Context The Coney Island House, established in the early 19th century, was the first
seaside resort on Coney Island. Coney Island could be reached easily from
Manhattan, while appearing to be relatively far away. As a result, Coney Island began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, and numerous resorts were built. New railroad lines, built after the
American Civil War, served Coney Island's restaurants, hotels, bathing pavilions, theaters, the waterfront, and other attractions. A series of fires destroyed the resorts in the 1880s and 1890s. This opened up large tracts of land for the development of theme parks; the first of these was
Sea Lion Park, which opened in 1895 and closed eight years later. By the first decade of the 20th century, Coney Island contained three competing amusement parks (Luna Park,
Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park), and many independent amusements. The beach remained largely inaccessible to the public, since it was the private property of beachfront lots. In 1882, the first lots were acquired from the village of
Gravesend at unusually low prices and subdivided to private interests. Some portions of the beach contained private boardwalks, but other portions had no infrastructure, and some sections of the beach were enclosed by fences that extended into the water. In the 1890s, a private boardwalk was built to connect the hotels and bungalows in Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach; this walk extended for nearly .
George C. Tilyou, who operated various amusements in Coney Island and later consolidated them into his Steeplechase Park, built boardwalks in his resorts at Coney Island Numerous privately owned piers jutted into the water at West 5th, West 8th, and West 17th Streets. In 1912, the West End Improvement League of Coney Island noted that only one street, West 23rd Street, had direct public access to the beach from Surf Avenue, the southernmost west–east artery on what was then an island.
Planning and construction at West 15th Street Interest in creating a public boardwalk increased in the 1890s, when the formerly separate
boroughs of New York City were consolidated. The New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor took a similar position. In 1897, the Board of Public Improvements and Brooklyn borough president
Edward M. Grout proposed a boardwalk along the southern shore of Coney Island, between West 37th and West 5th Streets. The board and Grout expected that property owners would relinquish their waterfront plots to create a space for a boardwalk. A bill proposed in the
New York State Legislature in 1901 would have required property owners to pay half of the boardwalk's $350,000 construction cost. However, the bill was heavily opposed by organizations who cited the bill's language and the projected property losses as reasons for their disapproval. Ultimately, only one segment was constructed near the Seaside Park resort, between West 5th Street and
Ocean Parkway. In 1912, the West End Improvement League published a 36-page booklet about the benefits of constructing a boardwalk. This plan was endorsed by the
New York City Board of Estimate, which in April 1913 approved a special committee's report on the feasibility of building such a structure. This time, Coney Island residents largely supported the proposed boardwalk, though there were disputes over whether to pay the $5 million cost through private capital or city funds. Simultaneously, in 1912, New York State sued amusement owners for taking private ownership of Coney Island's beach. A judge ruled the next year that all of the beachfront exposed at low tide belonged to the state. An appellate court affirmed this decision in 1916, with an exception made for part of Steeplechase Park, a plot of land granted by the state prior to the creation of the park. All obstructions on the beachfront were demolished in accordance with the ruling. The
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station, completed in 1920, allowed greater access from the rest of New York City. Overcrowding became common, with up to one million people filling the island on the hottest days. In preparation for this action, the city held meetings on the initial boardwalk design in 1919. City officials held a
groundbreaking ceremony on October 1, 1921, the day they obtained
title to the land. Construction was overseen by Philip P. Farley, consulting engineer for Brooklyn from 1918 to 1951. The first bents for the boardwalk structure were erected in March 1923, and the last bents were completed ten months later. Concurrently with the boardwalk improvements, Riegelmann petitioned the city to make improvements to the beach and surrounding streets to make the boardwalk easier to access. In accordance with this, sand from the seabed was used to replenish the eroded shorelines. Timber bulkheads, timber
groynes, and granite jetties were installed starting in August 1922.
Opening and early operation In April 1923, shortly before the boardwalk was completed, city officials named it after Riegelmann. As one of the project's main leaders, he had boasted that the boardwalk would raise real estate values on Coney Island. Despite his role in the boardwalk's development, Riegelmann and his assistant commissioner of public works opposed the name, preferring that the project be known as the "Coney Island Boardwalk". The boardwalk was extended westward to West 17th Street in December 1922. The final section of the boardwalk, from West 17th to West 37th Street, was officially opened with a ceremony on May 15, 1923. At the time of its opening, the boardwalk was said to be wider and more expensive than the comparable boardwalks at Atlantic City, the Rockaways, and
Long Beach on
Long Island. After the boardwalk was completed,
Charles L. Craig, the
New York City Comptroller, said that it could not be considered a "real boardwalk" without pergolas and restrooms. The pavilions were completed by early 1925. Eighteen streets, each wide, were created between West 8th and West 35th Streets. Surf and Stillwell Avenues were widened, and the city took over several private passageways, including West 12th Street. Sewers and sidewalks were installed. Brooklyn public officials believed these changes would revitalize Coney Island's shore and lessen congestion on Surf Avenue. The Brighton Beach extension of the boardwalk, which would build out the boardwalk from Ocean Parkway eastward to Coney Island Avenue, was formally approved by the city's Board of Estimate in June 1925. The extension was long, and entailed expanding the beach and creating new paths to the boardwalk. which was completed by mid-1926. The $1 million extension was to be funded via taxes levied on Coney Island property owners. they were ultimately forced to pay for the project. A similar scheme to extend the boardwalk westward, from West 37th Street to
Coney Island Light, was opposed by the residents of Sea Gate, the private community through which the boardwalk would have been expanded. In June 1927, borough president
James J. Byrne approved the Sea Gate extension and bought land on the Sea Gate waterfront. The following year, the bulkhead lines in Sea Gate were approved for demolition, in anticipation of the boardwalk being extended. The boardwalk extension was slated to connect to a steamship pier operated by the Coney Island Steamship Corporation. However, the company was permanently
enjoined from selling stocks and bonds in July 1930. The corporation claimed that the Brooklyn government had allocated $3 million to extend the boardwalk in December 1929, but borough president
Henry Hesterberg denied having done so. The boardwalk was ultimately not extended past the fence on West 37th Street. After a four-
block section of the boardwalk was damaged in a July 1932 fire, it was rebuilt and reopened within a month.
Moses reconstruction In 1938,
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) took over responsibility for the boardwalk's maintenance. Parks commissioner
Robert Moses criticized the condition of the Coney Island,
Rockaway, and
South Beach boardwalks, saying, "These beaches and boardwalks were never properly planned, and cannot under present conditions be properly maintained and operated." In a letter to mayor
Fiorello La Guardia, Moses wrote: The boardwalk was constructed too near the water without providing any play areas on the north side. [...] When sand was pumped in to increase the width of the beach, instead of obtaining good white material, the contractor was allowed to deposit brown sand on the beach. Streets were cut through which dead-ended at the boardwalk, and which are no good as traffic arteries and are not proper parking spaces. The zoning ordinance was adapted to the wishes of the property owners rather than to the requirements of the public welfare. He also announced plans to expand it eastward, to the vicinity of Corbin Place in Brighton Beach, as well as to incorporate another within Brighton Beach. The expansion would add capacity for 50,000 visitors along the Coney Island Beach. The project involved rebuilding an stretch of the boardwalk, relocating it inland and straightening its route; this required the condemnation of 20 buildings and the demolition of the Municipal Baths at West 5th Street. City officials announced plans in August 1938 to acquire along the Brighton Beach shoreline. That October, the city acquired from developer
Joseph P. Day for the eastward extension. The expanded beach in Brighton Beach opened to the public in July 1939, and officials began allowing bicyclists to use the boardwalk that year. Moses had originally planned to clear another inland of the boardwalk, but these plans were modified in August 1939 to preserve the amusement area there. The Board of Estimate approved the modified plan for the boardwalk in December; the approval had been delayed by one week after a landowner objected. The following month, the board provided an $850,000 appropriation for the work, and construction started on the boardwalk extension. To provide easier access to the boardwalk, a new street near West 9th Street was built. was placed along the entire beachfront. In addition, workers relocated lighting and emergency phone boxes; realigned Surf Avenue; and erected a lifeguard station with restrooms. The same year, gray paving blocks were added at Brighton 2nd, West 2nd, West 15th, West 21st, West 27th, and West 33rd Streets, as well as at Stillwell Avenue, creating firebreaks in the boardwalk. The Board of Estimate ultimately voted against Moses's plan.
Late 20th century Further work was undertaken on the boardwalk in the late 20th century. This included the replacement of the original street lights with replicas in the 1960s, and the replacement of benches, drinking fountains, pavilions, and comfort stations. Concrete and brick
lifeguard towers were erected in the 1970s. By the 1960s, Coney Island was in decline because of increased crime, insufficient parking facilities, bad weather, and the post-World War II automotive boom. This culminated in the closure and sale of Steeplechase Park, the area's last major amusement park, in 1965. A newspaper article noted in 1961 that between 5,000 and 10,000 people slept on the beach every night, and that the boardwalk was a common place for purse snatchings and muggings. Since the boardwalk contained a wide-open space underneath, it was a frequent location for such acts as looking up women's skirts, indecent exposure, and kissing. The boardwalk's maintenance was in active decline by the 1970s, Local officials, such as then-assemblyman
Chuck Schumer, and residents of the surrounding communities petitioned for the Board of Estimate to release $650,000 in funding for repairs to the boardwalk. By the 1980s, the boardwalk was in poor condition; several people had been injured after falling through rotted portions of the boardwalk, the restrooms and drinking fountains were not functioning, and the section between West 32nd and West 33rd Street had collapsed completely. In 1983, officials estimated that one-quarter of the planks were not in good shape. The same year, New York City Comptroller
Harrison J. Goldin rated the boardwalk's quality as "poor" due to holes and nails within the deck, vacant lots adjacent to the boardwalk, broken water fountains, and filthy restrooms. In 1985, a small part of the Coney Island Beach, as well as three other city beaches and
Central Park's
Sheep Meadow, were designated as "quiet zones" where loud radio playing was prohibited. Subsequent repairs to the boardwalk were completed by 1987. In the early 1990s, as part of a $27 million shoreline protection project, the
United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) filled in the area under the boardwalk with sand. Brooklyn borough president
Howard Golden said in 1997 that he considered the boardwalk's condition to be "B-plus"; according to Golden, the largest problems were that some rails and signs needed to be fixed. On the other hand, residents had complained the previous year that the boardwalk had loose and cracked boards, holes in the wood, and uneven pilings. City vehicles frequently used the boardwalk despite exceeding the weight limit; furthermore, NYC Parks only had three employees to maintain the boardwalk year-round, as compared to eight in 1990. NYC Parks contended that it had spent $180,000 on a recent project to repair the boardwalk and that the Brooklyn borough president's office had budgeted $20 million since 1981 for repairs.
21st century NYC Parks started re-planking the boardwalk with
ipe wood in the early 1990s, though this was opposed by environmental group Rainforest Relief, who objected to the wood being logged from the
Amazon rainforest. New comfort stations and shade pavilions were added around 2001.
Initial renovations and landmark status By 2010, the city government was renovating the boardwalk: some sections were receiving new wood planking over concrete supports, while others were being replaced entirely with concrete. The addition of the concrete sections was controversial. Though concrete was cheaper and did not require wood sourced from the Amazon rainforest, many local residents and officials felt that wood would be more authentic. There was no logistical difficulty in securing wood because the Rockaway Boardwalk was simultaneously being rebuilt in that material. After installing two small concrete sections of the boardwalk, NYC Parks proposed using a type of plastic that resembled wood. The rebuild with concrete and plastic was approved in March 2012, The boardwalk was slightly
damaged during Hurricane Sandy that October, and the adjacent amusement parks and aquarium suffered more severe damage, as did Steeplechase Pier. In late 2014, NYC Parks started repairing the section between Coney Island Avenue and Brighton 15th Street with concrete. The decision to use concrete and plastic was again controversial, but according to NYC Parks, was necessary to repair decades of use and deterioration. That December, after the repairs were announced, City Council members
Mark Treyger and
Chaim Deutsch suggested designating the boardwalk as a
scenic landmark. The LPC initially rejected the application, stating that the boardwalk had been too heavily altered. Despite the rejection of landmark status, Treyger continued to advocate for the Riegelmann Boardwalk's preservation. In March 2018, the LPC voted to "calendar" a public hearing to determine whether the boardwalk should be designated. The commission designated the boardwalk as the city's eleventh scenic landmark two months later, on May 15, 2018. The same month, two comfort stations opened at Brighton 15th Street. The city government announced in November 2019 that it would spend $3.2 million to place anti-terrorism
bollards at entrances to the boardwalk, as part of a larger initiative to improve safety in public areas following a deadly
2017 truck attack in Manhattan.
Planned reconstruction Starting in 2021, NYC Parks hired a team of carpenters to repair parts of the boardwalk between March and November of each year. NYC Parks announced in November 2021 that it would renovate the entirety of the Riegelmann Boardwalk for $114.5 million. The renovation would be conducted in several phases, although only one phase was funded. The boardwalk would remain open during the project. The plans include replacing the hardwood planks with recycled plastic, renovating furniture, and constructing concrete piers to replace deteriorated wooden supports. The plan had to be approved by mayor-elect
Eric Adams, who, as borough president, had opposed the previous proposal to replace the wooden deck with plastic and concrete.
WCBS-TV also found that, between 2017 and 2022, thirty-one people claimed to have sustained injuries while on the boardwalk. WCBS-TV reported in October 2022 that the renovation project had not started. At the time, USACE was considering raising the boardwalk to . If this plan were implemented, the boardwalk-raising project would not be completed until 2030. By early 2023, NYC Parks was planning to rebuild the section from West 24th to West 27th Street for $11.5 million. Although that section was originally supposed to have been rebuilt by February 2022, work had not even started. Designs for the renovation were also delayed because the city needed to add wheelchair ramps. In February 2025, the city government announced plans to upgrade the western end of the Riegelmann Boardwalk as part of the Coney Island West project, for which a developer was to be selected later that year. NYC Parks and the
New York City Economic Development Corporation announced that December that the boardwalk would be renovated as part of a $1 billion project, though work was not scheduled to start for at least two years. The renovation included replacing dilapidated decks and supports; making the boardwalk wide for its entire length; == Impact ==