Freedomland USA: At Play in an Imagined Past

In June of 1960 a 205-acre portion of land shaped like the outline of the continental United States opened in the Bronx – near the border with the Westchester suburbs that developed significantly through postwar suburbanization. Freedomland, U.S.A., sat on a swampy area between the Hutchinson River Parkway and the New England Thruway. One might be tempted to compare Freedomland to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, or Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, but, the differences are stark. Freedomland was a place for commercial entertainment and the historical lessons focused on adventure and storytelling, rather than detailed re-creation. Planned in 1950s America and closing in the midst of the social revolutions of the 1960s, this was not like anything that existed before or since. Freedomland straddled the decade of consensus history and social revolution, and found little room for its idealized depiction of an idyllic American history.

Freedomland is largely forgotten in officially narratives of New York City’s history, though many baby boomers remember visiting. The land today, home to Co-Op City, holds little evidence of the park. In comparison to the World’s Fair, this park receives minimal consideration by nostalgia devotees and historians alike. What myths and memories swirl around this failed vision of America’s past? What did it capture and fail to capture in the imagination of its visitors? What can memories of Freedomland reveal about the past that it failed to reveal in its official presentation of history?