Tom Bendelow opened Forest Park as a nine-hole course in 1901, carved into the Harbor Hill Moraine — the ridge of glacial debris left by the Wisconsin Glacier 20,000 years ago. It expanded to 18 holes by 1905 with a Dutch Colonial clubhouse called Oak Ridge, designed by the same architects behind the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower.
Then the 20th century happened to it.
Woodhaven Boulevard was widened. The Jackie Robinson Parkway cut through. The first four holes were relocated — ripped up and rebuilt somewhere else on the property. The course was remodeled, then remodeled again. Stephen Kay gave it a full redesign in 1995 for the park's centennial.
Through all of it — expressway construction, budget crises, decades of NYC Parks neglect — Forest Park kept taking tee times. Private clubs close for renovation. They have members who can absorb an assessment, a temporary relocation, a year of construction fencing. Munis don't have members. They have neighborhoods. Forest Park absorbed the damage and kept going. That's not design philosophy. That's survival.
Woodhaven, Queens, NY · Est. 1901 · Tom Bendelow · 18 holes · Survived expressway construction · Stephen Kay redesign (1995)
Part of The Muni Manifesto series.