Starlight Park

Starlight Park is a 17.26-acre waterfront park along the Bronx River in the West Farms section of the Bronx, named for the Starlight Amusement Park that operated on this site from 1918 to 1932. The original amusement park featured rides, a swimming pool, and dance pavilions that drew visitors from across the borough.

The amusement park's closure during the Depression and the subsequent decades of industrial use and highway construction severed the West Farms community from the Bronx River. The creation of the modern park represents the restoration of the neighborhood's historic connection to the waterway.

The park features a waterfront esplanade, athletic fields, a playground, and connections to the broader Bronx River Greenway. The park provides a key link in the developing trail system along the river, connecting neighborhoods that were previously cut off from the water by highway infrastructure.

The Cross Bronx Expressway, which runs near the park, is one of the most controversial highways in American history. Built by Robert Moses in the 1950s and 1960s, the expressway destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and divided the South Bronx in ways that contributed to the neighborhood's devastating decline.

Starlight Park reclaims a piece of the South Bronx's recreational past, restoring waterfront access in a neighborhood where the river was hidden behind highways and industrial facilities for decades. The park's name preserves the memory of the amusement park that once brought joy to this corner of the Bronx.