The early and mid 1900’s saw the greater development of New York City and its surrounding boroughs. With extended subway lines reaching to the City’s then undeveloped areas, people began migrating away from New York City’s urban core to its more residential neighborhoods. The area in which I grew up, Co-op City, was built between 1966 and 1973. It stands as one of the largest housing cooperative developments in the world; located in the most northeastern section of the Bronx. However, before this area had been constructed into a housing complex, it was home to Freedom Land- a 205-acre national theme park.
Freedom Land officially opened its doors on June 19, 1960 offering its first 65,000 visitors a chance to explore the history of their homeland, U.S.A. Designer and constructor Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood, who in previous years helped in the planning of Disneyland, created the amusement park in the shape of the United States with each section of the park taking its visitors back to significant historical events in that part of the country. This advertisement from the park’s opening makes note of the site’s main attractions:
The entire park cost 65 billion to build and included 8 miles of navigable waterways, 10,000 newly planted trees, 18 restaurants and snack bars and parking for up to 72,000 cars. Freedom Land was easily accessible by car unlike Coney Island, which at the time was suffering from an ongoing decline.
Despite the park’s unifying theme and family appeal, it approached its downfall not long after its opening at the end of 1964. Two main issues leading to the close of Freedom Land were the park’s foundation and its accessibility. The northeastern region of the Bronx on which this park was built was partially filled swampland that had previously been use as a landfill. This caused a rampant mosquito problem for the park during its months of operation in the summer. Aside from this, Freedom Land also experienced issues of accessibility. Although the theme park could be easily reached by car, it was out of the way of the subway lines that serviced the Bronx and required a connecting bus that would reach the outskirts of the borough. In comparison, four different subway lines could reach Coney Island. These among other reasons made Cornelius Wood’s dream of a historical national theme park short-lived.
After the close of Freedom Land in 1964, construction on a new housing community soon began. From May 1966 to 1973 Co-op City was constructed and allowed residents to move in as early as the winter of 1968. In its early days, Co-op City was home to a largely Italian, Jewish and Irish community. However, as these populations began to move away in later decades, the neighborhood began to reflect the primarily Black and Hispanic population of the Bronx as a whole. The entire housing complex is split into 5 sections, which collectively contains 15,372 units. Only a fifth of the region was developed leaving space for parks and green areas. Co-op can be considered a city within itself. It has three grade schools, two middle schools and a high school with a planetarium. It also boasts a firehouse, three shopping centers, a power plant and a 4-story air conditioning generator. Although Co-op City revitalized this far off region of the Bronx, it has also dealt with setbacks.
Co-op City’s foundation being swamp ground causes the land surrounding the neighborhoods structures to sink a fraction of an inch per year requiring constant maintenance of sidewalks and building entrances. Despite the maintenance issues that have plagued this area of the Bronx since its fruition, it has a surprising legacy as a theme park and a current standing as a well developed housing community.
