Memory Lane: Lake Sunset Park , “Bit of Man-Made Paradise”

“How many persons, who daily pass 41st Street and Fifth Avenue, pause for an appreciative moment at this beauty spot in Sunset Park?” asks the Times Union in November of 1929, around the time that this lake was expanded. “Surely, no mirrored pool on Olympus reflected blue skies and fleecy clouds to a better advantage than does the artificial lake in Sunset Park.”

The lake in question existed in Boro Park’s Sunset Park neighborhood from the early 1900’s (or maybe even prior to that) through 1936, when it was filled in, and today we tell the story of this body of water in Boro Park of yore. 

Origins of the Lake

The first mention that we have the lake is from the year 1892, when the Brooklyn Daily Eagle writes: “Sunset Park will be still another section of land which is to be ornamented and beautified for the benefit of the residents of the Eighth Ward. The boundaries of it will be from Forty-Second to Forty-fourth street and from Fifth to Seventh Avenue. This site too, though by no means as large as the one intended for Ridgewood, is exceptionally favored by nature. 

“In the first place, it has an elevation far above that of the surrounding country, and when the land which immediately borders it is graded down to the street, one of the finest views in the city will be obtained from the well-shaded grounds. From Sunset Park, there will be a clear view not only of the upper and lower bays of New York, Jersey City, and Staten Island, but of the ocean itself as it stretches out from Sandy Hook. 

“The grounds are already covered with large trees of various kinds and almost all of which are in vigorous condition. There are natural grades ad springs, a couple of miniature lakes will take the place of two large freshwater ponds which now exist and which are fed from springs.” 

Tragedy at the Lake 

It turns out there was good reason to fence in the lake; as we read in the South Brooklyn Home Talk a few months prior, in January of 1909. “One boy drowned; two were saved. Rescues by policeman and park employees. Children were sliding on the lake in Sunset Park—one broke through ice and others went to rescue. Men in icy waters forty minute trying to save boy who was drowned. 

“One boy drowned in Sunset Park on Sunday afternoon, and, if it had not been for the presence of mind and the bravery of a policeman and two park employees, there would have been three young lives sacrificed to the adventurous spirit of youth instead of one. 

“The boys had been warned not to go on the ice on the lake a number of times, and they had been repeatedly driven away by Foreman Mallon and Watchman Dunleavy. The thaw had made the ice rotten ten feet out from the shore, but the boys were venturesome and got on the lake despite the warnings of the park employees.”  

Bidding Farewell to the Lake  

In 1929, there was talk of expanding the lake, something that would benefit the residents of the area, and would not cost very much. “If the idea can be worked into reality, the Sunset Park section would be greatly improved,” Home Talk reported. “The summer months would bring additional revenue to the Park Department, when boating concessions draw large crowds to the park. The large population around that area make the concession a valuable one. And the residents who use the park frequently would welcome the plan. If it can be done, it should be done. 

Residents from the area recall rowboats on the lake back in the early days, people sending out model sailing boats, and abundant fishing. In the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, two readers reminisced in late 1942 about the Hartleys, with reader R. R. also mentioning the fish species that lived in the pond.

Alas, sometime in the late 1930’s, the lake was drained, bringing to an end an era that spanned approximately four decades of fun and relaxation in Boro Park of yore.