Van Cortlandt Stadium - Bronx NY

City:: Bronx, New York City, NY
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Stadiums, Athletic Courts and Fields
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1937
Completed:: 1939
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The NY Parks Department website explains:

“Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Van Cortlandt Stadium opened on September 22, 1939. New York City, under the direction of Moses and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia (1882-1947), was able to secure a great deal of WPA funding. Park construction was one of the many projects undertaken by the WPA, an unprecedented federal program initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) as a component of the New Deal. Mayor La Guardia and Parks Commissioner Moses conducted the opening ceremonies with an exhibition football game between Manhattan College and Fordham University.”

The 1939 press release celebrating the opening of the stadium also said: “The present construction was started during 1937, The facility comprises a concrete stadium with a seating capacity of 3,000. There is a quarter-mile running track, three baseball diamonds, three football fields, six handball courts, sixteen hard surfaced tennis courts, four horseshoe pitching courts, children’s playground with wading pool, two large paved recreation areas containing basketball courts and softball diamond.”