Queensbridge Park

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Lore & Background

Queensbridge Park has been a fixture of the Queensbridge Houses community since the complex opened in 1939. Located across Vernon Boulevard from the 96-building, 3,142-unit development, the park offered tenants a place to escape the cramped apartments—which are fairly small even by New York City standards—and enjoy the outdoors. In the 1950s, residents enjoyed concerts during the hot summer months in the square central shopping area, and the Fresh Air Fund sent children on trips out to the Peekskill mountains. The park itself provided basketball courts and play areas lined with benches, while a smaller park called "Baby Park" sat conveniently right under the Queensboro Bridge. Baby Park was closed in the late 2000s after debris fell from the bridge during maintenance work, but a new playground for the same age range was built within Queensbridge Park itself, between 40th-41st Avenues. The park's role in the community has always been tied to the rhythms of the housing project—a place where the 7,000 residents of Queensbridge could gather, play, and find some relief from the crowded buildings.

In Their Own Story

In the 1950s, the management of Queensbridge changed the racial balance of the development by transferring all families whose income was more than $3,000/year—a majority of whom were White—to middle-income housing projects, and replacing most of these tenants with African-American and Latino families. This policy provided safe and sanitary housing to many low-income African-American and Latino families. By the 1970s, Queensbridge experienced a rise in crime with the rest of the city. During the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City. However, in the 2000s, crime went down. For many years Queensbridge has had a problem with drug dealers and drug users. An 11-month police investigation led to the arrest of 37 people during a drug bust in February 2005. Another raid in February 2009, following a seven-month investigation, resulted in 59 arrests.

Reader's Guide

Queensbridge Park is located across Vernon Boulevard from the Queensbridge Houses, which sit between Vernon Boulevard and 21st Street, immediately south of the Ravenswood power plant and just north of the Queensboro Bridge. The park is the primary place of recreation for tenants of the project. Within the park, visitors will find basketball courts and play areas lined with benches. A smaller playground called "Baby Park" was originally placed under the Queensboro Bridge but was closed in the late 2000s due to debris falling from the bridge during maintenance work; it was replaced by a new playground for the same age range, between 40th-41st Avenues, within Queensbridge Park itself. The park offers views of the East River and the Queensboro Bridge. The namesake station of the New York City Subway's IND 63rd Street Line (F and M trains) is on the eastern side of the complex on 21st Street, providing access to the area.

Did You Know?

• Queensbridge Park is the primary place of recreation for tenants of the Queensbridge Houses, the largest housing project in North America with 96 buildings and 3,142 units.
• A smaller park called 'Baby Park' was originally placed under the Queensboro Bridge but was closed in the late 2000s due to debris falling from the bridge during maintenance work.
• In the 1950s, residents enjoyed concerts during the hot summer months in the square central shopping area of Queensbridge.
• During the height of the crack epidemic in 1986, Queensbridge experienced more murders than any NYCHA complex in New York City.
• An 11-month police investigation led to the arrest of 37 people during a drug bust in February 2005, and another raid in February 2009 resulted in 59 arrests.