Pits for cooking and preparing food dating from 800 to 1400 AD were uncovered in Marine Park, along with deer and turtle bones, oyster shells, and sturgeon scales.

In the 17th century, the Dutch began to settle in the area, which had similarities to the marshland and coastal plains of the Netherlands.

In the early 20th century, as industrialization swept the nation, developers made plans to turn Jamaica Bay into a port and prepared to dredge Rockaway Inlet to allow large ships into the proposed harbor.

However, donors including Alfred Tredway White and Frederic Pratt turned the land over to the city, with the requirement that it become parkland.

The park gained its land mass as a dump, leading to so many rats in the area that local children hunted them with bows and arrows in the 1960s.

[4] Recreational facilities were built in the decades to follow, including the Pratt-White athletic field (1939) that was dedicated to the two fathers of Marine Park.

Nature trails established along Gerritsen Creek in 1984-85 invite parkgoers to observe a wealth of flora and fauna.

Ongoing improvements at the end of the 20th century include the reconstruction of basketball, tennis, and bocce courts; of baseball fields; and of Lenape Playground at Avenue U.

[6] Part of the park, including the fields north of Avenue U, were built atop Gerritsen Creek.