1940

Max Ulrich Parks Photo Archive

1940

The Parks Department completed the Belt Parkway from Owl's Head Park in Brooklyn to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge in Queens, a distance of almost 35 miles. The Belt Parkway, the most ambitious of all the pre-war parkway projects, was composed of the Shore, Southern and Cross Island Parkways which ran through or adjacent to Owl's Head, Dyker Beach, Marine, and Canarsie Beach Parks in Brooklyn and Spring Creek, Bais-ley Pond, Brookville, Alley Pond, Crocheron and Clearview Parks in Queens.

1942

Gracie Mansion in Carl Schurz Park became the official residence of Mayor La Guardia in 1942. The mansion was built in 1799 by Archibald Gra-cie, who until his bankruptcy shortly before the War of 1812, was a prosperous merchant and host to such distinguished guests as Louis Philippe (later King of France) and Washington Irving. The city purchased the mansion in 1887.

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