Harding Park

Bolton Ave. bet. O'Brien Ave. and G St.

Bronx

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

In 1982 the Harding Park residents in the southeast Bronx became members of the Harding Park Homeowners Association, the first cooperatively owned low and moderate-income community in the city. The successful attempt to establish the coop was the result of a decades-long struggle for ownership in an area that originated over 300 years before in a conflict over land.

The first inhabitants of the area were the Siwanoy, Native Americans, who belonged to the Wappinger Federation. The Algonquin-speaking Siwanoy had several villages along the Bronx River, including a relatively large settlement called Snakipins (“ground nuts” in the Siwanoy language), situated near the modern intersection of Leland Avenue and Soundview Avenue. Archeologists believe the settlement had about 70 lodge sites.