Getting There (New York and the urban park)
Beginning in 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company operated and managed the New York City Subway’s overground and underground lines, including the Pelham Bay Park Branch that ran up the city’s East Side all the way to the titular park in the northeast corner of the Bronx.
Three times the size of Central Park, Pelham Bay Park was a one-time brainchild of Frederick Law Olmstead, pet project of John Mullaley and the New York Park Association, and the subject of a lengthy camping permit controversy at the turn of the 20th century.
These calls to action from the Elevated Express, a publication of the Interborough Transit Commision, speak to the ideals and appeal of Pelham Bay Park. Due to its distance from the city, in contrast to Central Park, the land at the peak of Hunter’s Point was left unlandscaped, providing a recreational wilderness only a stone’s throw from bustling, hot, and overcrowded Manhattan.
