ESSAYS IN PUBLIC WORKS HTSTORYEssay Number 9

Februarv 1 980

Pioneering in Parks and Parkways:

Westchester County,

New York, 1895-1945

Marilyn E, Weigold

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Public Works Historical Society1313 E.60th StreetChicago, l l l inois 60637

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@ Copyright Public Works Historical Society 1980

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Pioneering in Parks and Parkways:Westchester County, New York, lSgb-l945

Marilyn E. Weigold

Public Works Historical Society1313 E. 60th StreetChicago, I llinois 60637

Pioneering in Parks and Parkways:Westchester County. New York, 18gS-194S

By Marilyn E. Weigold*

PART l : THE BRONX R IVER PARKWAY, 1895 -1925

Between 1895 and 1945 Westchester County, an area of 435 squaremiles north of New York City, developed an impressive system of parks andparkways. Although the work of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vauxin Manhattan's central Park in the 1850s and the establishment of the Larch-mont Manor Park bordering Long lsland sound in southeastern westchesterin 1872 may have exerted a subconscious influence on those who labored todevelop Westchester County's massive parks and parkways, the county'spioneering effort actually began in the 1gg0s with an attempt to eliminatepollution in the Bronx River Valley. Almost thirty years later, when west-chester county created a comprehensive park system, pollution control wascited as one important reason as well as the need for public beaches and thegrowth of the southern part of westchest.r. l since the 1g20s was a decadeof phenomenal suburban development, it is understandable that the West-chester County Board of Supervisors, supported by public-spirited cit izens andfarsighted real estate developers, was wil l ing to fund a county park system.

By the time a park commission was established in the early 1g20s, West-chester county could look back on several decades of experience in the iandbeautif ication business. Indeed, old-timers mused about how the county hadslipped into parks and parkways through the back door in an attempt io re-claim the Bronx River, an aesthetically pleasing waterway in the early nine-teenth century when Joseph Rodman Drake, a New york medical doctor andauthor, wrote:

I sat me down upon a green bank side,Skirting the smooth edge of a gentle river,

Whose waters seemed unwill ing to glide,Like parting friends, who linger while they sever;

Enforced to go, yet seeming sti l l unready,Backward they wind their way in many a wistful eddy . . . .2

*Marilyn E. weigold is associate professor of history at pace lJniversity,white Plains, New York. The author wishes to thank commissioner F.Bohlander, westchester county Department of public works; commisionerJoseph caverly, John Yoegel, John Fava, and former commissioner charlesE. Pound, Westchester County Department of parks, Recreation, and Con-servation; and Raymond Radzavila, Executive Director, East Hudson parkwayAuthority, for their assistance in preparing this study. she would also like toacknowledge the Pace lJnivercity scholarly Research committee for its re-search grant.

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P A R K A R E C R E A T I O N L A N D S

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Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation

But Drake did not have many years to enjoy the beautiful land originallyinhabited by Jones Bronck in the 1640s. Drake died in 1B2O at the age oftwenty-five and was buried near the river he loved. In the late nineteenthcentury, the region through which the Bronx River runs was ceded by West-chester County to New York City; and in thepost-WorldWar l l period, theonce solidly middle-class Hunt's Point section was transformed into theburned-out tenement district known as the south Bronx. Neither of thesedevelopments was as significant in the l ife of the river, however, as the vastclean-up of the waterway which began in 1895 with the appointment of acommission to investigate the feasibil i ty of building a sewer and highwayalong the Bronx River .

Composed of such prominent individuals as the mayors of New yorkCity, Yonkers, and Mount Vernon, together with the chairman of the West-chester county Board of supervisors plus several others appointed by thegovernor of New York State. the commission had westchesterites serving in

"key posi t ions. l ts 'engineer , John F. Fai rchi ld l ived in Mount Vernon; J .James R. Croes, a consulting engineer, resided in yonkers; and the clerk,Francis L. Underhil l, was from Mount Kisco. Financed by a $,|0,000 appro-priation, half of it from New York city and half from westchester counry,the commission carefully reviewed the numerous problems plaguing the oncepr is t ine r iver .3

Among the major threats to the water quality of the Bronx River cited inthe report the commission made to the New York state Legislature in 1996was effluent from the white Plains sewage disposal works and from cesspools,stables, and privies along the river's banks. Call ing the Bronx River an ,,opensewer," the report stated that public health officials in the communitiesthrough which the river f lowed favored the construction of ,,a sewer with aproper outlet" but that they disagreed about the financing of such a project.4Moreover, there was no consensus on the creation of a park and highway inthe Bronx Valley.

A little more than a decade would pass before the concept of a roadwayparalleling the Bronx River would be revived. ln the meantime a Bronx Valleysewer commission was created by the New York state Legislature in 1g05 tooversee the construction by westchester county of a trunk sewer along theportion of the river fall ing within its jurisdiction.s But this provision wasmerely a half-way measure. Many westchesterit ies whose stables, factories,and homes lined the river's banks refused to spend the money to hook upwith the new sewer. ln addition, serious problems developed in the NewYork Zoological Society's Bronx Park where several lakes supplied by theBronx River became foul-smelling sewage settl ing basins. wil l iam w. Niles, amember of the Board of Governors' Executive Committee of the New yorkZoological Society, found the situation so untenable that he mounted acampaign to force the state legislature, New York City, and WestchesterCounty to take action.6

As a result of Niles' persistence, the legi$lature in lg06 created the bodywhich became known as the Bronx Parkway Commission. The tit le wasoriginally something of a misnomer because the group, headed by Manhattan

Madison Grant, president, BronxParkway Commission.Credit: Commission Report i'1924].

Wittiut W. Niles, vice president,Bronx Parkway Commission.Credit: Commission Report 119241

resident Madison Grant, and including a representative from the Bronx, D. H.Morris, as well as one from Westchester County, James G. Cannon, plus ap-pointees Will iam W. Niles, who served as secretary. and J. Warren Thayer,an engineer from Scarsdale, was charged only with investigating methods forpreserving the river. A year later the commission submitted its report./ Thatdocument recommended the creation of a park and parkway reservationalong the Bronx River. Although most of the reservation would be located inWestchester County, the commission stated that Westchester should pay onlya third of the cost of developing the reservation and that New York Cityshould contribute two thirds because preserving the river was not only "ofvital importance to the cit izens of New York" but because, in the opinion ofthe commissioners, more New Yorkers than Westchesterites would uti l ize thepark.8 The New York State Legislature amended the recommendation to aone-fourth/three-fourths division of costs, with New York City picking upthe larger part. The city's Board of Estimate, however, refused even to ap-propriate its share of the $35,000 preliminary sum needed for maps andsurveys unt i l 1 91 1.

ln the meantime, the commission-reorganized in 1907 with Grant aspresident, Niles as vice-president, and Cannon as treasurer-proceeded with-out funding to contact owners of property in the proposed reservation in anattempt to persuade them to donate land for the pioneering project. Al-though some property owners were favorably inclined toward the commis-sioners' suggestion, a group of them engaged an attorney to inform the cityof New York of the detrimental effect its procrastination was having onthem. After investigating the charge, New York committed itself to the mapand survey preparation phase of the project. ln 1912 New York City finallyauthorized the acquisit ion of lands required for its portion of the Bronxparkway reservation. Westchester County had already approved a similar,.n""rur".9

As the Bronx Parkway Commission took tit le to land, it was cleared ofall structures and tidied up in preparation for future use. Seven miles of un-sightly bil lboards were removed. while the river itself was returned to itsoriginal condition. None of this happened too soon because as the com-mission had observed in its 1909 report:

During the past year the valley of the Bronx has, despite all the effortsof the Commission, suffered considerable injury in its natural features. . . . The city growth is rapidly extending northward; property along theriver is coming more and more into market, and the subdivision intosmal l p lots . . . . makes i t more and more d i f f icu l t to preserve the r iverbottom from desvastation. Small nuisances are becoming more frequentupon the banks of the river, and the river itself is becoming more fouland polluted . . . . lrreparable loss wil l result to the communities in West-chester County, through which the river runs, and to the cit izens of NewYork who visit Bronx Park and the Botanical and Zoological exhibits' unless steps are'taken to preserve the riverfrom furtherdeterioration.l0

Three years later, the commission was sti l l lamenting the condition of theriver, while noting that "the upper portion above the present city l ine extendsthrough a most p ic turesque val ley and del ight fu l surroundings." l 1 Elsewhere inits 1912 report, the commission quoted Charles D. Lay, a landscape architectwith the New York City Department of Parks. who observed that "this Park-way when completed wil l be the main l ine of travel to all points more thantwenty-five miles northerly from New York."12 The t"port then proceeded tospeculate about a vast arterial highway system of which the Bronx River Park-way would be a part. Alluding to possible roadways along the Hudson Riverand Long lsland Sound, the commissioners noted that the Bronx River Park-way would be "the main connecting l ink and principal feature" of a com-prehensive "outer park system."rr What the report was describing was a net-work of parks and highways reaching beyond the Bronx and WestchesterCounty to encompass the Palisades Interstate Park Commission's lands onthe west side of the Hudson River. Citing Chicago's acquisit ion of land for anouter park system, the commissioners observed that such development wouldpromote a "growing sense of unity and intimate relationship between the cityand its suburbs, resulting in the increasing su.bordination of local differencesfor the sake of metropolitan advancement."l4

The Bronx Parkway Commission's enthusiastic 1912 report was slightlypremature in its advocacy of a huge, interconnected park and parkway sys'tem. For the next few years its reports described more l imited accomplish-ments in the Bronx River Valley, not the least of which was the forestryprogram. The commission's 1914 report noted that within months of thefinal approval of the parkway prqject a forester and tree-trimming force wereemployed.l5 An outside consultant was brought in to advise on tree pests,and the spectacular stand of hemlocks on the Scarsdale property donatedby Emily Butler was saved. That the forestry staff performed admirably cansti l l be seen today along the Butler Woods portion of the Bronx River Park-

way. The lofty trees form a protective canopy for the gently coursing riverin an area which is endowed with perhaps the most beautiful scenery any-where along the parkway. The parkway commission was evidently so pleasedwith Butler's donation of a portion of her father's Fox Meadow estate that iterected a plaque referring to the site as the birthplace of Daniel D. Tompkins,governor of New York State and vice-president of the United States underJames Monroe. The inscription also noted that Butler's gift of land was "ofmaterial aid in obtaining public support for the parkway."ro

In its long struggle to build a roadway through the Bronx River Valley,the commission encountered few property owners as generous and coopera-tive as Butler. Some landowners whose property was included in the reserva-tion objected to the commission's policy of setting what it believed to be afair price for an individual piece of land and then negotiating with the ownerfor the sale of the property at that f igure instead of resorting to condemna-tion. In 1914 three Westchester County landowners, hoping to compel thecommission to condemn their land and offer them a high price, f i led charges€igainst the commiisioners with the governor of New York accusing them ofneglecting their duties. Although the governor dismissed these charges, thecommission did become involved in costly condemnation proceedings.Litigation dragged on four years for property in Scarsdale that the com-mission had offered to buy for $88,605. When the owners claimed that theland was worth almost $1.4 mill ion, experts were summoned. Testimony inthe case fi l led more than 9,000 pages, and in the en{the commission wasordered to pay a l itt le over $200,000 for the property.l 7 In another instance,involving slightly more than an acre of land in Tuckahoe, the oryner de-manded $142,000 although he h4d paid only $4,000 for the parcel.18

Condemnation proceedings notwithstanding, the actual work of buildingthe parkway and laying out the parkway reservation proceeded under thecapable leadership of Jay Downer, chief engineer and secretary of the com-mission from 1907 unti l 1923. Originally from lowa and educated at Prince-ton University, Downer had gained experience with the United States ArmyCorps of Engineers on the upper Mississippi River, several railroads, and theAluminum Company of America before moving to Westchester.l9

For a time during World War l, Downer, who like other commissionemployees went off to serve his country, was replaced as chief engineer byL. G. Holleran, assistant engineer.zu Having held a similar post with the NewYork City Board of Water Supply during the construction of the Catskil lAqueduct, Holleran had a solid background in public works engineering andadministration as did Chester A. Garfield, the principal assistant engineer.zlSupervisor of the field engineering division, Garfield was responsible for in-specting construction contracts and overseeing the preparation of real estateand topographical surveys. Design engineer A. G. Hayden came to the com-mission from the state engineer's office in 1919. He pioneered in designingrigid frame reinforced concrete structures for grade crossing eliminations,thereby saving the commission considerable sums of money.22 Divisionenglneer W. F. Welsch, who joined the project team in 1920 after servingwith the New York State Highway Department, was an expert on the con-

struction of pavements,23 tfr. person who supervised the actual work, how-ever, was Gilmore D. Clarke, whose official t it le was superintendent of land-scape construction. In this capacity he oversaw the grading and landscapingof large areas along the Bronx River and subm_itted designs for some of thebridges carrying the parkway across the riuer.24 When he resigned to join theWestchester County Park Commission in 1923, master mechanic Lee R.Stuffler became superintendent of construction. Possessing a thorough knowl-edge of the equipment being used to build the parkway, Stuffler was able tocoordinate both men and machinery in bringing the project to a conclusion.

A different aspect of the commission's work was handled by Albert N.Robson, who became forester and superintendent of maintenance in 1913.Before resigning in 1922 to become the superintendent of Mohansic Park forthe Westchester County Park Commission, Robson put together a forestryforce and established nurseries to supply trees and shrubs needed on theparkway reservation in future years. Another of Robson's duties was thegeneral sanitary m?intenance of both the reservation and the river. In thisresponsibil i ty, he was assisted by Will iam J. Byrne, parkkeeper who, in ad-dition to olganizing a parkway police force, functioned as chief inspector ofpol lu t ion.zc By la te 1917 the reservat ion was v i r tual ly f ree f rom pol lu t ion.Although work on the parkway came to a virtual halt when the UnitedStates entered World War l, the commission's 1918 report noted:

To realize the full value of what has been accomplished in the elimina-tion of contamination from the Bronx River, it is only necessary tocompare its present condition with that of other streams, such as thePassaic River, which has recently engaged the attention of the UnitedStates Supreme Court, through a suit brought by the State of New Yorkto restrain the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission from carrying outplans for diverting raw sewage from the river and discharging it through asewer into New York Harbor. . . . The proceedings adduced abundanttestimony to show that pollution of the Passaic River by waste frombreweries, tanneries, and other factories, as well as by organic fi l th fromvarious sewers. had destroyed real estate values along the river valley. . . .Exactly similar conditions had developed in the Bronx River Valley on asmaller scale a few years ago and prior to the inception of the BronxRiver Parkway project, but the problem has been successfully andhappily met by the creation of the Parkway Reservation.26

With the temporary interruption of construction during the war, portionsof the parkway reservation were opened to the public for recreational pur-poses quite different from the passive stroll ing and bird-watching occurringalong the river following completion of the roadway. Active recreation inthe formof ice skat ing and swimming in the nowclean r iver became popularpastimes.z/ The commission erected temporary bathhouses and engaged life-guards to superv ise swimmers. Dur ing the summer of 1918,69,000 peopleswam in the river'which less than a decade before had been described by thecommission as an "open ,.*.r,"28 Elsewhere in the reservation, the com-

Flooded land near Mt. Vernon before Bronx River Parkway.Credi t : Bronx Parkway Commission

mission permitted interested cit izens to plant war gardens. To insure thatsummertime gardeners cleaned up after the harvest, a refundable fee wascharged for use of the land.

The idea of allowing the public to uti l ize portions of the reservation forrecreational and other purposes was conceived in an attempt to spark interestin preserving rather than^destroying the work done prior to the wartime sus-pension of the project.zv From the Bronx to Valhalla, where the parkwaywould terminate, the commission joined with schools in municipalit ies alongthe right-qf-way to sponsor bird-house building contests. Believing that"small native animals and birds are elements of our national individuality, apart of an inheritance which we are bound to preserve for the generations tocome," the commissioners envisioned the reservation as an "ideal bird refuge."They, therefore, installed in trees throughout the reservation more than 400bird houses built by schoolchildren.30 Th. commission also constructed twolog-cabin style structures in the Westchester County part of the reservationfor use by boy scouts. To the scouts'delight, Governor CharlesWhitmancamedown from Albany for the cabin dedication ceremonies and was served adinner cooked by the scouts.31

In 1919 when construction of the parkway was resumed, recreational useof the reservation gave way to the more serious business of building a high-way. Mounting labor costs, however, threatened to curtail the project unti lthe commission managed to obtain war surplus equipment.rz Although it

Formerly flooded land near Mr. Vernon.Credit: Bronx Parkway Commission Report (924t.

secured $400,000 worth of free machinery this did not entirely solve itsprobf ems. ln 1922 New York City refused to appropriate its share of thefunds required to complete the project. Contending that the original approvalof the parkway by the Board of Estimate was the result of fraud and error,the city attempted to renege on its obligation. When the New York StateCourt of Appeals upheld a New York County Supreme Court order for aperemptory mandamus against the city's mayor, comptroller, and Board ofEstimate, the lattej_ reluctantly came through with an appropriation of$801,000 for 1923.33

Since the Westchester County Board of Supervisors had dutiJully con-tributed the county's share of expenses, construction work continued duringthe intervening period.r+ Five miles of river were diverted and the parkway'sroadbed as well as slopes on the reservation were graded. After New YorkCity resumed its financial contributions to the project, the surface of thehighway was paved and bridges were built, Speaking of the parkway's remark-able bridges Downer said:

As the parkway reservation was developed along natural l ines withoutornate buildings or other structures the outstanding features are thebridges and viaducts. . . The engineers designed carefully to securestrength without excessive cost and able architects generously cooperatedto combine beauty with uti l i ty and permanence. Designed to fit their

natural surroundings and solidly built, these bridges should endure forcenturies and mellow with the passing y.urr.3s

Downer also noted:

The Bronx River Parkway Reservation has a total area of 1,155 acres.The attractiveness of the driveway having a length of 15% milesthroughthis reservation wil l, as it becomes better known, make it world famous.From Bronx Park in a motor car one moves swift ly over the smoothlypaved 40-foot drive following an alignment of ever varying gracefulcurves with gentle undulations of grade. The Bronx River is nearlyalways in sight with small lakes at frequent intervals and there is thecontinual diversity of open spaces, woodland and rocky ledges charac'teristic of the river valley.ro

Downer had.reason to be proud of the parkway because he had beenwith the project from its inception, a fact noted by Governor Alfred E. Smithin a letter to Madison Grant, president of the Bronx Parkway Commission, onthe occasion of the parkway's official dedication in November 1925. Thegovernor did not attend the ceremony held at the parkway's Valhalla bridge.He cited pressing work interrupted by the recent election as the reason forhis absence. One is tempted to speculate that had he known of the long'range significance of this parkraay, the world's first, he may have attendedthe ceremony. Yet, his letter to Grant indicated that he had some grasp ofthe project's importance: "This dedication is a real historic event. lt is a mile-stone in the growth of the City of New York, of Westchester County and ofthe State itself"r/ Smith also wrote:

Certainly all the crit ics must now admit-and there have been timeswhen I have been among them-that only a State Comission composedof independent men with high standards of work could have completedthis job in the way that it has been done so as to create a standard forall parkways in this country and to lead the way for the development ofa State park and parkway system and for county systems throughoutthis State. . . . I am glad to congratulate you upon your achievement incompleting the Bronx Parkway . . . because it has set a standard in thebuilding of parkways; because it has demonstrated that f ine parkwaysand parks are attractive, that they improve the region through whichthey pass, th?t they increase values, besides being of enormous benefitto the mill ions of people who seek fresh air and recreation and who maynow travel from the city streets through a continuous narrow park intothe open county.38

Seven weeks after the official opening of the parkway and the surround-ing reservation, described by the New York Times as "a stately landscapedgarden," the Bronx Parkway Commission was phased out.rv The commis-sioners themselves drew up the bil l terminating their positions as of December

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31 , 1925. On that day Downer wrote a report which touched upon thebenefits the parkway was already providing for the communities throughwhich it passed. According to Downer, in the areas bordering the parkwayreservation, real estate was "selling for three, five and in many cases tentimes the prices paid by your commission for adjacent lands."40 Perceivingthe real impact of the remarkable highway traversing the Bronx River Valley,Downer acknowledged that "many who regarded the plan as impossible 9fachievement now pronounce the completed parkway a world model. '4lHe went on to say that the work had been "happy, strenuous, absorbing"and that "one of the strongest impressions gained from it is that our publicwants a first-class job and wil l support a big work, if broadly conceived,honestly conducted, and economically administered on a non-partisan basiswith aff records open."42

PART l l : BEGIN'NINGS OF THE PARK SYSTEM, THE 1920s

ln 1922 the Westchester County Board of Supervisors decided to pro-ceed with a comprehensive program of land acquisit ion and park and parkwaydevelopment. The board's bold move was prompted by the rapid suburbaniza-tion of the southern part of the county between 1910 and 1920. During thatdecade numerous apartment houses as well as singlefamily dwell ings werebuilt in the area south of White Plains and city dwellers were flocking tohomes in nearby Westchester because of improved mass transportation.Although many of these newcomers commuted to jobs in Manhattan, they,along with people sti l l residing in the city, climbed into cars on weekends andheaded for the open spaces north of New York.

In its second annual report, issued in 1923 only a year after the NewYork State Legislature had passed what was known as the "WestchesterCounty Park Act," the park comrnission cited as reasons for the county'saccelerated growth the demand by city dwellers for suburban homes andthe development of the automobile.43 The report noted too that there was"a widespread movement toward outdoor l ife and a demand for recreationgrounds, camping or picnicking places and public beaches."44 Anotherfundamental factor l isted by the commission was "increasing interest in townand city planning, logically extended to district and regional planning, andespecially applicable to a municipality such as Westchester County locatedwithin the New York metropolitan district."45 In conclusion, the com-mission stated that the Bronx River Parkway, then being rushed to comple-tion but already partially open, had generated public support for parkways"to forestall the recurrence elsewhere of nuisances and unsanitarv conditionssuch as formerly existed in the Bronx River Valley."46

How different was public sentiment in the 1920s. Instead of beingviewed as threats to the environment, parkways were seen as devices for re-habil itating despoiled areas and preventing relatively unspoiled regions fforndegenerating into carbon copies of what the Bronx River Valley had beenprior to the creation of the parkway reservation. Parks were also seen as

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a way to preserve and sometimes restore the natural beauty of a particular

locale. Therefore, when it had the chance to acquire the Mohansic Reserva'tion in the northern Westchester community of Yorktown, the county seizedthe opportunity.

The focal point of the approximately 1,000-acre reservation was a-mile-long lake whose outlet is through a portion of New York City's CrotonReservoir. Fearing contamination of the city's drinking water if i t went aheadwith plans to construct a mental hospital for 6,000 patients and a trainingschool for boys on the reservation, New York State (which had acquiredproperty on the northern and southern fringes of the lake in two separatepurchases in 1908 and 1909) appointed a joint legislative committee in 1917to explore alternative uses of the property. The committee recommendedutil ization of the land for a park. In 1918 the Mohansic Lake Reservationwas created and placed under the jurisdiction of f ive commissioners, three ofwhom were from Westchester County. Although the property was opened tothe public, no paik improvements were made unti l the reservation was trans-ferred from the state to the county of Westchester under legislation enactedin 1922. One of the strings attached to the gift was that the county undertakea development program and make the park available to all New York resi-dents, whether or not they resided in the county.

Westchester lost no time in preparing its f irst county park for visitors.Underbrush was cleared away, roads made passable, and toilets and potabledrinking water were supplied to meet the needs of the expected crush ofpicnickers. Wasting neither money nor time, the county transformed deadchestnut trees from the park property into picnic tables. A more costly pro-ject was the eighteen-hole golf course constructed in 1923. In the same year,

two tennis courts, two ball f ields, and a ten-acre playground, located somedistance from the lake, whose shores the commission set qside for the morepassive activit ies of picnicking and stroll ing, were opened.47

While work continued at Mohansic, Downer left his position as engineerand secretary of the Bronx Parkway Commission and joined the WestchesterCounty Park Commission as chief engineer in 1923. Other high ranking em-ployees of the parkway commission also became part of the park commissionduring its f irst years. They included Robson and Clarke. Thus, almost from itsinception, the park commission had a cadre of seasoned veterans accustomedto th ink ing, p lanning, and bui ld ing on a grand scale.48

One of the first things Downer did after joining the commission was toprepare an overall scheme for future park development. His plan called forwaterfront parks along Long lsland Sound and the Hudson River, severalinland parks, and parkways in the Saw Mill Biver and Hutchinson Rivervalleys.4g The park commission submitted these recommendations to theBoard of Supervisors which held a public hearing in June 1923. Copies ofthe report plus invitations to testify at the hearing were sent to almost 200people, including municipal officials as well as to members of the chambersof commerce, rotary, l ions, women's clubs, and the Bronx Parkway Com'mission. The minutes of the Board of Su'pervisors reported that the hearingwas "one of the largest ever held by a committee of the Board of Super-

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visors and those in attendance represented pr3r_ctically all of the cit ies, vil-lages, towns and the . . . organizations invited.,,50

The Board of Supervisors' Committee on County parks proposed aresolution requesting the park commission to investigate the ,,advisabil ity anodesi rabi l i ty" of -acquir ing Glen ls land, Rye Beach, and Kingsland point forpark purposes.cl With the supervisor's approval, the park commission didits homework during the summer of 1g23 and shortly after Labor Dayrecommended the acquisit ion of the ,,Glen lsland Group.', On September 10,1923' the Bbard of supervisors approved the Glen rsrand project.S2 In sodoing the supervisors demonstrated their agreement with a premise men-tioned in the park commission's first annual report in 1923, namely that ,,oneof the most urgent needs of the entire county is for additional public beachesalong the Hudson River and Long lsland sound."S3 The commission's 1g24report carried the idea one step further stating that "the water-front parks ascommonly operated by other municipalit ies should be largely self-supportinqout of revenues from nominal charges to the public for use of privilege5.',54Elsewhere in the same report, the commission noted that "the undertakingof this large scale park program by the county cannot be decried as too ideal-istic or visionary, because the county's money invested in carefully purchasedpark lands is not merely a safe investment but a public asset of progressivelyincreasing value, "55

Glen lsland and other waterfront parks developed by the commissionwould indeed pay their own way. But before sizeable revenues could begenerated. various improvements had to be made. In thecase of Glen lsland,the most significant innovation was a draw bridge linking the park to thewestchester mainland at New Rochelle. Despite local opposition, the countyproceeded to construct a 20-foot-wide span of steel and stone. In keepingwith its plan of opening parks to the public as soon as possible, the parkcommission did not wait for completion of the bridge in 192g before per-mitting visitors to enter the 1O2-acre waterfront park created by fi l l ing in thearea separating the original f ive islands. Bathers, eager to enjoy the expandedbeach and new bathhouses, were ferried to the island. ln 1g27.54,123 peoplearrived at the county park in th is way; in 1 928, the num ber reached 6s,200.56

In terms of visitation, Playland Park on Long lsland Sound at Rye be-came more popular than Glen lsland and in certain respects more reminiscentof the old Glen lsland, which had been operated by John starin as a dayresort in the late nineteenth century. A zoo, museum, aviary, and Germancastle were among the attractions starin installed at Glen lsland. whenwestchester county took over its administration, sports and picnicking weresubstituted for starin's more exotic offering. But at playland it was a dif-ferent story.

There the county became engaged in the amusement business by build-ing a park with rides and games, indoor ice skating rink, beach, pool, andboardwalk. Playland replaced two commercial amusement parks generallyregarded as "rowdy" establishments. In an article in American City, Jamesowen of the park commission explained the situation at Rye Beach beforethe county became involved. He reported that a trolley l ine had been built

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Play land Ro l le r Coaster .Credit: Westchester County Park Commission Report (1932J.

Playland Midway.Credi t : Westchester County Park System booklet (n. d.)

to the beach which "marked the beginning of a period of intensive use duringwhich there sprang up a typical collection of two amusement parks, hotels,hot dog stands, stores, 'bungalows' and just plain shacks. for the most partof f l imsy construction and many of them built of second-hand lumber."57He then summarized the improvements made by the commission:

Through able and businesslike management, the municipality has gonefarther than simply providing a conventional park with open spaces,seashore and a bathhouse. In addition to the primary attractions of shoreand water, amusements park features at Rye Beach have for years fi l led apopular demand, and the Park Commission has provided the latter formof recreation on a higher plane than was possible under the private aus-pices of many competing and conflicting ownerships intent on survivingcompetit ion and extracting the maximum profit. The Commission hascommitted itself in principle not to the use of public funds but of publiccredit in f inancing this enterprise. The county bonds which have fur-nished the necessary capital may be regarded as long-term notes withevery_^reasonable expectation that they wil l be paid off out of earn-ings.58

The new park was novel in certain respects and not merely for its artdeco architecture. Ouite aside from the attractive style of its buildings andmidway, the park was interesting because of its salt water lake. lt had beencreated by damming the inlet separating the Manursing lsland property thecounty acquired in 1923 from the 54-acre tract at Rye Beach on the main-land purchased two years later.59 To experience the simple pleasure ofboating on Playland Lake or the more energizing fun of a ride on the rollercoaster, visitors from all over the world flocked to the county amusementpark.60 Among them were members of a Brit ish delegation who came in theearly 1930s.

By the time the English visitors arrived in Playland, Westchester Countyhad become justif iably famous for its comprehensive system of parks stretch-ing from the increasingly urbanized southern part of the county to the openspaces of northern Westchester and from Long lsland Sound to the HudsonRiver. The first park authorized along the Hudson was Croton Point Park ona peninsula jutting out into the river north of Ossining, New York. Formerlythe site of a fortif ied Indian vil lage, the point was dotted with shacks and adilapidated dance hall when the county took it over. These buildings wereeventually demolished in keeping with the park commission's view that"equal opportunity for use by all the people is an obvious principle ap-plicable to public parks" and that "privately owned bungalows on leasedpark la.nds along the beach and overlooking the water at Croton Point Parkare believed to be in violation of this principle."61 A portion of the CrotonPoint Park was used for a children's summer camp under the auspices of theWestchester County Recreation Commission. But, despite the influx of362,000 visitors in 1929, the commission proceeded cautiously in develop-ing Croton Point because of a narrow road leading across a salt marsh and

1 5

the large New York Central depot and yards at Croton Harmon. Moreover,during thel920s, the county was considering using part of Croton Point foran airport.oz

To the north of Croton Point, near the city of Peekskil l, the park com'mission had to do surprisingly l i tt le work at Crugers Park on the Hudson be-fore opening it to the public. Smaller than Croton Point, Crugers could ac-commodate fewer people; but in the 1920s it offered something unavailablein most other county parks-overnight camping. Nature lovers could set uptheir tents on platforms rented from the county on a daily or weekly basis.In addition to camping and picnicking, Crugers afforded the visitor an op-portunity to swim in the Hudson River.63

Hudson bathing was also a feature of Kingsland Point Park in NorthTarrytown acquired in 1924. Smaller than Crugers and Croton Point, Kings-land Point tended to attract people from nearby communities to its sandyriverfront beach'..8y 1929 the park commission decided it was losing bath-house revenue from local people who came to the beach already wearing theirbathing suits, Therefore, it fenced in the beach and began charging a lOcentadmission fee. Parking was another problem the county experienced at Kings-land Point. In keeping with the commission's policy of making new parksavailable as quickly as possible, Kingsland Point opened before a parking lotwas built. For several years, visitors were permitted to leave their cars in theecologically fragile area bordering the river west of the New York Centralrailroad tracks. Plans were rapidly formulated, however,lo build a parkinglot east of the tracks and a foot-bridge leading to the park.o+

To a certain extent, some of the pressure on the county's popular water'front parks was relieved with the opening of enormous swimming pools atTibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers and Willsons Woods in Mount Vernon. Inaddition to chlorinated pools and modern bathhouses, Tibbetts Brook andWillsons Woods had picnic areas, playgrounds, ball f ields. and lakes. AtTibbetts, a thirteen-acre athletic f ield was constructed on a polluted, f i l led'inlake. A half-milelong lake for boats replaced a swamp and a large concreteswimming pool, which was the centerpiece of Tibbetts Brook, proved to beimmensely popular and profitable.oc Downer. writing in American City, saidof the new pool and park:

The recreational development of Tibbetts Brook Park, resulting fromcarefully studied design and construction, embodies the most advancedtypes of various recreational features in a well-planned relationship forconvenient public use of the various facil i t ies. The park, which is con-veniently placed for the people of Yonkers and the adjoining closelypopulated communities, is located in a deep, picturesque, wooded valley,which, fortunately, at the inception of active_work on the County parkprogram of 1923 was practically undeveloped.66

The unspoiled state of the Tibbetts Brook property and the low pricethe county paid for it kept the total park development cost fairly reasonable.And as soon as the pool opened, Tibbetts Brook started to produce revenue.

Receipts from pool admissions increased from $53,470 in lg28 to $70,621in 1929. At Willsons woods the figure jumped from $2S,9SS in lg2g to$37,464 in 1929.67

Golf courses generated additional revenue. The Maple Moor Golf coursein white Plains opened in 1927, and the Sprain Lake course in yonkers wasready for use in 1929. Attendance and revenue at Maple Moor were good, butSprain Lake was hampered by construction work on a nearby road.68 TheMohansic Golf Course, which had opened in 1g2b, was well patronizedand,unlike the other courses, was open to all New York State residents on anequal basis as required by the state when it transferred the Mohansic Reserva-tion to the county. At the other courses, Westchester residents were givenpreference on weekends and holidays. They could also make telephonereservations to play eighteenLroles for $1.50 a round on Sundays and holi-days and $1.00 on other days.69" For those less interested in active recreation, the county offered severalinland parks where quiet walks and picnics were the principal attractions.Silver Lake Park on the white Plains-Harrison border, just minutes fromdowntown white Plains but l ight years away from the county seat in termsof rusticity, was acquired in two separate purchases in 1g24 and 1g25.70other than adding a ball f ield, the park commisiion left si lver Lake alone,preferring to think of it, the adjoining open space in .White plains, and thenearby New York City watershed property as an ecological buffer zone.Similar reasoning was applied to saxon woods, Btue Mountain Reservation,and Poundridge Reservation, all acquired in the 1920s. For, in the words ofthe park commission, "the charm of these areas l ies in the rugged naturalcharacteristics of f ield and woodland. . . . The most essential requirements forpublic use are trails and simple shelters, drinking water and sanitary pro-visions, reforestatioq.fire protection and preservation of useful native birdand animal species." / |

Although Saxon Woods would remain undeveloped for years, WoodlandsPark at Ardsely would attract more people proportionately than any otherpicnic area in the county. The popularity of picturesque woodlands Lake isexplained in part by its location on the Saw Mill River parkway, one of themajor highways the park commission built during the expansive decade of the1920s. Blue Mountain Reservation near peekskil l was less accessible and con-siderably more rugged. sturdy hikers, nevertheless, went to Blue Mountainjust as they traveled through the interior of the county to the poundridgeReservation at cross River in northeastern westchester. The largest of thecounty's parks totall ing 4,500 acres, Poundridge Reservation was originallyviewed as a forest preserve and camping and hiking area comparable to someof the New York state parks in the Adirondack and catskil l mountains.Although westchester's highest elevation is just under 1,000 feet in contrastto the 5,344-foot Mt. Marcy, the tallest peak in the Adirondacks, the sti l lrustic Poundridge Reservation attracts rugged outdoor types and has general-ly developed along lines envisioned by the park commission in the 1g2os.72

Recognizing that the people of westchester county needed a culturalcenter as well as outdoor recreational areas, the park commission was careful

to supplement its comprehensive program of land acquisit ion with a proposalfor a County Center, a huge audilorium building combiningexhibit space, l i tt letheatre, and a 5,000-seat hall.73 The genesis of the County Center was thedemand made by numerous organizations throughout the county for acentrally located meeting spot large enough to accomrhodate several thousandpeople.74 The site chosen for the new building was property alongside theBronx River Parkway just west of downtown White Plains.

The Board of Supervisors originally appropriated $500,000 for the pro-ject but the park commission had to request an increase of $100,000.75The supervisors' Committee on County Parks, somewhat perturbed by theinclusion of the County Center in a $795,000 appropriation for improvementof the Bronx River Parkway, persuaded the full Board of Supervisors toseparate the monies for the new building from the general fund.76 Work onthe project began in 1927 but, as the building neared completion, the workersstaged a three-month strike. Holleran, deputy chief engineer of the parkcommission, wrote in the commission's 1930 report that despite the strike theCounty Center was almost ready for use and that a stage lighti.ng system,scenery, curtains, pianos, and other equipment had been purchased.TTElsewhere in the report the gift of a pipe organ from a public-spirited cit izenwas noted.78

Over the years the County Center has been the scene of classical and rockconcerts, basketball games, wrestl ing matches, dog shows. polit ical rall ies, andopera. The park commission proudly announced in its 1930 annual report:"Originally designed simply as an auditorium to seat 5,000 people and equip-ped with a simple stage, the plans were expanded to include a fully equipped

Croton Point Park - before.Credit: Bronx Parkway Commission Report 119241

1 8

Croton Point Park - after.Credi t : Bronx Parkway Commission Beport /19241

stage for the production of grand opera."7g Although it would not pose animmediate problem, the location of the principal parking field for the CountyCenter across the Bronx River Parkway became troublesome in future yearswhen the paikway became a heavily used thoroughfare instead of a place forleisurely Sunday drives. In the late 1970s. county policemen had to escortpeopld attending events at the County Center across the busy parkway.

PART l l l : EXPANSION OF THE PARKWAY NETUUORK,THE1920s AND 1930s

One reason for the increase in traffic on the Bronx River Parkway was theextension of the roadway from its original terminus, Kensico Dam Plaza inValhalla, to the Bear Mountain Bridge approach road. This important devel-opment stemmed from a 1922 report issued by the New York State Associa-tion and entit led "The State Park Plan for New York." lt proposed creating acomprehensive and unified park system for the state. The suggestion met withfavor in the legis lature, which in 1923 approved a $15 mi l l ion bond issuefor parks and parkways. New York cit izens seconded the legislature's actionby voting affirmatively on a referendum on the bond issue in1924. Despite acontroversy between Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and the state legislatureover appropriations, work was begun immediately on the Bronx River Park-

1 9

way Extension, and the Westchester County Park Commission was appointedthe state's agent to build the new parkway. The commission, acting on itsown, was simultaneously constructing the Saw Mill River Parkway.

At Hawthorne where the Saw Mill River and Bronx River Parkway exten-sions intersected, a giant traffic circle was built. Extending northwest fromthe circle, the, Bronx River Parkway Extension entered what was described inthe highway's dedication brochure as "a region of rugged topography andscenic grandeur typical of northern Westchester."du The 1931 park commis-sion report was no less effusive in describing the natural attractions of theregion through which the parkway passed. lt noted that "from BriarcliffManor northward through Mohansic Park and leading up to the gateway ofthe Hudson River Highlands at Peekskil l, the parkway threads a region ofwild, picturesque beauty," and promised that the highway would "disclosethe scenic charm of a region of Westchester now unknown to the motoringpubl ic . "81

By Novembpr 1931 when the dedication ceremony for the parkway washeld, the projectwas substantially completed. A spanking new 7SGfoot, steel-arched bridge spanned Croton Lake and part of the New York City reservoirsystem; twelve bridges eliminating highway grade crossings were also inplace.dz Finishing touches were put on the parkway in 1932. These includedthe completion of stone service stations designed to blend in with the rusticcharm of the areas where they were located. At two spots along the parkway,restaurants were built by the park commission and leased to concessionaires.For motorists desiring a meal in an outdoor setting, a picnic area at EchoLake was opened by the commission. In addition to building the parkwayextension and the service facil i t ies along it, the park comrnission, under anagreement with the state of New York, maintained the roadway and adjacentland.or The wil l ingness of the state to continue its association with the parkcommission after completing the Bronx River Parkway Extension was testi-mony to the efficient and economical work of the commission. The exten-sion's cost per mile was the lowest on record for parkway construction,

In Westchester County alone, the building of parkways was proceeding atan incredible pace. At the same time that the park commission was workingon the Bronx River Parkway Extension for the state of New York, it wasconstructing several new parkways of its own, including the Hutchinson RiverParkway. This parkway had been authorized by the Board of Supervisorsin 1924 in response to a park commission-recommendation made the previousyear to acquire land for this purpose.S4 Tn" commission's suggesiion *asprompted by the phenomenal growth of four communities in southern West-chester-Pelham, Eastchester, New Rochelle, and Mount Vernon.85

When the park commission made its parkway recommendations to theBoard of Supervisors, U.S. Route 1 or the Boston Post Road, the principalnorth-south route through the Long lsland Sound communities of West-chester County, was laboring under a heavy strain seven days a week. Trucksand private cars belonging both to local residents and motorists merely pass-ing through thronged the Boston Post Road on six days of the week; on theseventh day, Sunday drivers created traffic jams. Something had to be done,

20

even if i t meant encroaching on the New Rochelle water supply. In decidingto incorporate New Rochelle Water Company property in the HutchinsonRiver Parkway reservation, the commission was proceeding on the assumptionthat the population of the region surrounding the company's two lakes wotildgrow within twelve to fifteen years to the point where the water would becontaminated. The commission was also motivated by the fact that thereservoir property already constituted a natural park.86 As the commissionobserved in 1927, "the lands acquired embrace a well developed park areaforming a valuable local expansion of the Hutchinson River Parkway in ad-dition to providing a scenic location for the parkway drive."87

By the time the park commission purchased the water company's sceniclakes and surrounding lands, it had a change of heart concerning the route ofthe new parkway. Three years earlier, the commission had declared that-i1would progress fiom the southeasterly corner of the county northward.SSNow the commission proposed that the Hutchinson River Parkway extend ina northeasterly direction.S9 lt also requested and received an additional ap-

iropriation of $600,000,,to acquire land needed to complete the parkway tothe Connecticut border.90

West Street Bridge on Hutchinson River Parkway.Credit: Westchester County Park Commission Report (1929l,

By the end of 1927, work on the parkway south of Westchester Avenuein White Plains was well advanced. A two-mile stretch in Pelham was openedto the public on December 24, 1927. The following October, the entireeleven-mile section from the Boston Post Road in Pelham to WestchesterAvenue was dedicated in an impressive ceremony, the highlight of whichwas a motorcade from Pelham to the county's Saxon Woods forest pre-

serve astride the parkway in Mamaroneck. Hundreds of persons made thetrip to hear speeches by park commission President V. Everit Macy andChairman of the Board of Superv isors Char les D. Mi l lard.

Evident to those attending the ceremony was the intimate connectionbetween the parkway and the surrounding property, much of which had been

21

upgraded by 1928. The finishing touches included a riding academy wherethe public could rent horses anil use bridle paths adjacent to the parkway.The admirable work of the park commission notwithstanding, the HutchinsonRiver Parkway would remain part of an unfinished jigsaw puzzle unti l NewYork City and the state of Connecticut authorized construction of the re-mainder of the parkway within their respective jurisdictions. lt was 1937before the southern continuation of the road lying within the Bronx wasopened and 1938 before the adjoining Merritt Parkway in Connecticut wascompleted.

ln the meantime, Westchester County had forged ahead with anothersignificant highway project, the Saw Mill River Parkway. Authorized by theBoard of Supervisors at the same time as the Hutchinson River Parkway, theSaw Mill was constructed simultaneously with the Hutchinson. From aplanning standpoint, the Saw Mill River Parkway was more important be-cause it involved building a trunk sewer without which the water supply ofthe city of Yonkers would have become contaminated.9l Do*ner and Owen,the former assistant engineer of the Bronx Parkway Commission who likeDowner transferred to the park commission, always emphasized the publichealth consideration in their discussions of the Saw Mill River Parkway.92

Considering the magnitude and significance of the Saw Mill project,future generations would praise these foresighted administrators but f irstsupport for the undertaking had to be obtained from the Board of Super-visors and the public. One cannot help but wonder if the commission antic-ipated problems in securing approval for the parkway because its 1924 annualreport contained a masterfully written section on the Saw Mill River. ltlamented the fact that the portion of the river flowing through downtownYonkers was "completely lost^of view, passing under the streets and build-ings in the business district."Yr Touching upon another point, the commis-sion said that the Saw Mill project would prevent f looding in the valley.g4But with or without this well-worded-appeal, the supervisors would un-doubtedly have supported the parkway.vb

Following approval of the parkway plan in 1g25, the park commissionproceeded rapidly with construction of the southern portion of the newroad. By the end of 1926, the Yonkers section was opened. In conjunctionwith other roads in the area, the Saw Mill enabled motorists to bypass con-gested downtown Yonkers. Extending the parkway north and south ofYonkers posed problems, however. In the latter region, agreements had tobe reached with New York City to continue the highway into the Bronx.North of Yonkers, the original route designated for the parkway had to berevised to skirt a huge industrial plant. This change meant diverting the riverinto a new channel west of the New York Central's Putnam Division tracks.In the long run, the move proVed economical because it eliminated the needto build bridges and acquire costly land. The scenic beauty of the parkwaywas also enhancqd since the route alteration took the road through a beauti-fuf fy wooded area between Chauncey Station and Ardsley. By lg27 the parkcommission was able to report that "the location of the Saw Mill River Park-way Drive is now finally determined on the west side of the putnam Railroad

22

7-ItI

I

iI

I

II

all the way from the Yonkers Water Works north of Tuckahoe Road to apoint south of the Eastview station. From the considerations of scenicvariety safety and construction costs, this is the best location.. . ."96

A four-mile stretch of this section of the parkway (from Tuckahoe Road,Yonkers to Ashford Avenue, Dobbs Ferry) was opened in a formal ceremonyon September 7,1929. The next four-mile portion of the road (from Ardsleyto Elmsford) entailed considerable grading plus construction of two bridgesacross the river. lt was not completed unti l 1930. The parkway was then ex-tended to Pleasantvil le and Chappaqua before World War l l and to Katonahin 1954.

Supplementing the three major parkways running in a north-southdirection through the river valleys, Westchester County built several east-westroutes in the 1920s. The most important of these was the Cross County Park-way in New Rochelle. Threading its way across the southern part of West-chester, the Cross County intersected with the north-south parkways therebyproviding an eaSy. cross-over from one to another. Designed for two 40-footdriveways, one exclusively for private cars and the other for trucks, only theformer was completed when the parkway was opened in 1g32.97 Because ofthe Great Depression, plans for the truck route were abandoned and con-struction of a new viaduct across the Bronx River Valley at Fleetwood waspostponed unti l 1940. Also scrapped was the park commission's originalintention to extend the Cross County Parkway eastward to Rye where itwould have connected with Playland Parkway, the multi- lane approach roadto the county park.

Another casualty in the park commission's ambitious parkway programwas the Tarrytown-White Plains Parkway. However, the shorter Central West-chester Parkway, which diverted traffic around White Plains, was completed.The building of the Briarcliff-Peekskil l Parkway, designed to relieve con-gestion on the Albany Post Road, was taken over by the state of New York inthe early 1930s after the park commission had secured donations of landalong the proposed right-of-wty and had prepared designs for highway grade-crossing elimination bridges.Yo Delayed unti l after World War l l was theSprain Brook Parkway recommended by the park commission in 1925 as anorth-south route from the Bryn Mawr section of Yonkers to Elmsford, adistance of 8.5 miles. The commission saw in the construction of this park-way a means of developing the Sprain and Grassy Sprain valleys and of easingthe traffic f low in Yonkers. But the parkway did not become reality unti l1969 when the section between Yonkers and Greenburgh was completed bythe state of New York.

One highway proposed for Westchester County which has never beenbuilt is the Hudson River Parkway. The impetus for a north-south road on theeast shore of the Hudson came from business and civic associations in the cityof Yonkers. A delegation made up of representatives of these groups plus themayor of Westchester's largest city went in person to the headquarters of thepark commission to request the widening of Riverdale and Warburton avenuesin their community. The commission agreed to study the Yonkers delega-tion's recommendation and, following an investigation by Downer, proposed

23

a highway which would have been a continuation of Manhattan's RiversideDrive. f n 1927 the commission pointed out that while the "policy has been todevelop through traffic routes principally through vacant and undevelopedlands, a driveway along the Hudson River shore from Yonkers to Peekskil land the Bear Mountain bridge presents great possibil i t ies by reason of thescenic beauties of its location and great practical benefit to the whole wester'ly side of the County."99

But there were certain problems principally those associated with build-ing a road through an industrial area. Factories adjacent to the river in smallercommunities north of Yonkers also constituted a potential dilemma for thecommission as did the l ikelihood that the parkway would cross the New YorkCentral Railroad's tracks at several points. None of these problems was insur-mountable, as Downer pointed out, but by 1928 the commission was rethink-ing the matter of a Hudson River highway. In its annual report, it stated:

The investigation of the Riverside Drive route involves not only engineer-ing matters but somewhat intricate negotiations with municipal, railroadand other public service authorit ies. Options or easements covering rightof way lands wil l be necessary in order to formulate reasonably reliableestimates of cost which naturally wil l be higher than for routes throughundeveloped territory. . . . The Riverside Drive is also subject to l imita-tions in the creation of enhanced real estate valuations because it hasonly one frontage whereas inland routes enhance valuations along twofrontages and their f lanking zones covering considerable areas. Therearises also a question of policy as to whether the Commission shouldnot receive some aid from the local municipalit ies and from the Stateauthorit ies in undertaking a project of this character.100

Militating against the proposed road was the cost. lt was expected to bethree times per mile what the Hutchinson River Parkway had been. To builda 60-foot-wide highway from Yonkers to a spot near Kingsland Point Park inNorth Tarrytown, where it would connect with the Albany Post Road ( adistance of thirteen miles), would have required an expenditure of $34mill ion in 1929.101 Although the high price tag was attributable in part tothe eliminatiorr of grade crossings and to the construction of two-and-a-halfmiles of viaducts and bridges spanning developed areas, the cost was pro-hibit ive as far as the park commission was concerned, especially if the roadwere extended to Peekskil l.

But given the enthusiasm for a Riverside Drive in communities along theHudson, park commission President Macy suggested various methods offinancing the road. He recommended: making it a joint state-county project,with the state picking up the greatest part of the cost; obtaining funds fromthe state, county, and communities along the river; or permitting the countyto use excess condemnation to acquire more land than itwould actually needto build the highway and then sell some of the property to pay for the,ou6.102 By 1930 the commission, sti l l uncommitted to the project, esti-mated that construction of a 30-mile-long Riverside Drive from Yonkers to

24

the Bear Mountain Bridge, north of Peekskil l, would cost g5b mill ion.l03 Atthis point the county seemed ready to dismiss the whole subject, but in 1g33the Lower Hudson River Association requested permission from the Board ofsupervisors to allow Downer to serve on a committee of engineers investi-gating the feasibil i ty of a toll highway paralleling the Hudson. since Downerwas to serve "without any obligation or expense to the County,,, the super-visors consehted.l04 As late as 1g37, the supervisors were rooking into thepossibil i ty of building the Hudson River highway with funds from the worksProgress Administration (WPA) but nothing came of it.

It was a somewhat different story with the pelham-port chester parkway.By 1925 the county was fully committed to building this road. lt was de-signed to relieve congestion on the Boston post Road, the only continuoushighway running parallel to the Long lsland sound shore of westchester fromPelham to the connecticut border. The Hutchinson River parkway, builtin the immediate hinterland of the Long lsland sound communities, would

"remove many cars from the Boston Post Road; but there was genuine fearthat commercial traffic on the old route would increase. Moreover, as thecommission observed, "the sparse shore-line settlements of only a few yearsago are spreading rapidly to form a continuously built up section and thereis a strongly moving trend toward more intensive uses of-land for residential,commercial, industrial and public uti l i ty purpor"r.-105 The,,inevitablefuture development" of the area, according to the park commission, ,,wouldrequire sti l l another parkway paralleling the Boston post Road.,,106 nrecommission, ioined by the Board of supervisors' committee on Good Roadsand the county superintendent of highways, recommended building a 13-mile-long, $1 mill ion parkway from the New york City l ine to the Con-necticut border.

To acquire the land needed for the road, the Board of supervisors ap-propriated $3.5 mill ion. The commission, however, ran into considerableopposition in Port chester where vil lage officials insisted upon having theright to" aqprove the route of the proposed highway through their com-munity. Iul The supervisors advised the commission to proceed with theproject, and in 1930 they voted to extend the parkway 1zc miles south toPelham Bay Park orlJhe Bronx border where it was to join a proposed NewYork city highwsy.108 By then the park commission had completed a gradeseparation bridge carrying Murray Avenue over the sti l l non-existent parkwayin the vicinity of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroad station inLarchmont.

But problems had just begun for the park commission. The state councilof Parks recommended constructing the'Pelham-port chester parkway as partof a five'year program of New York State park and parkway development.Although the state refused to finance the highway, the legislature in lg33passed a bill creating the Pelham-Port chester parkway Authority, a separatelegal entity made up of members of the county park commission. The newbody applied to the Reconstruction Finance corporation for a loan to con-struct the parkway but, before it could act, the public works Administration(PWA) assumed responsibility for passing on such projects. ln 1g35 pwA re-

25

jected the loan application on grounds that the 2Scent toll to be chargedusers of the parkway would not generate sufflcient revenue to "l iquidate theloan within the useful l i fe of the project."109 A. W. Lawrence, presidentofthe park commission, nevertheless insisted that "the project is of such im-portance as a traffic artery, interstate in character, connecting the City ofNew York with New England, that it should be constructed at Federal orState expense as in the past, advantage should be taken of every op-portunity to secure State or Federal funds, or both, in the amount necessaryto construct this important traffic thoroughfare.'110 Lsls in 1936 the New

i

Glen ls land Br idge.Credit: Westchester County Park Commission Report 11929l.

Rochelle City Council passed a resolution call ing for construction of thePelham-Port Chester Parkway but to no avail.111 The park commission itself,realizing the futi l i ty of attempting to secure the needed funds, in 1942recommended turning over land acquired for the parkway to the state ofNew York. A Temporary State Commission for Postwar Public Works Plan-ning had proposed building a highway in roughly the same area as a state and/or federal project following World War l l. In March 1943 the Board of Super-visors adopted a resolution embodying the. commission's suggestion.l 12

26

PART lV: THE DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR l l

Although three supervisors cast negative votes, the county's decision to

abandon the Pelham-Port Chester Parkway was understandable in view of the

diff iculties the project had posed. lf the road had been built with state or

federal funds in the 1930s, it would have eased the Depression's effect upon

the county's unemployed residents. But lacking outside money, Westchester

could not proceed with such an ambitious highway proposal. Instead, the

county had to maintain its commitment to projects already underway while,

at the same time, providing employment for its regular work force and the

unemployed. In an article in Review of Reviews, J. C. Furnas commentedon Westchester County's financial situation during the Depression. He ob-

served that:

It is the distinction of the Westchester Parks System to be a relic of the" coolidge boom.". . . The westchester Parks system looks l ike an elabor-

ate project carried out with inflexible purpose from the start, l ike the

Panama Canal. In historical fact, however, its origins were queerly casual.

It grew like Topsy, branching out in directions unpredictable unti l ' the

occasion for branching arrived. Intell igence has been unsparingly em-ployed throughout; but it was a flexible, malleable intell igence, as

intimately bound up with particular circumstances as a scheme for play-

ing a bridge-hand. Those who went through the mill with the westchesterparks wil l even tell you that without these special circumstances none of

i t would have ever come into ex is tence' l l r

Keeping the park system going in the depths of the Depression was not

easy. In 1931 the commission implemented a system whereby the bulk of its

construction force was asked to work alternate weeks in order to provide jobs

for 700 new individur1r.114 With the creation of the Emergency Works

Bureau of Westchester County, the commission had to present projects for

approval to the bureau and assign persons furnished by the bureau to com-

mission jobs. In a thirteen-week period ending April 30, 1932, individuals

recommended by the bureau buitt guard rails, picnic tables, wooden bridges,

bridle baths, a retaining wall, and a sea wall; they also cleared nearly 1,000

acres of dead timber.l l5 Although much was accomplished, the commission

was well aware of the danger of the emergency relief program degenerating

into mere busy work. Downer, in appealing to the bureau's supervisors for

$25,000 to be used for "supervision, materials, supplies, tools and repairs to

machinery and equipment" on proiects employing people referred by the

Emergency Works Bureau, notedl

The length of t ime such an appropriation wil l last is dependent upon the

number of men furnished by the work bureaus and the nature of the pro-jects to which they are assigned. In general, it can be stated that thegreater the amount provided for proper supervision, materials and s.LtP;plies, the more permanent and usable the work accomplished wil l be' I lo

27

By 1935 the economic situation had deteriorated to the point wheresalaries of county employees, including people worklng for the park com-mission, had been cut. Although the Board of supervisors voted a partialrestoration of salaries, unemployment became such a touchy issue that oneof the supervisors presented a resolution requiring the park commission tosubmit "a complete l ist of employees, their salaries or rate of pay, number ofdays p.er week employed, addresses and whether they are cit izens ornot'"r | / The commission complied by_ sending a copy of its payroll for theperiod from July 8 to July 22, 1936.118 Th. supervisor who had preparedthe original resolution presented yet another one requesting the park com-mission to increase the wages of day laborers in 1g37 because of the seasonalnatuie of their work, the rising cost of l iving, and the fact that most of themwere employed only four days per week.119 Th. full board concurred in thisresolution and a more speciflc one call ing for an increase in day laborers,wages from 94.40 to 95.00. lzu The park commission was wil l ing to comptyprovided -t!e Board of supervisors granted it an additional appropriation of$13 ,000 .121

Fortunately for the fiscal well-being of westchester county, the Boardof supervisors did not have to raise all the money needed to pay individualsemployed on park commission projects. The wpA laborers undertook andcompleted considerable work at playlan4.122 In addition to routine main-tenance, an important building project, playland's casino, was completedduring the Depression. with its indoor ice skating rink, restaurant, and gamerooms, the casino transformed Playland into a year-round resort. Heartenedby patronage of the casino, the park commission declared that the responseby families and individuals was "proof that westchester cit izens demand awinter place of wholesome amusement and enterts|nr.n1.,,123 But noteverything was rosy at Playland despite a big increase in visitation during theearly 1930s. Part of it was due to the aggressive efforts of the ExcursionBooking Department to bring in church, fraternal, social, and industrial groupsfor all-day outings. Although Frank w. Darling, the director of playland, re-ported that the park had had "a more successful season than any institutionof a s imi larcharacter in the Uni ted states" in 1932 and would probably, ,endits year with not less than $325,000 to turn over to the county for the main_tenance of the county parks and parkways,,, he pointed out that ,,manythousands-.... enjoyed Playland without spending any money on its special1"u1ur.5"'124 Economy-minded bathers, for exampre, arrived dressed in theirswimsuits, thereby avoiding the charge for using the bathhouses.

Although losses l ike this were important to Darling, a special committeeof the Board of supervisors-created to investigate playland operations-was more concerned with what it may have suspected were instances ofmajor mishandling of funds. After examining under oath evdry employeeof Playland in 1933, the_committee concluded that there had been only onefinancial indiscretion.l25 tne sum involved was under $300, and the em-ployee implicated in the incident had resigned. The committee, nevertheless,recommended replacing Playland's managerial Fersonnel.l26 Inthe course oiits investigation, the committee discovered eight employees who were not

III

American citizens. Several of these people had been brought to Westchesterfor employment at the park. While concluding that '?olit ical influence hadnothing to do with securing positions at Playland," tzr 11rc committee statedthat "family polit ics and friendships had too much to do with securing suchpositions, evenjo the extent of importing relatives and friends from outsidethe County." lzu After noting that "the basic policy of the Park Commissionis to employ Westchester help where they are qualified to do the work," thecommittee recommended that "the Commission assume the responsibil i tyof seeing that such policy is strictly enforced.129

The findings of the special committee on Playland operations were notearthshaking, but the supervisors kept watch over the park's finances. Wellaware of the board's scrutiny of Playland's financial condition, park commis-sion President Lawrence reported in 1935 that he had witnessed the poorestseason in the history of the park but emphasized that "consideration shouldbe giyen to the wholesome recreation which 'Playland' has afforded to count-less tho.usands of ieople who have visited 'Playland' during these depressionyears."lrtu ln 1938 a fire compounded Playland's problems. Since the in-surance settlement was almost double the $13,000 required for repairingthe damage, the park commission persuaded the Board of Supervisors totransfer the surplus to the commission's capital fund to be used for install ingseveral new rides. lr l A surplus of almost $5,000 from an insurance paymentcovering fire losses in 1940 was transferred to the Playland Authority, whichtook over management of the park frorn the commission on July l. lrz

By the time it surrendered control of Playland, the park commission hadsuccessfully passed through the difficult decade of the 1930s, but it was notleft entirely unscathed. ln addition to the Playland fires, there were blazes atGlen lsland. Nbvertheless, the work of the commission went forward. A newgolf course, including a club house and restaurant, was completed at SaxonWoods in 1931. Also during the early 1930s, athletic f ields were constructedat Kingsland Point and Tibbetts Brook park; paths and parking spaces werebuilt at Glen lsland; and a bathhouse and restaurant were opened to thepublic at Woodlands prrp.133 And at V. Everit Macy Park-the former Wood-lands Park in Ardsley renamed in honor of the park commission presidentwho died^i1 1930-parking space, roads, and a concession unit were con-structed. l 34

Up county, fire trails were cut at the Poundridge Reservation and re-forestation work was undertaken at the immense forest preserve, which in1938 was renamed the Ward Poundridge Reservation in honor of Will iam L.Ward, chairman of the Republic Committee of Westchester County. Some ofthe vegetation planted on the reservation during the 1930s became a foodsupply for an unusually large deer population. Since hunting was not permit-ted on county property, the deer proliferated to the point where the Boardof Supervisors was compelled to appoint a special committee to study theproblem. In the end, it recommended that the Board of Supervisors obtainstate permission for an open season on deer in the county.135

Serious though it was, the deer situation was a less challenging problemthan some of those the board had faced during the Depression, not the least

of which was keeping Westchester's huge park and parkway system operating.In early 1933, for the first t ime in the history of the Westchester CountyPark Commission, its president requested a deficiency appropriation formaintenance and operating expenses from the Board of Supervisors.l36The commission later asked for an additional appropriation of $104,000 forthe remainder of 1933, but the board came through with only 969,999. 137The picture was brighter in 1937 when President Lawrence reported to thesupervisors that "the financial results of the operations of the commissionfor the first six months . . . are considerably in excess of the anticipated re-ceipts. Thepreater part of this improvement comes from the operations atPlayland."lJU However, Lawrence went on to state:

From the budget submitted by the Commission during the fall of 1936there were omitted various items because of the exigencies which existedat that t ime in the County finances. Many of these items for replacingbridges, repairs.to bridges and bridle paths, etc. should be taken care ofwithout further delay. In many cases over our parkways there exists atpresent actual danger to l ife and limb. The Commission also is inundatedwith complaints from the people of Westchester concerning the con-dition of its lands, particularly in the outlying sections where the grassand weeds have not been cut and conditions are not creditable to theCommission or to the County. 139

To remedy this situation, the commission requested permission to ,,ex-pend its excess revenues, if and when received.,'- _Tie board agreed, grantingthe commission an additional $48,000;n 1937.14O In compaiison tL tSaz,1938 was not a good year for the park commission. The cost of repairingdamage done by early summer flobds, followed by a devastating Septemberhurricane, cut into the budget. Even before the hurricane, Vallentine E.Macy, Jr., vice president of the park commission, had proposed a 10 percentsalary reduction for all -c-ommission employees as well as staggered workinghours for day laborers. 1 4 1

Although many sectors of government and private business experiencedgeneral improvement after 1939, the Westchester County Park Commissionremained hard pressed unti l the end of World War l l. Gasoline rationing andthe resulting decline in travel meant a reduction in park visitation. Therewere, however, a few bright spots even during the darkest days of the Depres-sion.r+z One of them related to property values near the Bronx River park-way. The conclusion reached in an assessed valuation study done by the parkcommission's Real Estate Department was that "the lands adjacent to theparkway have enjoyed an increase of 1178,13o/o as contrasted with a 393.05%increase for the outside usn,-l43 And the park commission proudly notedthat the entire cost of the Bronx River Parkway had been returned ,,to theCounty and the various municipalit ies, through the collection of almost$23,000,000.00 more in tax receipts from this affected area than would havebeen coffected, had its increase been the same as for the outside area.,,144

30

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The parkways, l ike the parks, were not without their problems in the1930s. one diff iculty was l ighting the roads. The Board of Supervisorswanted all parkways l ighted. But in March lg33 Downer reminded the boardthat the park system was being "operated . . . on a budget which is more than$475,000 lower than in 1931." This fact, he continued, "necessitated operat-ing the Cross County Parkway, the Central Westchester parkway, and thenortherly section of the Saw Mill River parkway without l ights.,,145 ThsAutomobile club of New York communicated its displeasure over west-chester's darkened parkways to the Board of supervisors, which devised ahalf-way measure to i l luminate the roads from sunset unti l 1:00 a.m. But thecommission found this solution unworkable, and the parkways remaineddark. 146 Al thoughthesi tuat ion undoubtedly d is turbed some motor is ts , i tbrought smiles to the faces of budget-minded cit izens.

In this latter group were members of the Hastings Taxpayers Associa-tion, an organization which went on record in 1g36 opposing additionalexpenses for parliways. The Hastings Taxpayers Association was a memberof the civic League of westchester. Prior ro 1942 it was known as the Federa-tion of westchester Tax Payers'Association.l4T Formed originally to moni-tor relief work and welfare, the group branched into other areas, includingparks and parkways.148 Decryinj the county,s outstanding parkway debt,the federation proposed that the state of New yo-rk assume responsibil i ty formaintaining and policing Westchester parkways. 149 The county respondedby imposing a 10-cent to l l on the Hutchinson River and saw Mi l l Riverparkways. Despite an Automobile club of New york suit to have the west-chester Parkways Toll Act declared unconstitutional, it was upheld. Thecounty was fortunate in this regard for as soon as world war l l ended it wasback in the business of expanding its network of parkways.150

Tibbetts Brook Park - before.Credit: Bronx Parkway Commission Beport 119241

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Tibbetts Brook Park - after.Credit: Bronx Parkway Commission Report 11924!.

PART V: EPf LOGUE, THE POST-WAR PERIOD

ln 1947 work began on an extension of the Saw Mill River Parkway fromChappaqua to Katonah. Funded by New York State andcompleted in 1954,this leg of the Saw Mill was l inked to Route 684, a federally funded highwaydescribed by Senator Everett Dirksen as the most expensive ever built in the tUnited States, Route 684, running from the Hutchinson River Parkway near IWhite Plains to Brewster, where it connects with Interstate 84, was opq,ili n1970 . |n themean t ime , theCrossWes tches te rExp resswaV(Rou te8 [abo bu)r u)tb teDetz) iundg was comp)eted )n )98D, Pan))erng forpalFFits length ths proposed Tarrytown-White Plains Parkway, the Cross West'chester connects the New York State Thruway with the New England Thru-way. The latter. which opened in 1958, was in a sense the realization of thepark commission's dream of a Pelham-Port Chester Parkway.

The New York State Thruway, f inished in 1955, cuts through thewest-ern part of the county from the New York City l ine to Tarrytown where theTappan Zee Bridge carries it across the Hudson River to Rockland County.Although the New York State Thruway enabled through traffic to bypassWestchester's Hudson communities, it was not a post-war version of theRiverside Drive or Hudson River Parkway studied by the park commission inthe 1920s. That structure had to wait unti l 1965 when Governor NelsonRockefeller signed a bil l authorizing construction of a 47-mile-long HudsonRiver Expressway from the Bronx to Beacon in Dutchess County. West-chester communities along the Hudson assailed the proposal, which wasdropped in 1971. In the 1970s, prior to leaving Albany to become vice-

32

president of the United States, Rockefeller also abandoned another projecthe had previously supported, the Rye.Oyster Bay Bridge. Here, too, publicopposition was a major factor.

In the 1920s, the golden age of park and parkway developmentin West-bhester, the public had supported huge projects. In the 1960s and 1970s, itdid not. When the Cross County Parkway was about to be widened in 1965,residents of portions of Mount Vernon bordering the parkway turned outenmasse to halt the bulldozers. The angry protesters were objecting to thedestruction of a natural woodland, which was to be sacrif iced in order tocreate additional traffic lanes on the parkway. The target of their oppositionwas the East Hudson Parkway Authority, the New York State agency whichassumed the obligation of managing and maintaining the county's parkwaysin 1961 after the Board of Supervisors voted to give th"e-Saw Mill River,Hutchinson River, and Cross County parkways to the state.rcl

, The East Hudson Parkway Authority accepted responsibility for theunfrald parkways bonded debt of nearly $10 mill ion. The last bond wil lmature in 1980. By that t ime, the parkway authority is expected to havecompleted drainage work, safety improvement, and access road redevelop-ment on the Hutchinson River Parkway.

In addition, the parkway authority plans to modernize portions of theTaconic State Parkway, the old Bronx Parkway Extension, and to completework on the Sprain Brook Parkway. At the same time, widening and curveelimination work is proceeding on Westchester's f lagship parkway, the BronxRiver, which is sti l l under the county's control. As of January 1, 1979 thedepartment of public works assumed responsibil i ty for the parkway, but theadjacent reservation remains within the jurisdiction of the WestchesterCounty Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation. The latteragency was created in 1961 to superse;le both the park commission and theseparate department of recreation. lcz This new department, headed by asalaried commissioner appointed by the county executive and approved bythe county legislature, added several new parks to Westchester's inventoryof open space. ln general, the period since the end of World War l l has beenone of enhancing existing parks. lt has not been an epoch of great expan-sion. Yet use of existing parks, beaches, and pools constructed after the warhas increased markedly. The county was in fact forced to set residency re-quirements at many of its facil i t ies in the ri6-195gt. 153

ln 1977 the Allen Report on the development of Westchester Countyparks recommended an expenditure of $35 mill ion for park acquisit ion anddevelopment. The most comprehensive parks plan since the 1920s, the AllenReport, if adopted, would once again propel the county into the forefrontof park development.l54 5;n"" Westchester taxpayers of the 1970s areno less vil igant than those of the 1930s, the fate of the Allen Report is un-certain. Nevertheless, given its experience and accomplishments in park andparkway development, Westchester County will be recognized as a pioneerby public works historians.

No matter what transpires in terms of park land acquisit ion from nowuntil the beginning of the twenty-first century, it seems certain that the

33

county wil l preserve the parks it possesses. Thus, the enormous system whichbegan because of the Bronx River's pollution wil l continue to be an integralpart of Westchester County; :and if Rodman Drake, the poet of the BronxRiver, could come back to sit beside the waterway he loved he would sti l lf ind it invit ing. The same holds true for Downer, Macy, and the other archi-tects of the park and parkway system devised in the 1920s. They did theirjobs so well fifty years ago that Westchesterites of today and future genera-tions wil l long benefit from their foresight. Perhaps Macy said it best in 1930:

The intense modern l ife of our cit ies, the pressure of population, therelentless speeding of mass production make wholesome relaxation andrecreation even more important to our age than to any age preceding,And at the same time there is increasing leisure for all classes, for thewidespread and constantly growing use of machines is tending every-

. where to a shorter working day and working week. The five-day week" now firmly established in the building trades is tending to enter manu-

facturing industries. Thus the need for recreation and the leisure in whichto use it have coincided. There remains to be furnished only the place.Westchester County's experience . . demonstrates that aside from thehealth and social advantages, a well-considered modern public-park pro-gram rests on sound economic principles. Perhaps Westchester County'smost notable contribution to the history of public parks is the stronglysupporting public sentiment which has urged the program forward. Theconfidence shown by the people in supporting this largest public im-provement and general welfare program ever undertaken by the county,rests on An unbroken record of . . . honest and efficient county govern-ment . 155

34

rl

Footnotes

lWestchester County Park Commission,Annual Repon: 1923 (White Pla ins, 1923),

1 0 - 1 1 .2 Robert Bolton, Ihe History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the

County of Westchester (3rd ed. , 2 vols. , New York, 1905), 2, pp. 444-45.3Jay Downer and James Owen, "Publ ic Parks in Westchester County" in Alvah P.

French, ed. , History of Westchester County, New York (New York, 1925),961-76

provides a comprehensive overv iew of the Bronx Parkway project . Frank E. Sanchis,

American Architecture Westchester County: New York Colonial to Contemporary(Ossining, 19771,444-54 is a good summary of developments re lat ing to the Bronx

River Parkway and other parkways and parks in the Westchester system. A br lef

analvsis of the Bronx River Parkway project can be found in Ruth Ming, "Pol lut ion

and the Bronx River," Westchester Histor ian,4T (Winter 19711, 18-21. A br ief ac-

coun t o f t he l i f e o f John F . Fa i r ch i l d , eng inee r o f t he commiss ion , appea red i n an

obi tuarv in the New York Times, Nov. 9, 1943. Fairchi ld was a young man in h is

twent ies when the Bronx Parkway project began. A graduate of New York Univers i ty ,

he served as a major in France dur ing World War I and was subsequent ly v i l lage engine-

er in Pelham. Westchester Countv, New York.48ron" Parkwav Commission, Final Report (Bronxvi l le , 1925), 16.5toia., n.6ln a let ter to Jay Downer, chief engineer of the Westchester County Park Commis-

s i on , W i l l i am W. N i l es ou t l i ned t he backg round o f t he B ronx Pa rkway p ro j ec t ' He t o l d

of a 1901 t r ip to Scot land wi th Wi l l iam T. Hornaday, d i rector and general curator of

the New York Zoological Society, which af forded him an opportuni ty to observe the

p r i s t i ne R i ve r Ness . I n h i s l e t t e r , N i l es s t a ted : "The expe r l ence se t me t h i nk i ng as t o

whether i t was possib le to arouse any interest in America in protect ing i ts st reams

whe re t hey f l owed t h rough u rban commun i t i es . " En l i s t i ng Ho rnaday ' s a i d , N i l es ,

upon returning to the Uni ted States, turned his at tent ion to the Bronx River and i ts

lakes in Bronx Park near the zoological society 's headquarters. Jay Downer to Wi l l iam

W. Ni les, March 6, 1929 (East Hudson Parkway Author i ty of f ices, Pleasantv i l le , New

York). Hornaday, in a February 29, 1912 let ter to the Bronx Parkway Commission,

noted that boats on one of the lakes, Bronx Lake, were used by 46,583 people: "With-

out the water features created by the Bronx River, fu l ly one-th i rd of the beauty . . '

o f Bronx Park would disappear; for a park wi thout water features is at best only hal f

a pa rk . " B ronx Pa rkway Commiss ion , Repo r t (B ronxv i l l e , 1912 ) , 36 . I n t e res t i n t he

lakes cont inued af ter the complet ion of the Bronx River Parkway. On January 9,

1926, Downer wrote to Ni les and suggested a jo int inspect ion of the zoological soci-

ety 's lakes " to agree on just what fur ther work shal l be done there." Downer to Ni les,

Jan. 9. 1926 (Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreat ion, and Conservat ion,

Wh i t e P la i ns . New Yo rk ) .7Do*n", and Owen, "Publ ic Parks in Westchester County," 963' James G. Cannon

was a prominent New York banker and publ ic-spir i ted c i t izen who served on numerous

boards and commit tees. His great avocat ional interests were the beaut i f icat ion of

Westchester , the missionary movement for the upl i f t ing of American farmers, and the

strengthening of the American fami ly.SBron* Parkway Commission, Final Report , 19.

35

9Do*ner and Owen, "Public Parks in Westchester County," 967. In the West-chester County Records Center, Elmsford, New York, there is considerable material(Record Group 7. Box 14) pertaining to New York City and the Bronx River Parkway.Among the i tems is the extract from the minutes of the Board of Estimate and Ap-port ionment, July 15, 19'12, authorizing the city to proceed with i ts contr ibution tothe project.

10Bron" Parkway Commission, Report (Bronxvi l le, 1909), 6.1 1 tnid., Report (19121, 9.12 to ia . , . tq .13toia.14toia., 'tg.

158ron* Parkway Commiss ion , Repor t (Bronxv i l le , 1914) ,67 . The landscap ing andreforestat ion of the Bronx Parkway Commission set a precedent fol lowed f i f ty yearslater by the East Hudson Parkway Authority establ ished in 1961 to operate most ofthe county's parkways. See East Hudson Parkway Authority, Fifth Annual Report:Apri l l ,1964 to Ma.rch 31, /965 {Pleasantvi l le, N.Y., 1965}.7.

l6Do*n.r. and Owen, "Public Parks in Westchester County," 974-75.In addit ion tothe assistance of private cit izens the commission received the cooperation of realestate f irms. Individuals and f irms al ike were publicly thanked in a report issued bythe commiss ion on June 30 . 1914.

17 ttia., g6g.lSWhite Plains Daily Argus, Nov. 21 ,1g1g.The Westchester County Records Center,

Elmsford, New York, holds the legal record of the condemnation proceedings relat ingto the Bronx Parkway project (Record Group 7, Boxes 14-33).

l9lnformation about Downer's career can be found in theobituary appearing in theNewYork Times,May 3, 1949;andinErnest Freeland Grif f in, WestchesterCountyandI tsPeop le (3vo ls . , NewYork . 1946) , l l l ,p . 17 .20Do,rn., was chief of the Department of Technical Information. Bureau of Aircraft

Production. U.S. War Department.21Bron" Parkway Commission, Finat Report,G2.22tt ia. A. G. Hayden developed a standard form for the r igid-frame concrete bridge.

See Carl W. Condit, American Building (Chicago, 1968), 260.23Bron" Parkway Commission, Finat Report, 62-83.24lbid. H"r^^n W. Merkel, general superintendent of maintenance at the New york

Zoological Society, served as consult ing landscape architect and forester to the BronxParkway Commission and in the 1920s became general superintendent of the West-chester County Park Commission. New YorkTimes, March 1, 1938.

25Bronx Parkway Commission, Finat Report,63.26tfid., Report (Bronxvitle, .l918), 14.27ln i ts October 20, 1918 edit ion. the New York Sun compared the rapidly improv-

i4g Bronx River with "the picturesque Thames . . . Seine or Marne."28Bron" Parkway Commission, Report (1918), 33.29lnformation about recreational act ivi t ies on the Bronx Parkway Reservation was

published in the fol lowing newspapers: New York Herald, May 16, 1918; New YorkPost, May 15, 19i8; Bronx Home News, May 28, 1918; Eastchester Bul let in,JuneT,1 91 8, Nov. 20, 1918; Mt. Vernon Argus, June 2O, 1918; New York American, June 1 ,1 9 1 9 .

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30Bron" Parkway commission, Report (1g'1g1,35. According to the yonkers sfates-man, Apr i l 15, 191 8, 800 chi ldren part ic ipated in bui ld ing the bi rd houses. EdwardFrankel , v ice president of the scarsdale Audubon society, observed in 1 g7g that therewere 139 species of b i rds in the Bronx River Val ley more than f i f ty years af tercom-plet ion of the parkway and expressed hope that f lood-contro l projects would notupset the val ley 's ecological balance. Frankel concluded his ar t ic le by stat ing: , ,To

paraphrase the prophecy of the Bronx River commission . . . The bat t le to oreservethe Bronx River Parkway is never ending. ' , New york Times, Nov.26, 1g7g.

sf White Plains Daity Argus, June 7, 1g1g.rz ln an advert isement in Lacranaca i l rustrata lMav 27,1g20), the parkway com-

mission of fered to pay laborers $4.50 a day.rr New York Times, Dec.30, 1g22.34w.r t"h.r t " r . County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Apr i l 4, 1g2j l , 4g4-gl .JcDowner and Owen, "Publ ic Parks in Westchester County, , , g73.36ttia.. gtq.

"37Bron* Parkway Commission, Finat Repon,77.38tnia., rc.39Responding to the King Tut mania gr ipping the country fo l lowing the discovery in

1922 o ' t that pharaoh's tomb, the rr rnes observed in i ts edi tor ia l on the Bronx park-way dedicat ion: " ln a way the enterpr ise was archaeological . Nothing qui te so ancientas King Tut emerged, but numerous rer ics were drecJged up dat ing f rom the bicycredynasty and not a f6w from the dynasty of hoopskir ts and bust les. Rusted i ron bed-steads were so numerous that whole gardens . . . have been fenced in wi th headboardsand footboards." New York Times, Nov. 5, 1g2S. The fo l lowing year, House andGarden declared: "The Bronx River parkway has within a few years become a splendidexample of what a wel l organized and ably administered commission can accompl ishin the beaut i f icat ion of a large area and i ts adaptat ion to the recreat ion of the publ ic .Further than th is, the Parkway t ract , and the several others which wi l l fo l low i t as tneoperat ions are extended into other sect ions of the county, abounds in detai ls whichother improvement associat ions might wel l emulate. Taken as a whole, they const i tutea remarkable example of town bet terment through the ra is ing of real estate standardsand the st imulat ion of community pr ide." "The way westchester Does l t . ' , House andGarden, 50 (Juty 1926). 100-Ot.

40Bronx Parkway Commission, Final Report , 56.41 tila.42nia.43westchester county park commissi on, Annual Report: rg23 lwhiteplains. 1923).

39.44tua.45toia.46tua.47An excel lent summary of the Mohansic park story can be found in Downer and

Owen, "Public Parks in Westchester County,, 'g7g-gl.48Bron* Parkway Commission, Final Report, 62-63.avWestchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (MaV 21, 19231,620_25. A

copy of the Report of the westchester county park commission for the Acsuisitionof Parks, Parkways or Bourevards is on fire at the headquarters of the East HudsonParkway Authority in Pleasantvi l le, New york. Not long after the park system was

37

approved, Downer wrote: "While primari ly a park system, the whole scheme has themuch broader aspect of a large-scale planning project. particularly for the area of about125 square miles lying between Tarrytown and the New York city boundary. The parksystem of open areas, recreational spaces, and parkways combining motor traff ic andtrunk sewer routes, consti tute the principal elements of a large-scale plan to whichdetai led street systems and local community developments wil l f ind adjustment.""Westchester County Park System," National Municipal ReView,14 (July 1925t,413-1 6 .50w"st"h"rt., County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (July 2, 19231,67.51 bia.. ag.S2tbid. ls"pt.1o, 1923), 119.S3westchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: 1g23, p. 1O.S4westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1924 (White Plains, 1924),

40.55toia.SQrVestchester County Park Commissi on,Annual Report: 1929 l&hite Plains, 1929),

28.57J.ni.r Owen. "Westchester County Completes a New Amusement Park," American

City, 39 (July 1928), 137-39.,S8tnia., rcg.S9Westchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Julv 2, 1923 and April 13,

1925),6 and 794. In 1901 the supervisors had rejected a proposal for a park at RyeBeach. The "Rye Beach-General 1926-1952" I i le (Westchester County Department ofParks, Recreation, and Conservation, White Plains, New York) contains detai led infor-mation about problems encountered in bui lding Playland. Among the dif f icult ies was amosquito infestat ion. Downert memorandum of August 25, 1926 to L.G. Holleranand his fetter of March 2'1 , 1927 to Guthrie Shaw discuss the problem which Downersuggested might be al leviated by pouring oi l into stagnant pools of water on Manursingls land.60Playland "Weekly Programs," preserved by the Westchester County Historical

Society at i ts headquarters in Tuckahoe, New York, indicate the range of specialact ivi t ies at the Sound shore park.

6lWestchester County Park Commissi on,Annual Beport: 1925 (WhitePtains, 1925),34. l t was not unti l 1963, however, that the county stopped renewing the land leasesof the bungalow owners. In the Westchester County Records Center (Record Group 7,Box 54), there is extensive material pertaining to the phasing out of the bungalowcolony at Croton Point.

62westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: /93O (White Plains, 1930),33. Although Croton Point became the site of the county's sanitary landfi l l rather thanan airport in 1978, the airport question was reopened because of a desire to reducepressure on the exist ing county airport at North Castle. At the Westchester CountyRecords Center (Record Group 7, Box 54), there is material on these attempts to bui lda landing f ield at Croton Point, including a 1941 request by the Civi l AeronauticsBoard (CAB) to lease part of the park for that purpose. A letter from Evans Ward.president of the park commission., to Harvey F. Law, CAB supervisor of airports,declared that Croton Point could not be leased for a landing f ield unless the parkcommission released i t as no longer needed for park purposes, something to which thecommission was unanimously opposed. Evans Ward to Harvey F. Law, Nov. 17, 1941{Westchester County Records Center, Elmsford, New York).

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63Westchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: 1929, p.30. For morethan thirty years, a veterans' hospital has occupied the former park which was sold bythe county to the federal government.

64westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1930, p.33.oSWestchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1927 (White Plains, 1927),

33-35.66Jay Downer, "Tibbetts Brook Park, Westchester County, N.Y.," American City,

37 (Sept. 19271, 380-82.oTwestchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: ..930, pp.36-37. The

interrelat ionship between parks and parkways can be seen not only in increases in parkrevenue fol lowing the completion of parkways in their vicinity but can also be de-duced from, for example, a memorandum sent by Downer to Holleran and Clarke inwhich Downer urged them to speed up the Wil lsons Woods prolect because the City ofMount Vernon accepted "a nominal award for their land in the Hutchinson RiverParkway" in consideration of the county bui lding a pool at Wil lsons Woods. JayDowner to L.G. Holleran and G.D. Clarke, Oct. 21, 1926 (Westchester County De-partrnent of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, White Plains, New York).68Westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1930, p. 37.69tbid.,39TQvestchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Nov. 4, '1924 and April 6,

19251, 273 and 786.71W.rt"h"rt. , County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: . l930, p.43;T2westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1927, p.37.T3cornty Parks: A Report of a Study of County Parks in the United Stafes (New

York, 1 930) praised the concept of a County Center but warned that "to ensure ful luse, publ ic and private agencies must promote programs." See page 90.

T4westchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (March 25, 'lg2gl, 867.75bia. (Mav g, 19271, g2E.76tbia. ls"pt. 12,'lg27l, 141.TTwestchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1930, p. 70.78toia.,as.79tnia.80"New York State Parkway connecting the Bronx River Parkway at Kensico Dam

with the Bear Mountain Bridge," dedication pamphlet,Nov. 14, 1931.SlWestchester County Park Commission,Annual Bepon: /93/ (White Plains. 1931),

52.82tnia., 49-50. Carl W. Condit singles out one bridge on the Bronx Parkway Ex-

tension for special mention. He writes: "The f irst true r igid-frame girder bridge in theUnited States was constructed . . . to carry the . . . Parkway over the tracks of the NewYork Central Railroad at Mount Pleasant, New York. The designer, Jay Downer . . .deserves th€ major credit for making the r igid frame in both steel and concrete acommon form in American bridge construction." Condit,American Building,226-27.S3Westchester County Park Commisison, Annual Report: 1932 (White Plains, 1932),

1 8-1 9.84w.st"h"rtu, County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Jan 14, '19241,273.

85tn 192S there was some mention in the press of a possible New York City annexa-t ion of southern Westchester. Downer said i t was more l ikely thatWestchester wouldtake the Bronx and Manhattan. He noted that the benefi ts of annexation expected by

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the towns ceded in the nineteenth centurv did not material ize. New York Times. June15,1925.S6Westchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: 1924, p. 29.STWestchester County Park Commission, Annual Report, 1927, p. 13.88w.rt"hrrt", County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1924, pp.29-3O.89westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1925, p.70.gOwestchester County Board of Supervisor, Minutes (Jan. 17,19271,517.91 lbid. (J"n. '14, 19241, 273. Yonkers enthusiastical ly cooperated with the pan<

commission by ceding city-owned land for the parkway. Downer applauded this in aletter to Lawrence Grif f i th, chief engineer of Yonkers. Jay Downer to LawrenceGrif f i th, Jan. 9, 1925 (Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, andConservation, White Plains, New York).

92Do*n", and Owen, "Public Parks in Westchester County," 987. James Owen. whotook a famous series of before and after pictures of the Bronx Parkway Reservation,gave a brief history of the parks system in "The Westchester County Parks: A PictorialOpportunity," Photo-Era,54 (March 19251, 151-54. Ten thousand photographscom-prise the pictorial record of the Bronx River Parkway. See Record Group 7, Boxes 34-37 and 38-39, Broni River Parkway (Westchester County Records Center, Elmsford,New York) .93Westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1924, p. 15.94tua.95By so doing, the county saved money. See "Modern Motor Ways," Architectunl

Record (Dec. 1933), 430-36. The cost to have widened the Albany Post Road wouldhave been six t imes the entire cost of a 500-foot parkway.

g6westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1927, p. 48.9TWestchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1932, p. 13.9Swestchester 's smaller parkways are discussed in Howard M. Bassett, "A New Type

of Protected Traff icway Being Built in Westchester County, N.Y.," American City,44(March 1933), 59-60. The Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, andConservation has extensive f i les on minor parkways, including the Mamaroneck Riverand the Odell parkways which fai led to material ize.

99westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report, 1927, p.20.lOOWestchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: /928 (White Plains,

19281,44.1 01yy.r1"1-r"r1rr County Park Commissi on, Annual Beport: 1929, p. 42.1O26;6., 49-44.1031q1.r1"6.r1rr County Park Commission, Annual Report: 1930, p.52.lMwestchester County Board of Supervisors,MrnuteslFeb. 6, 1933), 816. In Decem-

ber 1934 Downer resigned from the Westchester County Park Commission because ofa lack of major construction work. He subsequently establ ished his own f irm, Downer,Green and Cari l lo, which planned and bui l t ldlewild (now John F. Kennedy) Airport.

l0sWestchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1925, p.24.1O616;6.lOTWestchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1927, p. 18.l0Swestchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Feb. 24,1930), 701.1o916;6 . (March 9 , 1936) ,831.11016 i6 .11' l lbid. (Jan. 11, 1937), 531. In December 1938 Robert Moses, New York City's

commissioner of parks, wrote to Mayor Fiorel lo LaGuardia of New York urging con-

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struction of the Pelham-Port Chester Parkway as a logical t ie-up with the recentlycompleted Triborough Bridge l inking the Bronx, Oueens, and Manhattan. See RobertMoses to Mayor Fiorel lo LaGuardia, Dec.21, 1938 (Westchester County Departmentof Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, White Plains, New York). The same f i le alsocontains a pamphlet, dated May 1. 1930, print 'ed for the New York and New England

Motorways Corporation, which recommended construction of the parkway by thatprivate Stamford, Connecticut company instead of Westchester County or New YorkState. Maps, aerial views, and correspondence relat ing to the proposed highway through'1940 complete the f i le.

l l2westchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (March 22, 1g4gl,7g}-g2.1131.6. Furnas, "Parkways That Pay," Beview of Reviews, g3 (June 1936),54-57.l l4Westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1932, p.49."11516;4.

1 l6westchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Apri l 3, 1 933), 8.117 tbid. (Aus. 3, 1936), 189."t1816;4. (Sept. 14, 1936), 195.11916;4 . (Jury 10 , 1937.1 ,141.'t2O16ig.

121 16i4. (sept. 13, 1937), 189.'12216i4. (March 2. 1936), 806.

l23Westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: 1931, p.99.124vyg516hs51sr County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Oct. 10, 19321,291.125tb id . (Ju ty 10 , 1933) . 171.126prunp W. Darl ing resigned on September 30, 1933. New York Times, Oct. 1,

1 933.l2Twestchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (July 10. 1933), 171.12816i4.'t2916;4.

13o166. (Apr i t 6 , 1936) ,926.131 16i4. (Nov. 7, 1938), 290.132tbid. (June 3, 1940,,124-25.l33westchester County Park Commissi on, Annual Report: i .931, p.2O.134g"1or" succeeding W. Delavan Baldwin as president of the Westchester County

Park Commission in 1926, V. Everit Macy had reorganized the county's welfare sys-tem. A man with wide-ranging interests in f inance, phi lanthropy, and Egyptology,Macy "dedicated his l i fe to the service of Humanity." New York Times, March 22,1930. Macy was succeeded as pres ident o f the park commiss ion by Ar thur W.Lawrence who, together with his father, Wil l iam Van Duzer Lawrence, had developedBronxvi l le as a fashionable Westchester suburb. See New YorkTimes,Oct.22, 1937,for Arthur W. Lawrence's obituary.

13516" oroblem was so severe that it made the Times which reoorted that "num-erous autos had col l ided with deer on the highways of Westchester." New YorkTimes, Dec. 19,1944.

l36Westchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Nov. 13, 1933),273.137tb id . (Dec . 11 , 1933) ,329.13816i4. lJutv 12, 19371, 126.1396;6.14o16;6. (Dec. 6, 1937), 3oo.' 1 4 1

1 6 ; 6 . ( A u g . 1 , 1 9 3 8 ) , 2 1 8 .

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1427o, the period 1940-1945, the annual reports and the minutes of the meetings ofthe park commission ref lect this general trend. Both are avai lable in manuscriptform inthe offices of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conserva-t ion. No published reports were issued after 1933.

l43westchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: /933 (White Plains,'1933), 25. Three years earl ier Downei stated: "The excess cost of land in excess of thebare requirements of the pavement right-of-way has been easily offset in WestchesterCounty by the enhanced valuations of taxable property ireated along the parkways."Jay Downer, "How Westchester Treats lts Roadsides," American Civic Annual, ll(1930), 165-67. The editor 's note preceding Downer's art icle made the observationthat "Westchester County is actual ly doing the things which the ' impractical dreamers'have been trying to persuade the 'hard-headed business men'to undertake. . . ." Inanother art icle in the same publication, Downer again noted "the demonstrat ion af-forded by the Westchester County parkways that esthetic considerations may rest ona sound economic foundation, merits serious attention in the development of al larterial thoroughfares, part icularly in the suburban areas of our large cit ies." JayDowner, "Westchester Parkways Control the View," American Civic Annuat, lll( 1 9 3 1 ) , 1 6 1 - 6 2 .

l44Westchester County Park Commission, Annual Report: 1l933, p.25. John Nolenand Henry V. Hubbard in Parkways and Land Values: Harvard City Planning Studies(Cambridge Mass., 1937), '127, were more cautious than the park commission in l ink-ing parkways and increased land values. They contended that "the tremendous groMhof New York City caused a great r ise in land value in Westchester County which, al-though it was doubtless increased and hastened by the parkways, would have takenplace to a considerable extent if there had been no parkways."

l4Swestchester County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (March 20, 1.933), 933-34.146Thomas F. Reynolds, director of public safety for the Westchester County

Park Commission, was quoted in the Times as saying that accidents had not increasedon Westchester County roads where overhead lights were extinguished. New YorkTimes, Dec.27, 1938.

l4Twestchester Courtty Board of Supervisors, Minutes (Nov. 23, 1g36't, 27g.1481r'r; ;n" with the views of disgruntled taxpayers were the ideas presented by

Theodore Pratt in "The State of the Union," American Mercury (Jan. 1935), 108-12.After admrtting that Westchester "is known the world over as the next place to heav-en," Pratt insisted there was trouble in paradise because Westchester had spent toomuch tax money on improvements. He especially decried the fact that the great grand-chi ldren of the taxpayers of his day would be paying off parkway bonds in the 1980s.

149Griffin, Westchester County, ll, 48S.150Thg park commission's 1949 annual report indicated that there was a great need

for additional parkways because "parkway traffic is expected to be built up at least10% each year for the next 5 years. lf this percentage of increase is attained . . . theparkways on peak days. . . wi l l be practical ly impassable."

151Vyg51shs51gr County Board of Supervisors, Minutes (June S, 1961), 104-Ob.Since 1957 the Westchester County Parkway Authority had operated these roads. Inthat year the new authority assumed the responsibility which had reverted to the parkcommission when the westchester cross county Parkway Authority was phased out in1947. The story of the various authorities is recounted in a paper entitled "East Hud-son Parkway Authority and l ts Parkways" issued by the authority on March '11,1975.

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lS2westchester County Board of Supervisors. Minutes (Dec. 15, lg60),388-407. Therole of the recreation department prior to its absorption by the new department isanafyzed in E. Dana Caulkins, "Recreation in Westchester County," Recreation,27{Aug. 1933), 218-22 and in Mrs. Chester Geppert Marsh, "County Recreation ProgramHelp,s Small Towns and Vil lages," American City,30 (Feb. 1924), 15GS2.

1531n 1943 the Westchester County Park Commission noted that the parksadjacentto New York City "were again used to the point of saturation on peak days. ' , Up-county faci l i t ies, part icularly the golf course at Mohansic, were also heavi ly useo.When the county turned Mohansic Park and pool over to the state of New York afterth.e_war, it imposed a residency requirement at the golf course which it retained.

154see the July 1977 "Plan for the Development of parks, Recreation, and Con-servation, Westchester County, Llew York."

155V. Everit Macy, "Parks in the Modern Manner," Survey,64 (July 1, 1g3O),301-03.

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