Wards Island
Randalls and Wards Islands seen from the air
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 Randalls and Wards Islands
Randalls and Wards Islands
Randalls and Wards Islands
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| Geography | |
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| Location | East River, New York, NY, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°47′48″N 73°55′19″W / 40.79667°N 73.92194°W |
| Area | 2.09 km2 (0.81 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
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United States
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| State | New York |
| City | New York City |
| Borough | Manhattan |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 1,648 (2010) |
| Pop. density | 788.5 /km2 (2,042.2 /sq mi) |
Randalls Island (also called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Islands, in the New York City borough of Manhattan, separated from Manhattan by the Harlem River, from Queens by the East River and Hell Gate, and from the Bronx by the Bronx Kill. The two islands were formerly separate, with the channel between them, Little Hell Gate, being filled in by the early 1960s.
The island had a population of 1,648 living on 2.09 square kilometers (520 acres) in 2010. Most of the island is parkland, spanning a total of 432.69 acres (175.10 ha). The parks offer athletic fields, a driving range, greenways, playgrounds and picnic grounds. The island also has a history of being used for asylums, hospitals, and cemeteries, and is currently home to several public facilities, including two psychiatric hospitals, a state police station, a fire academy, a wastewater treatment plant, and several homeless shelters.
The island is crossed by the Triborough and Hell Gate bridges. The island can be reached by the Triborough Bridge; the Wards Island Bridge, which serves pedestrians and bicyclists and links the island to East Harlem in Manhattan; or by the Randalls Island Connector, a pedestrian and cycling bridge crossing the Bronx Kill and connecting to the Port Morris neighborhood of the Bronx.
Native Americans called Wards Island Tenkenas which translated to "Wild Lands" or "uninhabited place", whereas Randalls Island was called Minnehanonck. The islands were acquired by Wouter Van Twiller, Director General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, in July 1637. The island's first European names were Great Barent Island (Wards) and Little Barent Island (Randalls) after a Danish cowherd named Barent Jansen Blom. Both islands' names changed several times. At times Randalls was known as "Buchanan's Island" and "Great Barn Island", both of which were likely corruptions of Great Barent Island.
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