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Williamsbridge Reservoir

Former lake in Bronx, New York

Williamsbridge Reservoir
1911-1913 map
Williamsbridge Reservoir Show map of New York City Williamsbridge Reservoir Show map of New York
Location	Williamsbridge Oval, Bronx, New York
Coordinates	40°52′39″N 73°52′38″W / 40.87750°N 73.87722°W / 40.87750; -73.87722
Type	former lake
Surface area	13.1 acres (5.3 ha)

Williamsbridge Reservoir was a natural lake (despite its name) measuring 13.1 acres (5.3 ha) just south of Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York.^[1] Specifically the body of water was located at 208th Street and Bainbridge Avenue.^[2] It was shaped like a saucer^[3] and was normally 41 feet (12 m) deep.^[1] Its water level dropped approximately 14 feet (4.3 m) in mid-August 1901.^[4] On April 3, 1934 Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, Maurice P. Davidson, proposed that it be offered to Robert Moses to be used as a park site. The reservoir had ceased to be used after 1919.^[1]

History of reservoir site[edit]

A site for the Montefiore Home, first organized in 1884, was acquired in the West Bronx, between Columbia Oval and the Williamsbridge Reservoir, in January 1910. On the plot a hospital for treating various diseases replaced the previous site of the Montefiore Home, a building at Broadway (Manhattan) between 137th Street and 138th Street.^[5]

In June 1928 a four-year-old boy, Frederic Fleishaus, of 3315 Rochambeau Avenue, the Bronx, drowned in Williamsbridge Reservoir. He gained access to the water through a small opening in an eight-foot fence which had been erected for protection.^[3]

The Williamsbridge Reservoir property came under the control of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation on June 27, 1934. A new sport and play area covering 20 acres (8.1 ha), known as the Williamsbridge Oval Park and Williamsbridge Playground and Recreation Center, opened there on September 11, 1937. A Works Progress Administration project, the facilities cost $1,500,000 to build. It features a Beaux Arts landscape and Art Moderne recreation center.^[2][6]

The Keeper's House at Williamsbridge Reservoir was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.^[7] Sixteen years later, the entire park was listed on the Register as well.^[8]

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