Moses Brought The World to Queens

photo from wallyg on Flicker

The World's Fair was coming to New York and Robert Moses built a park to house the festivities. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, in Flushing Queens, opened in 1939, specifically for the World's Fair but has continued to serve as an events ground.

As the largest park in Queens (1255 acres), Flushing Meadows is a crucial part of the community; whether for people coming to sporting events or local residents having a picnic. The park is home to the tennis stadium that hosts the US Open, the Mets' home field(Shea Stadium and now Citi Field), Queen's art museum, a science center, an aquatic facility, botanical gardens and many recreational fields.

The area was once a dumping ground for ashes, made famous in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", where it was called a " valley of ashes." Moses was the man who cleaned up the area and cleared it out to make it a suitable public space for the Fair in 1939. The hope was that the World's Fair would bring in money that could go to transforming the park completely. The plan did not succeed and the site inactive until the 1960's, when another World's Fair was held. Once again, there was no financial gain, but the structures left behind gave the hope for a dream park some momentum.

Most famous of these structures is The Unisphere, which was commissioned for the 1964 World's Fair and lays an the center of the park. People use the globe as an easy meeting point.

Photo From Mercedes on Flickr

There is a lot of water around the park, with Flushing bay on the north west border,Meadow Lake and Willow Lake lying in the center of the park. Willow Lake is the natural area of the park, while Meadow Lake allows residents and visitors to rent paddle boats and explore the largest man-made lake in the city. The water front is home to the Dragon Boat Festival every year.

The city park and recreation department took over Flushing Meadows Park in 1967 and since then it has thrived. The World's Fair brought life to the valley of ashes, but the park that was built has brought life to Queens.

Click for an interactive map of Flushing Meadows Park