At the base of the Triborough bridge (where the pedestrian walkway starts in Astoria) there is a wonderful, vintage and cast metal map of Randalls Island:
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.34.31-AM.jpg?resize=1024%2C637&ssl=1)
Note the red button on the right-hand side that indicates where you are.
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.42.27-AM.jpg?resize=194%2C150&ssl=1)
Note how Wards Island was not ‘open’ to the public (greyed out) and had a dock on the east river. There is also a more significant water/marsh/wetland separating the two islands at the time – although admittedly they were physically joined by infill.
The presence of the Wards Island Bridge (at 103rd Street) on this map indicates it dates from after May 18, 1951: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_Island_Bridge
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.39.34-AM.jpg?resize=1024%2C760&ssl=1)
The baseball fields (one of which seems to have bleachers) are indicated as 1/4 circle indents.
Downing Stadium – now Icahn – had a more Greco-Roman, half oval set of stands at the time.
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.42.09-AM.jpg?resize=1024%2C663&ssl=1)
Today, the printed map – enamel on fiberglass – looks much different:
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.46.44-AM.jpg?resize=926%2C1024&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screen-Shot-2021-05-31-at-11.47.09-AM.jpg?resize=862%2C662&ssl=1)
With public space on Wards Island, welcoming the public.
Seen on FDB
![](https://i0.wp.com/hnba.nyc/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-20-at-4.59.45-PM.jpg?resize=1024%2C509&ssl=1)