Crotona Park is a public park in the Bronx, New York City, United States. It covers 127.5acre and includes a 3.3acre lake, as well as the Bronx's largest swimming pool and 28 species of trees. The park is bounded by Crotona Park West (also known as Fulton Avenue), Crotona Park North, Crotona Park East, and Crotona Park South; Claremont Parkway and Crotona Avenue pass through it. The Crotona Play Center is in the western part of the park. Robert Moses famously refused to realign the Cross-Bronx Expressway, which is located several blocks north of the park's northern boundary, to pass along the edge of the park and save a number of homes from demolition.Late in August, the park is the location of the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, an International Tennis Federation women's tennis tournament with a $100,000 purse which features players in the top 100, who use the tournament as a "tune-up" for the U.S. Open which begins the following week. The Bronx Open also hosts the United States Tennis Association's National Junior Doubles championship for boys and girls age 14-16. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the New York Junior Tennis League.Swimming poolCrotona Play Center is the only swimming pool complex built by the Works Progress Administration in the Bronx. It opened in July 1936. Named for the ancient Greek city of Croton, it is located in Crotona Park on property which was formerly the estate of the Bathgate family. It was designated a New York City landmark in 2007, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
