St Nicholas Park is bounded by:

East - St Nicholas Ave
South - 128th Street
West - St Nicholas Terrace
North - 141st Street

The Park can be reached by B and C trains at the 135th Street Station, and A and D trains at either 125th or 145th Street Station.

The land for St. Nicholas Park was acquired in part by the condemnation of the old Croton Aqueduct in 1894-1895. New York State authorized the creation of a public park to be known as St. Nicholas Park. Additional property was assembled in 1900-06 (eventually totaling 23 acres), and park construction began in 1906. St. Nicholas was built on a rugged mass of rock, following the topography of northern Manhattan. Landscape Architect [and Parks Commissioner] Samuel Parsons was responsible for the design of the rustic park.

The name of the park was taken from the adjacent streets St. Nicholas Terrace (to the west) and St. Nicholas Avenue (to the east). These streets honor New Amsterdam’s patron saint, whose image adorned the figure head of the New Netherland, the ship that brought the first Dutch colonists to these shores.

In 1909 Parks acquired an adjacent parcel, which extended the park’s southern boundary from 130^th to 128^th streets. This property contained the area known as “The Point of Rocks” where George Washington observed and conducted the battle of Harlem Heights in 1776. Parks then opened a playground near West 129^th St. in 1931; the new facility included a garden where farm products were grown for educational purposes. Thirty years later, Parks and the Board of Education made arrangements for a new playground on this site. The 129^th St. playground opened in 1965.