Macombs Dam Park

The park lay in the shadow of the old Yankee Stadium when it stood, between Jerome Avenue and the Major Deegan Expressway, near the Harlem River and the Macombs Dam Bridge.

[1] The 28.425-acre (115,030 m2) park, prior to the stadium construction, featured baseball and softball diamonds, basketball courts, and football and soccer fields.

[2] As was typical for urban planning at that time, a large, central greenspace was set aside to ensure that the developing neighborhood would be livable and sustainable.

Most of the neighborhood's apartment buildings opened in the 1920s and 1930s, including many Art Deco landmarks that line the perimeter of what had been Macombs Dam Park.

When the $1.6 billion stadium was completed, residents had several new recreation areas, including ballfields on the Harlem River waterfront, about a half-mile from the former Macombs Dam and Mullaly Parks.

They said state and federal laws designed to protect parkland from private development made this project unfair and possibly illegal.