Aymar Embury II designed the pool, which was constructed from 1935 to 1936 as part of a Works Progress Administration project.

[10] The sporting fields and playgrounds were built in 1936, as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, and have been modified since then.

The building contains a facade of brick in common bond and is arranged in a roughly rectangular shape, with its longer axis running north-south.

[25] The design, more ornate than the other ten pools built as part of the same 1936 WPA program, has been compared to a medieval fortification.

[24][20] The eastern facade is composed of fourteen bays, which are separated by protruding cylindrical buttresses and contain recessed arches.

Each of the central bays contains a wide arch, a bas-relief related to swimming, a comparatively small doorway, and faded letters reading colonial park and play center.

[27] On the northwest and southwest corners of the lobby, two staircases with rounded risers lead up to the second floor, providing access to the men's and women's locker rooms and to the pool.

[28] There is also a bust of Jackie Robinson, the park's namesake and the first Black player in Major League Baseball, on the west wall.

North of the dance floor terrace is a wide promenade with hexagonal-block pavers, extending to the recreational fields at 150th Street.

The western retaining wall of the promenade contains rounded seating niches similar to those in the dance floor terrace.

[16] Additionally, the southern boundary of the park contains a metal fence with brick piers capped with stone.

[4] The land acquisition was estimated to cost $1.5 million for 192 parcels, although the New York City government initially opposed the appropriations, stating that some plots were valued at much higher prices than they were actually worth.

[41][42] In the years after Colonial Park's opening, the area to the west became known as Sugar Hill, a popular place for wealthy Black Americans to live during the Harlem Renaissance.

Few improvements were made to the park in the two decades following its opening; in the early 1930s, it still retained its original playground, restroom, and paths.

[45] 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".

[50][51] 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 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.

[56][54] In mid-1935, Moses announced that Colonial Park, which then contained an informal layout, would receive a recreational center with a swimming pool and sporting fields.

[54] The pool opened on August 8, 1936, with performances by Bojangles Robinson and the 369th Regiment Band; the ceremony was attended by over 25,000 people.

[54][75] The pool reopened in July 1980 after a $2.6 million renovation funded partially by the United States federal government.

[74][65] NYC Parks continued to face financial shortfalls in the coming years, and the pools retained a reputation for high crime.

[76][65] Additionally, in the 1990s, a practice called "whirlpooling" became common in New York City pools such as Jackie Robinson Park, wherein women would be inappropriately fondled by teenage boys.

[77][78] By the turn of the century, crimes such as sexual assaults had decreased in parks citywide due to increased security.

[86] Because the park was a city landmark, LPC permission was needed for aspects of the renovation, such as a proposed replacement of the fences.