Wards Island

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Aerial view of the Triborough Bridge (Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) (left) and Hell Gate Bridge (right) leading to Wards Island (above)

Wards Island is an island between Harlem River and East River in New York City and belongs to the New York borough of Manhattan .

Geography and location

Wards Island is connected to Randall's Island to the north by an embankment . The connection with three other boroughs of New York City is made by different bridges: The railroad bridge Hell Gate Bridge connects Wards Island with New York City's borough of Queens . The Triborough Bridge complex connects the New York boroughs of Bronx , Manhattan and Queens via Ward's Island and Randall's Island. It spans a tributary of the East River ( Hell Gate ), the Harlem River and the Bronx Kill . These waters are dangerous for ships. The bridge complex thus enables a safe connection between the New York boroughs. It was named Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge on November 19, 2008 in memory of Senator Robert F. Kennedy . The Wards Island Bridge - a narrow bridge for pedestrians and cyclists - connects Ward's Island with the east side of Manhattan, with Harlem .

Administration and public institutions

Wards Island is on Manhattan Community Board 11. Both islands are managed by the Randall's Island Sports Foundation , which is governed by a partnership agreement with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation . Both islands together form the Census Area 240. 1,386 people live there on 2.2 km² - according to the United States Census 2000 .

There are several public facilities on the island such as the Manhattan Psychiatric Center , the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center (for prisoners), and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's sewage treatment plant .

Wards Island Park

Wards Island is also home to Wards Island Park , a public park that offers beautiful viewpoints, sports facilities, and picnic areas . The park is particularly useful for the residents of East Harlem as a recreational opportunity, as East Harlem itself has little green space .

history

Section of a map of Long Island City from 1896 on Wards Island is depicted

At the time of the occupation of the island by the natives by the Dutch settlers , the island was called "Tenkenas", which means "wild land". The name of the island changed several times and was now called "Buchanan's Island" or "Great Barn Island", probably a corruption of the surname "Barendt", the name of an early owner.

During the American Revolutionary War , the island served as a military post.

After the American Revolutionary War was over, Jaspar Ward and Bartholomew Ward bought the island, which later got their last name. Although settlers had lived on the island since the early 17th century, the Ward brothers pushed the island's development further by building a cotton mill and in 1807 the first bridge over the East River, which connected the island to 114th Street Manhattans.

The bridge, funded by Bartholomew Ward and Philip Milledolar, was a drawbridge that was destroyed by a storm in 1821. Thereafter, the island was essentially abandoned until 1840. From 1840 to 1930 the island was repurposed by New York City:

In 1930 the Metropolitan Conference of Parks decided to convert Randall's Island and Wards Island into a recreational area. Parks Commissioner Robert Moses presented plans for the redesign of Wards Island in 1934. For this, the city connected the island with Randall's Island in the north by building up Little Hell Gate . Playgrounds and sports fields as well as a promenade were built here. The creation of the park led to the construction of the Triborough Bridge (today: Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), which lasted from 1936 to 1943. In 1937 the sewage treatment plant was built on Wards Island, which takes up almost a quarter of the island's total area. 14 years later, the Wards Island Bridge opened in 1951 - a pedestrian bridge that connects the island with Manhattan. It was built to provide East Harlem with attractive access to Wards Island Park , as East Harlem has few public green spaces.

In 2006, the original pedestrian walkway on the section that connects Wards Island to Queens via the Triborough Bridge was demolished in order to replace it with a shorter, wider and less steep one. Since the beginning of 2008 the Wards Island Park has been closed for renovation measures.

The "East River Fields" on Wards Island after the renovation measures in September 2008.

Scylla Point

In 1984 the south-eastern tip of the island was officially named "Negro Point", as barge workers used to be black workers here. The United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used this designation. When the Parks Commissioner found out about the name in 2001, he found it offensive. He replaced it with "Scylla Point" which is related by name to the Charybdis playground in Astoria Park . Both locations are on either side of Hell Gate, as is the case in the myth where the two sea ​​monsters Scylla and Charybdis were on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. United States Census Bureau
  2. ^ Jon Nordheimer: One Man's Campaign To Rename a Creek . In: The New York Times , November 3, 1994. 
  3. Erik Baard: Uneasily Evoking an Outdated Past . In: The New York Times , July 8, 2001. 
  4. Michael Pollack: Turning Away Wrath . In: The New York Times , June 29, 2008. 

literature

  • Sharon Seitz, Stuart Miller: The Other Islands of New York. Countryman, Woodstock 2003, ISBN 0-88150-502-1 .

Web links

Commons : Wards Island  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 40 ° 47 ′  N , 73 ° 56 ′  W