Great Kills Park is a public park in

Great Kills, Staten Island Great Kills is a neighborhood within the borough of Staten Island in New York City. It is located on the island's South Shore, and according to many local geographers, it is the South Shore's northernmost community. It is bordered by Richmondtow ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Originally named Marine Park, it is a part of the

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

unit of

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...

. Administered by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

, it covers an area of approximately of

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

, beach and woodlands, stretching along two miles (3 km) of Staten Island's south shore.

Access

The park's main entrance is at

Hylan Boulevard Hylan Boulevard is a major northeast-southwest boulevard in the New York City borough of Staten Island, and the longest street in the city. It is approximately long, and runs from the North Shore neighborhood of Rosebank, then along the enti ...

and Buffalo Street, where there is a bus stop for the buses. The Bay Terrace station of the

Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, ...

is also near the main entrance. Boaters can arrange access at Nichols Marina in Great Kills Harbor.

History

BEACH AT GREAT KILLS PARK ON STATEN ISLAND - NARA - 547943

In 1860, the businessman and pioneering naturalist John J. Crooke bought a part of the land and lived in a wooden house at the beach. In 1916, severe erosion cut the narrow spit of land and Crooke's Point became an island to itself. As early as 1925, the

New York City government The government of New York City, headquartered at New York City Hall in Lower Manhattan, is organized under the New York City Charter and provides for a mayor-council system. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for the ad ...

was considering buying of Crooke's land to build a playground. Mayor

John Francis Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Broo ...

considered purchasing up to of land for a larger park, with provisions for future additions to bring the park's size to . A resort would be built on the site, which was expected to cost $10 million. In 1929, the city bought Crooke's Point and adjacent land and started to build a public park. Due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the work was delayed and the park was not opened to the public until 1949. The city operated an incinerator on the site of the park from 1926 to 1941, and over 197,000 tons of its toxic residue remained at the site. Additionally, 15 million tons of contaminated waste was used as

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the wast ...

,Anna Sanders
"Great Kills Park radiation probe update: In case you missed it"
''Staten Island Advance'', April 4, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2017. with

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

noting that the City of New York saved $5 million by using "Sanitation-controlled fill" to complete the park. A pioneering rocket launch in 1933 led the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

to commemorate the location as a "Historic Aerospace Site". Great Kills Harbor, located within the park, was created in the 1940s by expanding and reconnecting Crooke's Island to the rest of Staten Island, using landfill and

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

material. Numerous species of birds frequent the park's diverse habitats. It became part of the

in 1973, along with

Miller Field Miller Field may refer to: Places In the United States * Jessee/Miller Field, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut * Zell B. Miller Field, Young Harris, Georgia * Les Miller Field, a baseball venue in Chicago, Illinois * Miller Field (baseball), ...

and

Fort Wadsworth Fort Wadsworth is a former United States military installation on Staten Island in New York City, situated on The Narrows which divide New York Bay into Upper and Lower halves, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay and Manhattan beyon ...

on Staten Island,

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, through Rockaw ...

in Brooklyn and Queens, and

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

in New Jersey."Things To Do – Staten Island"
National Park Service. Retrieved May 3, 2017. The park now includes the Nichols Marina, a beach, trails, fishing and bird-watching areas, and sports fields.

Radium contamination

The park's 15 million cubic yards of 1940s-era landfill included sanitary and medical waste. In 2005,

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rat ...

(²²⁶Ra, once used in cancer treatments) was found in the sand at a depth of about 1–1.5 feet (30–40 cm). Directly at the sources, investigators measured

gamma radiation A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically s ...

about 200 times higher than the natural background level. Approximately half of the park has been closed to the public since 2009, and in 2021 the National Park Service was working to complete a comprehensive "Remedial Investigation Report" for its long-term decontamination project."Great Kills Park Environmental Cleanup Project"
National Park Service. Retrieved October 10, 2022.

References

External links

* {{authority control Gateway National Recreation Area Parks in Staten Island Radioactively contaminated areas Great Kills, Staten Island