Manhattan · New York County
Jackie Robinson Park
Major Park
- Location
- Bradhurst & Edgecombe Avenues, West 145th to 155th Streets, Harlem
- Size
- 12.77 acres
- Hours
- 6:00 AM - 9:00 PM
- Type
- Major Park
Jackie Robinson Park is a 12.77-acre park in central Harlem, stretching between Bradhurst and Edgecombe Avenues from West 145th to 155th Streets. The park was renamed in 1978 in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947 when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming one of the most significant figures in the history of American sports and civil rights.
Robinson's achievement transcended athletics: by integrating baseball, he challenged the entire structure of racial segregation in American public life. His dignity, talent, and courage under relentless hostility inspired a generation of civil rights activists and helped lay the groundwork for the broader civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The park was originally known as Colonial Park and was developed in the early 20th century as one of several major parks created to serve Harlem's rapidly growing population. Its hillside terrain includes rocky outcroppings and wooded areas along the Edgecombe Avenue bluff, with more formal recreation areas in the flatter central sections.
Facilities include a swimming pool and recreation center (the Jackie Robinson Recreation Center), basketball courts, a running track, playgrounds, and open green spaces. The recreation center offers year-round programming for youth and adults, including fitness classes, sports leagues, and community events.
The park's pool, one of eleven outdoor pools that Robert Moses built simultaneously across the city in 1936, has served as a summer lifeline for Harlem residents for nearly nine decades. These WPA-era pools were among the largest public works projects of the Depression and remain vital community resources.
Jackie Robinson Park occupies a symbolically resonant position in Harlem, a neighborhood whose contributions to African American culture, politics, and sports are of national and global significance. The park's naming for Robinson connects daily recreation to the larger story of racial justice that defines Harlem's place in American history.