Coney Island is a famous entertainment area in the Brooklyn borough (section) of New York City , New York state, in the northeastern United States. The area is best known for its beachfront amusements that became popular with visitors beginning in the late 1800’s.
Coney Island Creek, together with Sheepshead Bay, once separated Coney Island from the main part of Brooklyn. A variety of landfill projects in the 1900’s made the island into a peninsula . Part of the creek was filled in during the construction of the Belt Parkway, completed in 1940, and by earth excavated during the construction of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge , completed in 1964. The western part of the peninsula extends into Gravesend Bay at the entrance of Lower New York Bay.
Historians have debated the origin of the island’s name for many years. According to the most popular theory, early Dutch settlers named it Conyne Eylandt—translated as Coney Island—for the area’s large population of wild rabbits, or “coneys.” Other theories suggest that the island was named for a Dutch family named Conyn, or for the “Coney Island” off the coast of northwestern Ireland.
Coney Island remained sparsely populated until the years after the American Civil War (1861-1865). Railroads then connected the island to other parts of Brooklyn. Small businesses opened concession stands along the beachfront in the 1870’s. Thoroughbred horse racetracks became a popular draw during the late 1800’s, and the island became home to such amusement park rides as carousels and roller coasters . By the middle of the first decade of the 1900’s, three large amusement parks—Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, and Dreamland—operated on Coney Island. The last of these old-time parks—Steeplechase Park—closed in 1964. Dreamland had burned down in 1911, and the old Luna Park closed in 1944. A new Luna Park opened in 2010.
The original Nathan’s Famous hot dog stand opened on Coney Island in 1916. Public authorities built a wide boardwalk along about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of the beachfront in 1923 and rebuilt it during the mid-1900’s. The island declined in popularity by the late 1900’s. Today, Coney Island remains home to amusement park rides, though far fewer than during the island’s heyday. The New York Aquarium, originally founded in the borough of Manhattan , relocated to Coney Island in 1957 and remains a popular draw for visitors.
