owned land in Pelham Bay Park Baychester Avenue – originally called South 18th Avenue and Comfort Avenue, named after the Baychester real estate venture of the 1890s Hutchinson River Parkway – named for the Hutchinson River, which is named for Anne Hutchinson Hunter Avenue History Previous land use The land north of the Hutchinson River Parkway was a large swampy area known by residents as "the dump", and most of the land on the north side of the Hutchinson River was flat land used for recreation. The land to the south of the Hutchinson River (now Section 5 of Co-op City) was swampland. A tidal estuary reached from the Hutchinson River at the New Haven Railroad along a route just north of Hunter and Boller Avenue to pass under the Hutchinson River Parkway. The estuary was the site of boat yards and canoe rental sites during the 1950s. The northern portion of the site became the home of a 205-acre theme park named Freedomland U.S.A. Freedomland operated from June 19, 1960 until September 1964, when it closed after going bankrupt. A small portion of the former park site at the northeast corner of Bartow and Baychester Avenues in Co-op City remains zoned as a C7 district, reserved "for large open amusement parks". The zoning district is a holdover from Freedomland's operation. Development In February 1965, plans were announced for the residential Co-op City development, the world's largest housing cooperative, on the site. The plans for Co-op City were announced in May 1965, with no provisions for an amusement park. Construction on Co-op City began in May 1966. While much of the Freedomland site and some of the surrounding land was infilled, several existing houses were retained along Givans Creek (near Section 5 of Co-op City) because of opposition from residents there. These houses received sewage and other utilities, though these projects were delayed. There was a controversy when Co-op City builders filled the land to grade, because the existing houses were located as much as below grade, and filling for the main development caused storm runoff to flood the existing houses. Residents began moving in during December 1968, and construction was completed in 1973. The project was sponsored and built by the United Housing Foundation, an organization established in 1951 by Abraham Kazan and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and was designed by cooperative architect Herman J. Jessor. The