3. Clason Point Amusement Park (late 1880s to 1935)
Nicknamed by some as the “Coney Island of the Bronx,” Clason Point Amusement Park operated from around the late 1880s to around 1935. As the area around Soundview Avenue in the Bronx became much more developed, with bungalows built around nearby Harding Park and the installation of a ferry system, the amusement park quickly became a tourist attraction. The park included a giant swimming pool that used water from the East River, yet it gained the nickname “the inkwell” for its dirtiness.
Unfortunately, the park is perhaps best known for a deadly accident in 1922, as a storm blew down an operating Ferris wheel killing six and injuring 22. Due to competition with two neighboring amusement parks and financial distress of the early 1930s, the park closed down, and in its place was a new private resort and pool called Shore Haven Beach Club opened in 1949.