In the 1870s, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned a greenbelt across the Bronx, consisting of parks and parkways that would align more with existing geography.

[27] In 1916, several local landowners filed a lawsuit, calling the athletic field and bandstand "nuisances" that were not conducive to park operation.

[19] In 1934, mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia nominated Robert Moses to become commissioner of a unified New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

At the time, the United States was experiencing the Great Depression; immediately after La Guardia won the 1933 election, Moses began to write "a plan for putting 80,000 men to work on 1,700 relief projects".

[34][35] The pools would be built using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal agency created as part of the New Deal to combat the Depression's negative effects.

Moses, along with architects Aymar Embury II and Gilmore David Clarke, created a common design for these proposed aquatic centers.

Each location was to have distinct pools for diving, swimming, and wading; bleachers and viewing areas; and bathhouses with locker rooms that could be used as gymnasiums.

The pools were to have several common features, such as a minimum 55-yard (50 m) length, underwater lighting, heating, filtration, and low-cost construction materials.

To fit the requirement for cheap materials, each building would be built using elements of the Streamline Moderne and Classical architectural styles.

[48] In total, between 1934 and the 1960s, NYC Parks added the pool and bathhouse, as well as five baseball fields, nine playgrounds, twenty tennis courts, four comfort stations, paths, and sitting areas.

[58] In early 1971, vandals stole multiple electric and plumbing fixtures from the play center, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

[44] In 1973, to determine the feasibility of completely renovating Crotona Park, the city performed a "blitz cleanup" with maintenance crews from all five boroughs.

[61] One particularly egregious example was Charlotte Street, directly southeast of Crotona Park, which by the late 1970s saw the demolition of almost every building along its three-block length.

[66] During this era, other improvements were made to the park, including the restoration of the lake and boathouse, replacement of benches, and repaving of paths.

[13] In addition, three U.S. presidential candidates, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, visited the park, while Pope John Paul II said mass there in 1979.

[13] NYC Parks continued to face financial shortfalls in the coming years, and the pools retained a reputation for high crime.

[65] Additionally, in the 1990s, a practice called "whirlpooling" became common in New York City pools such as Crotona Park, wherein women would be inappropriately fondled by teenage boys.

[97][98] The Borough Hall building, constructed in 1897, was "an ornate Italianate edifice on a prominent ridge in the park's northwestern corner to serve as the area's seat of governmental power".

[98][99] As of 2024[update], plans are being developed to build a Walter Gladwin Recreation Center in northern portion of the park, fronting on Tremont Avenue.

It would include a media lab, a dance studio, cardio and strength training facilities, classrooms, and a gymnasium with pickleball, volleyball, and basketball courts in three buildings connected by a common lobby totaling over 38,000 square feet (3,500 m2).

[105] According to NYC Parks, the name supposedly comes from 19th-century youths who lived in the area and "envisioned Weckguasgeeck Indians sitting around the lake on the ledge of the rock surrounding their chief, who would be smoking the legendary peace pipe with newly-arrived Europeans seeking land to settle".

[17][105] Historically, Indian Lake drained into Bungay or Bound Brook, which then flowed south to the East River near what is now Hunts Point.

The surrounding area contains numerous native floral species including tulip, black cherry, hickory, sassafras, and sweetgum.

[10] As of the 2015 master plan, the lake had become overgrown with algal blooms and contained excessive litter due to its proximity to picnic areas.

The primary buildings are decorated with sculptures by Frederick Roth, including ibis-topped pilasters on the bathhouse and bas-reliefs in the sitting niches which are adjacent to the pool.

[112] The main entrance contains a stair, spanned by a very large arched brick gateway overlooked by towers with glass-block skylights.

These facilities were arranged so that both the men's and women's shower rooms contained an exit to the southern facade at the extreme eastern end of the building.

[122] The northern facade of the bathhouse's eastern end also contains entrances to a girls' bathroom, a mothers' room, and a director's office.

[124] A ramp, underneath the overpass between the brick first-aid house and the Play Center's courthouse, provides entrance to the pool from Fulton Avenue to the west.

[126][127][128] The Bronx Open was revived in 2019 as a WTA International tournament, held at the park and hosted by New York Junior Tennis and Learning.