New York City has been a melting pot since it first was settled by Europeans. Initially, Dutch, English and Scots mingled their daily lives with the Native Americans. Then, in waves of legal immigration, Italians and many others arrived in the city. A theme park in The Bronx during the early 1960s mirrored New York's historic melting pot. Freedomland U.S.A. featured employees of all backgrounds, and the popular entertainers of the day also were of diverse nationalities, cultures and religions.

The American history theme park was located where Co-op City and its shopping center stand today. It was created and built by C.V. Wood, the same man who built Disneyland for Walt Disney. The park lasted just five seasons, 1960-1964, because the landowner, politicians, city planners and others used it as a placeholder to obtain land variances that permitted the construction of the housing complex on marshland.