9. Highbridge Park Was Once Home to an Amusement Park
During the late 19th-century, Highbridge Park was home to a recreational site known as Fort George Amusement Park, which stood between 190th and 192nd Streets on Amsterdam Avenue. Regarded by some as “Harlem’s Coney Island,” the attraction opened in 1895, and featured two Ferries Wheels, three roller coasters, a casino, an ice cream parlor, a toboggan slide and two music halls: the Star and the Trocadero.
Today, Fort George Playground stands on the site of the former amusement park, which succumbed to a fire in 1914.