N E W S
J U L Y 9
L E H A V R E
The Stewart Railroad rail trail in Kissena Park
WWW.QNS.COM | JULY 2020 | LEHAVRE COURIER 9
About Kissena Park
In 1868, Samuel Parsons
(as in Parsons Blvd.) opened
Parsons Nurseries near what is
now Fresh Meadows Lane. It
became a flourishing business
(pun intended); by the late
1880s, the nursery was importing
10,000 Japanese maples a
year into the US.
Parson’s children took over
the family business who then
turned it over to grandson
George. After George passed
away suddenly, the nursery
was closed in 1901 and eventually
sold in 1906. The land
was ultimately sold partly
to real estate developers and
partly to NYC to create the
park.
Kissena Park was originally
envisioned to be the main park
of Queens, similar to Central
Park and Prospect Park in
Brooklyn. For example, the
western end of Kissena Lake
drained into the creek and was
traversed by a bridge, similar
to Central Park's Gapstow
Bridge. Kissena Park opened
in 1910 and the World War I
memorial knoll on the south
side of Kissena Lake was dedicated
in 1921.
Did you know? Kissena Park
is located on a 19th-century
railroad right-of-way. A raised
nature trail running through
Kissena Park was originally
the main line of the Central
Railroad of Long Island owned
by A.T. Stewart which ran from
Flushing eventually to Garden
City. In August 1940, the New
York City Board of Estimate
approved Queens Borough
President George U. Harvey's
request to acquire the railroad
right-of-way in two tracts.
The idea was for the western
tract to connect Kissena
with Flushing Meadows and
for the eastern tract to connect
Kissena to Cunningham Park.
The corridors would include
playgrounds, sports fields,
park trails, and bicycle and
bridle paths. The project was
also supposed to include the
construction of a major storm
sewer through the corridor.
Nice idea, but things got complicated
with the outbreak of
WWII and steel was needed
for the war effort. It wasn’t
until 1948 that the main trunk
of the corridor sewer was
completed.
Fast forward to May 1951:
Robert Moses announced
plans to use a section of the
area that included the park
as a temporary garbage
dump. Thankfully, the plans
were opposed by Queens
Borough President Maurice A.
FitzGerald and the plans were
scratched. The western stretch
of the Kissena Corridor was
eventually landfilled in the
1950s from dirt excavated for
the construction of the Long
Island Expressway.
Unfortunately, by the 1980s,
the park was being used as an
illegal dumping ground. Algae
buildup in Kissena Lake necessitated
another restoration
project, which was undertaken
in 1983. Subsequently, a
local naturalist named Charlie
Emerson started planting a
garden in 1986. The garden
and an adjoining nature center
were dedicated to Emerson in
1990. Thank you, Charlie!
But enough history…here
are some of the more interesting
things Kissena Park has
to offer:
THE VELODROME
Fun fact: Kissena Park has the only remaining velodrome (a
fancy word for a bicycle track) in NYC. It was built in the center of
the park in 1962 and was used during the 1964 New York World’s
Fair and the US team trials for the 1964 Summer Olympics.
But the Velodrome deteriorated over the years. By 2000, efforts
were underway to renovate it and it was rededicated in 2004.
In 2003, a $2.3 million restoration drained the lake in stages,
resulting in its current appearance. The city water was replaced
with well water, an aeration system was installed, the concrete
bulkheads were replaced with natural-looking materials such as
rocks and plants, and a small island for birds and turtles was built
within the lake.
THE
KOREAN
WAR
MEMORIAL
In 2007, the Korean
War memorial was
unveiled at the park’s
northern entrance at
Parsons Boulevard.
The memorial,
designed by William
Crozier, commemorates
Korean War veterans
from Queens. Its
centerpiece is a bronze
sculpture called The
Anguish of Experience,
which depicts “a solitary
soldier whose face
portrays the agony
of war,” followed by
five soldiers carrying a
stretcher.
THE GOLF COURSE
Kissena Golf Course is a short course with a mere Par 64, but golfers say
there are some tight holes and sneaky hills. Word on the fairway is that Hole
#9 is really hard with an uphill elevated green, and that the 11th tee is the
highest elevation point in Queens which offers stellar views of Manhattan.
Photo by Judy Densky You can book your tee time at golfnyc.com. Fore!
/WWW.QNS.COM
/golfnyc.com
