7. Corona used to have three Kettle Ponds

lake ronkonkoma in long island
This is Lake Ronkonkoma, a kettle pond formed by melting glaciers 10,000 years ago.

Although today Corona is a dense urban environment made of asphalt, concrete, and bricks, the area used to be home to three kettle ponds. A kettle pond is a body of water left behind by retreating glaciers. They are formed when a large chunk of ice breaks off from a melting glacier and then gets stuck as dirt and sediment build up around it. When the ice eventually melts, a small pond or lake is formed. Long Island used to be littered with kettle ponds because it was created by the runoff of giant melting glaciers. While most of the kettle ponds in New York City and Long Island have been long since filled in, the largest of them all, Lake Ronkonkoma in Suffolk County, still exists to this day.

Corona’s three kettle ponds were scattered throughout the neighborhood. The first one, called Linden Pond, was just south of Corona Plaza in the Park of the Americas between 103rd and 104th streets. Linden Pond survived as the centerpiece of the Park of the Americas until 1947, when it was filled in during a park redesign. The other two kettle ponds were called Shady Lake and Backus Lake. Shady Lake was located at the present-day site of the Lemon Ice King at the intersection of Corona Avenue and 108th Street. Backus Lake was near the intersection of 98th Street and 31st Avenue. Both ponds were declared public health hazards and removed in the early 20th century.