the rock to the spot where that energetic woman met her death at the hands of the murderous Weckquaesgeeks in 1643. Her name lives in history, and her connection with the locality is perpetuated in the name of the tidal stream below, the Hutchinson River.
Close to the Shore Road, a few hundred feet from the entrance to the City Island Road, on the left, is a rocky islet in the meadow, to which a disused causeway leads. A trip to this islet will show to the visitor a number of holes in the solid rock, similar to the pot-holes made by the grinding action of gravel and running water in which, according to tra- dition, the Indians used to grind their corn. On the left, beyond the
GLOVER'S ROCK, IN MEMORY OF 550 PATRIOTS WIIO, LED BY COLONEL JOHN GLOVER, HELD GENERAL HOWE'S ARMY IN CHECK AT THE BATTLE OF PELL'S POINT, OCT. 18, 1776, THUS AIDING WASHINGTON IN HIS RETREAT TO WHITE PLAINS
HOME STREET, LOOKING EAST FROM UNION AVENUE IN 1883
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causeway, where the battle began, there is an ancient Indian burying ground from which a number of skeletons and other remains have been unearthed by curious seekers. Nearby is the boulder called "Jack's Rock."
Directly opposite the point where the Split Rock Road enters the Shore Road, a lane leads down to the water's edge through the Bartow place and to the ancient burial place of the Pell family. The plot is sur- rounded by a fence with square granite posts at each corner, upon each one of which there is carved a pelican, a detail in the arms of the Pells. Many of the time-worn inscriptions have been recarved so that they are fairly legible. The oldest bears the following: "Her Lyes Isec Pell, D. Dec. 14, Anno 1748." In 1862 a white marble slab was erected by James K. Pell, "to mark the spot where lie buried the mortal remains of several of the descendants of John Pell, the son of the Rev. John Pell, D. D., and nephew of Thomas Pell, the first proprietor of the Lordship and Manor of Pelham."
Going north on the Shore Road we pass the public golf links and come to the stone gateway marking the entrance to Hunter's Island. This was originally a part of the manor of Pelham, and has been known also as Appleby and Henderson's Island. In 1743 it was owned by Joshua Pell, a grandson of the first manor-lord, from whom it passed to the Hunts and Hendersons, and from them, in the latter part of the eight- eenth century, to John Hunter, from whom it received its present name. His son, Elias des Bresses Hunter, succeeded to the property and erected the great mansion of brick and stone which is located about the middle of the island and at its highest point. In 1888 when Pelham Bay Park was formed the Hunter's Island property belonged to Columbus Iselin.
A bridge and a causeway lead to Hunter's Island itself. Here a choice of roads is presented. The middle road takes the visitor up to the Hun- ter mansion and the southern one leads along its shore to the causeways connecting the two small islands called the "Twins" with Hunter's Is- land. In summer parties are accustomed to camp along its shore. On the northeast end of the island is a large boulder, known as the "Gray Mare"; and on the southeast end is another one, known as the great Indian rock "Mishow," around which, tradition asserts, the Indians used to conduct their religious and other rites. In 1905, a regular camping- out place was opened on Rodman's Neck, north of the City Island Bridge, to which the name Orchard Beach was given. Many Indian relics have been found in the neighborhood, including hatchets and tom- ahawks of stone, and arrows and javelins of flint, quartz and horn. That it was a favorite place with the aborigines is shown by the great num- ber of shell beds that one finds along the shore of the Sound. The smaller section of the park south of Hutchinson River is at the north-
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ern end of Throgg's Neck, and was called in colonial times "Dorman's Island," and later "Taylor's Island."
In March, 1812, the Legislature incorporated the Eastchester Bridge Company, and the bridge over the Hutchinson River near its mouth was built soon after. In 1817 the Westchester and Pelham Turnpike Com- pany was incorporated for the purpose of building a turnpike from the causeway at Westchester to the above-mentioned bridge, following prob- ably the lane of Sauthier's map, which shows some kind of a road lead- ing from the borough town of Westchester. The first bridge was de- stroyed by a storm, and the second bridge was built in 1834 by George Rapelje; the supervisors of Westchester County purchased the bridge in 1860 and made it toll-free. The former iron bridge was constructed in 1869-70, but it proved insufficient for the traffic after the automobile ar- rived, and it was replaced by the present larger bridge, opened by the Department of Bridges on October 13, 1908, at a cost of $517,000.
Crotona Park-Crotona Park lies between Third and Arthur avenues on the west and east, and Fulton and Tremont avenues on the south and north. It originally contained 141 acres, but about thirteen more have been added, so that its present area is 154.60 acres. The park is well wooded, containing several groves of fine old trees. It has a large, fully equipped athletic field, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, an artifi- cial lake, and playgrounds. At the northwest part of the park are The Bronx Borough Administration Buildings, near which is located the Victory Garden, and the fountain which was located for many years in City Hall Park.
Bungay Creek, the boundary between the manor of Morrisania and the West Farms patent, had its origin within the park. The property, the trees of which have been stated not to be surpassed this side of the Adirondacks, formerly belonged to the Bathgate family, whose ancestor, Alexander, came from Scotland early in the nineteenth century and be- came foreman for the first Gouverneur Morris, and bought the farm from the second. The Borough Hall, which may be said to be enclosed in the park area, is a fine building, erected in 1897, and standing on an elevation which is approached by an imposing flight of steps in terraces.
Claremont Park-Claremont Park has an area of 38 acres, and is tri- angular in shape, its base, or northern boundary, being Belmont Street, and its sides being on the east Clay Avenue, and on the west, Teller Avenue. It touches both Webster and East 170th Street. The park is on a commanding position to the west of the ancient Mill Brook, and is on property formerly belonging to the Zboroski family, which was ob- tained from the Morrisania estate by the marriage of Martin Zboroski with Anna Morris. The Zboroski mansion, built in 1859, is a fine stone mansion near the northern end of the park, used for the office of the Park
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Department of The Bronx. Upon the west side of the house is the date 1839, and upon the south gable there is the date 1676, the year in which Lewis Morris received his patent to the land from Governor Andros. The views from the mansion are interesting, as the site is a high one. There are tennis courts and a baseball field. The park is connected with Cro- tona Park by means of Wendover Avenue. It contains many fine speci- mens of trees, some of rare varieties.
St. Mary's Park-St. Mary's Park formerly consisted of 28.7 acres, but additional area now makes it include 34.20 acres, lying between St. Ann's and Robbins avenues and between East 149th Street and St. Mary's Avenue, not far from old St. Ann's Church. The park formerly pos- sessed a small lake fed by natural springs. From the highest point of the park, before the neighborhood was built up, fine views were to be had of both the Harlem and East rivers. The park is on land formerly belonging to Gouverneur Morris.
Macomb's Dam Park-Macomb's Dam Park was acquired in 1899. It lies between Jerome Avenue and Doughty Street, and East 162nd Street and the Harlem Riverr, covering an area of fifty acres. A large part of the park included the swampy and marshy land bordering Cromwell's Creek, and much of this has been filled in without cost to the city by allowing contractors to dump there the materials they have removed from excavations. In this way the park has been doubled in size since it was first acquired. There are tennis courts and an athletic field, and east of it is the Yankee Baseball Field of the American League. The portion of the park lying along the Harlem River is nearly all used by rowing clubs.
Poe Park-Poe Park has an area of 2.35 acres, obtained in 1896. It lies on Kingsbridge Road, west of the Harlem Railroad and east of Je- rome Avenue, distant about half a mile from each. It gets its name from the Poe cottage standing on the eastern side of Kingsbridge Road -about opposite the centre of the park. During the years 1846-9 the cottage was occupied by the poet, Edgar Allan Poe. It was there that he wrote several of his poems, including "Annabel Lee." There also, Virginia, his invalid wife, died, being buried from the Fordham Manor Reformed Dutch Church. To save the cottage from demolition it was moved in 1913 to the northerly end of the park.
Joseph Rodman Drake Park-Joseph Rodman Drake Park is situated on Hunt's Point and contains 2.88 acres. It contains the old Hunt burial- ground and the grave of the poet Drake. It was planned to have a park at the extremity of Hunt's Point, containing something less than ten acres; but owing to difficulties attached to the acquisition of the prop- erty, it was turned back into the Sinking Fund.
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Smaller Parks-A strip of property a hundred feet wide was obtained in 1888 and connects Crotona Park with Bronx Park. It lies east of the Southern Boulevard and extends along the western side of Bronx Park. It is known as Crotona Parkway and was opened in 1910 at an expense of $255,500. Echo Park is one of the most beautiful of the smaller parks of the borough. It comprises three acres at Mount Hope, lying west of Webster Avenue. It gets its name from the well-defined echo that can be heard, so it is said, between two great masses of rock within its boun- daries. It was acquired by the Park Department in 1902, from James Buckhout who resided there. University Park is a side hill park in front of the land of the New York University. It contains three acres, and was acquired by the city in 1901. St. James Park gets its name from the fact that it adjoins St. James Protestant Episcopal Church on Je- rome Avenue, near Fordham cross-road. It comprises nearly twelve acres and was acquired in 1901. It was a low, wet, marshy tract, but it has been cleaned up and drained. Washington Bridge Park, containing nine acres, was obtained in 1899. It lies at the northern end of Wash- ington Bridge and has been charmingly developed. Melrose Park, of one acre, was obtained in August, 1902. De Voe Park is a small park of about six acres on Fordham Road, near Sedgwick Avenue; it was pur- chased in 1907, and opened in 1910; it adjoins Webb's Academy. The First Reformed Dutch Church of Fordham stood on this ground from 1705 un- til after the Revolutionary War. Old Fort Number Four Park is a rocky bluff by the roadside, of 6.71 acres, located adjacent to the Jerome Park Reservoir, at the intersection of Reservoir and Sedgwick avenues. It is the site of one of the outer defenses, which Washington built during the Revolution, to protect the American army, when it was encamped on the heights of the Harlem. A flagstaff marks the site of the old fort The rounded earthen mound of the redoubt is clearly marked. When first cleared of brambles, at the centre was discovered an old brick fire- place and part of a stone flooring, and nearby were found buttons, coins and pieces of crockery. A bronze tablet has been erected on the rocky face of the bluff.
Early Racing Parks-The first reference to be found in local history to anything in the way of a park tells of the race-course established in the Mill Brook valley by General Staats Long Morris about 1750. Horse- racing was a favorite pastime with those who were able to afford it at the time, and General Morris was one of the first to import blooded horses and to breed them. South of the ridge upon which Claremont Park is situated is a comparatively level stretch of low land through which a small brook formerly found its way into Mill Brook. It is stated that part of this tract was General Morris's track of the eighteenth century. In 1870, Dater Brothers leased this track from the Morris estate for
KING'S BRIDGE OVER SPUYTEN DUYVIL CREEK IN 1856
MACOMB'S DAM OVER HARLEM RIVER, 1838
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twenty years and made a one-mile race-track on the property. The first race meeting was held on June 8, 1871. Through the failure of the les- sees, the property and buildings reverted to the Morris estate in 1880. It was then leased to the Gentlemen's Driving Association, who held possession until the last race meeting on October 8, 1897. The park was closed on January 1, 1898, as a result of the action of the city au- thorities in cutting streets through it. During its existence as a race- track the property was known as Fleetwood Park, Morrisania. It lay between Webster and Sheridan avenues on the east and west, and ex- tended from East 165th Street to East 167th Street. Fleetwood Park was devoted to the distinctively American sport of trotting. Robert Bonner had his stables not far from the track, and the famous "cracks" of a generation ago, "Dexter" and "Maud S." and many others, did their turns about the Fleetwood track. The old park was eventually cut up into streets and building lots to supply the demands of the growing population.
Following the Civil War, in 1866, the Bathgate farm, and the Josiah Briggs farm, adjoining, where his grandson, Josiah A. Briggs spent most of his childhood, were acquired by the Jerome Park Villa Site Improve- ment Company, but the American Jockey Club soon became the lessee and laid out a track for racing purposes, and running horses in their natural gait. The property lay in the town of West Farms, in the old manor of Fordham, between Jerome Avenue and the old Aqueduct and Kingsbridge Road and the old Boston Road. The track was started by Leonard W. Jerome, William R. Travers, S. L. M. Barlow, and others, for the purpose of lifting American racing from the disrepute into which it had fallen on account of the trickery and rowdyism which had hitherto accompanied it. In this attempt at reform the Jockey Club was emi- nently successful, as the respectability of American racing from that time indicates.
This track was unique in its form. being shaped almost like the letter "B." It was designed, and its construction was supervised by Charles Wheatly, one-time managing and sport editor of the "Kentucky Statesman," Lexington, Kentucky, whose printing office was confiscated in the Civil War, when the Union troops entered the city. Mr. Wheatly was a great lover of the thoroughbred horse and raised and raced them in Kentucky. He came north after the war and made his residence at Fordham in The Bronx. He was racing secretary of the American Joc- key Club; the Saratoga Association; the Monmouth Association, New Jersey, and the Pimlico course at Baltimore for many years, and always stood for clean racing.
Morris Park race-track was the last one within The Bronx. On May 19, 1888, Eliza Macomb conveyed 132 acres, between Bronxdale and Westchester, to John A. Morris. The northern end of the property in-
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cluded a portion of the Bear Swamp, the outlet of which, Downing's Brook, finds its way into the Bronx River. The Bear Swamp Road and the Westchester and Williamsbridge Road constitute the principal boun- daries of the track. The Westchester Racing Association graded the property, built stables and stands, and laid out an oval track one and one quarter miles long, with a straight-way track crossing it, three quarters of a mile long. These are said by experts to have been the finest in the country. All the decorations of the stands and buildings were in the Pompeian villa style, in carved relief and set off in varied colors. There was stable accommodation for more than seven hundred horses. The first race meet took place in 1890, and the park was in constant use un- til 1904, when it was closed to racing and divided up into lots. In 1908 and 1909, the track was used on several occasions for exhibitions and tests of aeroplanes and balloons. As a race-track it was a great favorite with the betting and racing population. It is to be noted that the Mor- rises interested in the park did not belong to the old Morrisania family.
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