Site Specific Performance

CANAL PARK

West end of Canal Street next to the West Side Highway. Canal Park is one of the oldest city squares in Manhattan, with the city’s title to the land granted in 1686.

Photo of Canal Park in 1920 before it was taken over to build the Holland Tunnel.

Trees grow on Canal: Park to reopen 85 years later

Downtown Express

By Josh Rogers

Maybe good things do come to those who wait — if you have 85 years or so.

The final tease from Canal Park emerged last week as residents, workers and even motorists stuck in traffic at the west end of Canal St. got a better look at what the rebuilt and almost forgotten space will look like when it opens within a few weeks.

The triangular park was closed “temporarily” in 1920 to construct the Holland Tunnel. What was supposed to be a four-year operation by the New York and New Jersey Bridge and Tunnel commissions (precursor to the Port Authority) almost became permanent in 1930 when “Power Broker” Robert Moses, ironically a former parks commissioner, decided to keep the park closed in the hopes of building an elevated Canal St. highway leading to the Manhattan Bridge, said Richard Barrett, one of the leaders of the Canal West Coalition.