Playgrounds Sites

The New York City Department of Parks announced the opening of Cedar Playground, along with twelve other playgrounds, in December 1935. Although the release does not explicitly mention federal funding, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here why "it is safe to say that every single project completed by the NYC Park Department during the 1930s was federally funded to some degree." After April 1935, the WPA was especially involved in the development of the New York park system.

In 1934, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) furnished the cost of labor for the construction of a playground behind Center School in Hatfield, Massachusetts. The 35-man project cost the Town of Hatfield only the price of materials for the project ($982), while the federal government paid for the labor (3,028). The Center School itself was constructed as Hatfield's middle school in 1914. The building much later became the Western Massachusetts Regional Library and, as of 2016, has been vacant for about 10 years. It appears that the playground was demolished at some point as the aerial view of the site shows...

Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal.  As Frank da Cruz explains,  New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather.   They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and...

On May 4, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "three new perimeter playgrounds for children of pre-school age" in Central Park. One, at 68th St. and Central Park West, appears to be what is now known as Adventure Playground. Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, the New Deal transformed much of Central Park in the 1930s. Furthermore, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935,...

After the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was launched in April 1935 (renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939), it quickly became the main source of relief funds and labor for the NYC Parks Department. Heckscher Playground in Central Park was one of many playgrounds in New York to be renovated or constructed with WPA funding and labor: "Before the New Deal, Heckscher Playground was the only playground in all of Central Park, and prior to 1926 there were no playgrounds at all. In 1935 a plan was announced for the "complete renovation and redevelopment of the area", to include a memorial...

On May 4, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "three new perimeter playgrounds for children of pre-school age" in Central Park. One, at 77th St. and 5th Ave., is now called the James Michael Levin Playground. Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, the New Deal transformed much of Central Park in the 1930s. Furthermore, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly...

A June 1936 press release from the Department of Parks announced the opening of four new playgrounds along Central Park West at 81st, 84th, 96th and 100th Streets. This playground at 84th St. is now known as Mariners' Playground. It was "commissioned by Robert Moses as one of his 18 original playscapes for the park" (dnainfo). A 2015 article explained that a renovation would soon restore some of the original features that had since been lost. Although these sources do not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks...

On May 4, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "three new perimeter playgrounds for children of pre-school age" in Central Park. One, at 100th St. and 5th Ave., is now called the Robert Bendheim Playground. Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, the New Deal transformed much of Central Park in the 1930s. Furthermore, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became...

A June 1936 press release from the Department of Parks announced the opening of four new playgrounds along Central Park West at 81st, 84th, 96th and 100th Streets. This playground at 96th St. is now known as the Rudin Family Playground. Today's Central Park Conservancy website confirms that this is the park that was built "between 1935 and 1936 as part of the perimeter playground system." Although these sources do not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out...

The history of Rumsey Playfield, the site of the City's popular SummerStage festival and other performances, is closely tied to the WPA. In 1864, a building was constructed on this site first as the Ladies Refreshment Saloon and soon became an expensive restaurant known as the "Casino." The building was torn down by the WPA after a long legal fight between the restaurant owners and Robert Moses. On May 7th, 1937, the Department of Parks announced the completion of the new Mary Harriman Rumsey Playground and explained the legal conflict that had preceded it: "The Park Department announces that the Mary...

A June 1936 press release from the Department of Parks announced the opening of four new playgrounds along Central Park West at 81st, 84th, 96th and 100th Streets. This playground at 100th St. is now known as the Tarr Family Playground. Today's Central Park Conservancy website confirms that this is the park that was originally built between 1935 and 1936. Although these sources do not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New Deal funds and/or labor,...

Charles R. Adams Park is a 32-acre public city park located in southwest Atlanta, Georgia. The park is surrounded by the neighborhood of Cascade Heights. Construction of the park began in the mid-1930s, and the dedication ceremony took place in 1940. The park used county funds, federal relief money and Works Progress Administration labor to construct many of the facilities and landscape features. William L. Monroe, Sr., a noted Atlanta landscaper, is credited with the design. "The property consists of a 32-acre designed landscape including passive greenspace, a lake and stream, and active recreational and community facilities. The...

On June 25, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the completion of a reconstructed area at this neighborhood park in Chelsea, explaining: "...the reconstructed area will have a large play area with one ball field, handball courts, complete play equipment for small children and a wading pool." The park was further redesigned by the WPA in 1940, which added a new asphalt surface to west section of the park "graded so that it can be flooded for ice-skating when sub-freezing temperatures permit. In season it will be used for roller skating, roller hockey, softball, basketball and other group games." The WPA also...

This small park near the waterfront in Chelsea was first acquired by the NYC Parks Department in 1915. In 1923, the park was named in honor of Thomas F. Smith, a Chelsea native turned successful politician. It was further transformed in the 1930s: "In 1931 the park was compromised by the opening of the West Side also known as the Miller Elevated Highway, which bisected the property. Improvements were made to the easterly portion in the mid-1930s, including the introduction of handball and shuffle-bard courts, horseshoe pits, and London planetrees (Platanus x acerifolia)." More precisely, the Department of Parks press release announced...

Today's NYC Parks website explains that: "The land now occupied by Cherry Clinton Playground was owned by the Board of Education through the first few decades of the 20th century, and was used as the Seventh Ward Athletic Field until jurisdiction was transferred to Parks on June 16, 1938. The park was opened to the public on April 3, 1940 and included four paddle tennis courts, four handball courts, and a basketball-volleyball court." The 1940 press release announcing the playground's opening further explained that the playground was "designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration."

In 1936, the Washington Post reported that improvement work was going forward at several city playgrounds, the Chevy Chase Recreation Center playground among them. This would have been part of a major New Deal park renovation effort across the district.  The work was likely done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which had undertaken a nearly $1 million program of park and playground improvements in 1935-36.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial development and improvement work at Grant City Park in Grant, Nebraska. "Among the benefits revealed by this inventory of accomplishments by WPA workers are the five-acre park constructed in Grant, the new playgrounds, five new tennis courts, new band shell, and four horseshoe courts and as well as an outdoor theatre."

The Seattle Park Department acquired the land for Colman Playground in 1910, shortly after the opening of nearby Colman School. A regrading project in the early 1910s made the site suitable for picnics and baseball, but otherwise the Park Department made few improvements to the site prior to the 1930s. When WPA funding became available, several neighborhood organizations joined together and convinced the Park Board to upgrade the playground. Major work on improving Colman Playground started in 1937, when WPA workers began constructing the two-story, reinforced concrete shelter house that stands near southwest corner of the playground. As construction of the...

Columbus Park, located in Manhattan's Chinatown, was one of the city's earliest major parks. By the early 1930s, it was quite rundown. New Deal programs greatly remodeled and upgraded the park and its facilities. In October 1934, the Department of Parks announced the opening, presided over by Mayor LaGuardia, of the newly remodeled Columbus Park, saying: "This old park with its fine big trees formerly included a small play area, which was in reality only a broken surfaced area containing poorly arranged rusted swings and slides. It has been replanned to double the size of the play area and provide...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed three tennis courts at what was known as Cookerow Park / playground in Boonton, New Jersey. The exact location or status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

Corlears Hook Park is located on the Lower East Side across FDR Drive from the East River. The park was completed in 1905. In 1934, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground in the park constructed with labor and materials supplied by Work Relief funds: "An open shelter is to be erected. There are four handball, four horse-shoe pitching, one volley ball, two basketball and shuffle board courts. This area, which adjoins a lodging house with accommodation for 1800 men, has been planned to provide recreation for the unusually large number of men residing in this...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) began improvements at Bellingham WA’s Cornwall Memorial Park in 1937. The WPA also allocated $29,000 for the construction of a state-of-the-art bowling green at the site. This was in addition to earlier improvements, which included recreation structures, playgrounds, and tennis courts as well as “the finest bowling green in the Pacific Northwest.” The work undertaken at Cornwall Memorial Park was one of a variety pursued in Washington State by New Deal agencies. The park continues to provide recreational and leisure outlets for area residents today. “Centrally located, the park offers opportunities to escape into nature with 70...

NYC Parks recounts: "The land that is now Corona Golf Playground was previously a strip of wasteland, known as the Corona Ash Dumps. In his classic novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald described the area as 'a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens.'" The Parks Department announced the opening of this playground along with 12 others on May 4, 1936. At the time, it was part of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, site of the 1939 World's Fair. Although the press release does not mention the WPA or other New...

Tennis court and playground construction along 15th Street beginning with cliff shoring, earth-moving work atop Corona Heights (once called Red Rock Hill), photographed on Jan 21, 1937. The flattened areas just north of the hill's summit rock outcrop and high above the playground were created by this effort. Photo marked "To Level Off Hill to Prevent Slide – City and WPA officials have taken steps to level the crest of Red Rock Hill (sic) to prevent tons of dirt from rolling down on houses pictured under the cliff here." Healy report entry says: "Made a start on what is to be an important...

This small playground in East Harlem was named after "New York City’s first African American Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs." NYC Parks explains that the City acquired this land in 1936. In June 1937, Parks announced the completion of a new playground on the site: "In Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue between West 130th and West 131st Streets, the new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, slides, jungle gym, sand tables, playhouses, a rectangular wading pool, handball and shuffleboard courts. There is also a large open play area for group games. Around the perimeter of the playground is a landscape area with...

This playground is named for the first African American to be killed in the American War of Independence. It opened on October 28, 1934, along with two other playgrounds, one in Manhattan and one in the Bronx. The press release announcing the opening ceremonies explained that "All three playgrounds have recreation buildings and are fully equipped with play apparatus for children, and have space for basketball and handball courts. Each of the new playgrounds in Manhattan end Brooklyn will have a wading pool..." In addition to speeches, the opening ceremonies involved a "rendition of the Star Spangled Banner; games and...

A June 1936 press release announced the opening of a new playground at this site in Crocheron Park with "a large central grass panel surrounded by play apparatus for small children." NYC Parks confirms that this playground was built on land "acquired by the City in 1925 and turned into a park in 1936 at the request of the Bayside Civic Association." Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were carried out with New...

The park existed before the Depression, but was completely rebuilt in 1934-41 by the WPA: "As ice skating grew popular in the Bronx around the turn of the century, Parks paved the perimeter of Indian Pond and installed a warming hut and concession stand for skaters. In the 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees built the boathouse on the east side of the pond and entirely rebuilt the area around the lake. Other projects in Crotona Park completed during the tenure of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) included the construction or renovation of five baseball diamonds, twenty tennis courts, twenty-six handball...

NYC Parks explains: "O’Connell Playground opened on July 15, 1934, and is one of nine playgrounds that were built by Parks through the War Memorial Fund. The Fund was established in 1921 with $250,000 collected by the Police Department. In 1934, the fund remained untouched and had grown in value to $350,000. Seeking additional open spaces for children, Parks Commissioner Robert Moses obtained a legal ruling that permitted the fund to be spent on several playground developments. The properties were intended to honor the memories of individual soldiers who had given their lives in combat. The Fund was transferred to Parks on...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) workers constructed an athletic field at the former Danvers Agricultural School in Danvers, Massachusetts. From a W.P.A. Bulletin: Students, townspeople, and particularly young children will be benefited on completion of a six acre WPA Athletic Field at the Danvers Agricultural Institution. One third of this area will be a fully equipped playground for children.

This park was first established in 1901. In October 1941, the WPA and the Department of Parks completed the reconstruction of the park: "The old pavilion and comfort station was demolished and replaced by a modern brick building. The play was enlarged by the construction of retaining walls. There are two wide gate controlled entrances on each side of the new comfort station, which is located on the center line adjacent to the east fence, leading to the wading pool area. The wading pool may also be used for basketball and volleyball in the fall and winter. Two shuffleboard courts are parallel...

Now known as Decatur Playground, this playground adjacent to Public School 35 opened in September 1942. It is jointly operated by Parks and the Board of Education. A press release announced the completion of the playground: "The playground, approximately 200 feet square, lies immediately west of the existing school which will be considerably expanded after the war… A softball field with hooded backstop, one basketball court with removable standards, two practice basketball standards and four handball courts have been provided. The construction of the playground was done by the Work Projects Administration from plans prepared by the Department of Parks." It is still in...

"When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt used landscape and park projects to provide relief and hope for America. The second great period of park building occurred during this ten year period when the CWA and WPA work teams focused much of their attention on our "City Park" building the Rose Garden, bathhouse, wading pool, bandstand, and the stone armory, now known as Fort Decatur Recreation Center." (decaturparks.com)

Formerly known as Liberty Park, this site was acquired by the City in late 1936. In July 1937, Parks announced that "the new playground...is the first section of a large recreational area which is being constructed to be completed. It is for small children and has slides, swings, see-saws, sand tables, play houses and a rectangular wading pool which can be used for volleyball when not in use as a pool. Benches and shade trees are also provided. When the entire area is completed, it will have facilities for baseball, football, tennis, roller-skating, basketball, horseshoe pitching and paddle tennis, as...

On October 1937, Parks announced the opening of a new playground in what later became known as Dome Playground: "At Dahill Road and 38th Street, also in Brooklyn, the new playground, the wading pool section of which was opened some time ago, has facilities for handball, basketball, volley ball, soft ball games, a roller skating track, horizontal ladders and bars and a generously equipped small children's playground with slides, swings, see-saws, playhouse and sand tables. Shade trees and permanent concrete benches are also included in the design. This area is another one of the twenty-four sites selected by the Commissioner of...

The Downing Street Playground was built circa 1935 with the help of the New Deal. The agency involved in funding or completing the work is unknown to the Living New Deal. During his tenure as Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses used New Deal funding and labor to build public park facilities, yet rarely credited the New Deal agencies that supported the projects. Because he prohibited the placement of New Deal plaques and corner stones, we have few sources that tie public parks in New York to New Deal agencies. However, several of Moses’ statements reveal that during the 1930s most of...

Now a part of the much larger Calvert Vaux Park (also still referred to as Dreier-Offerman Park), this smaller playground at Cropsey Ave. and Bay 46th St. was constructed by the Department of Parks in 1934. Mayor La Guardia attended the opening ceremony in November 1934. The press release announcing the opening described the new playground as having "a wading pool and a two-story brick field house. The sand tables, seesaws, slides and swings for small children are located on the Bay side of the building.  Apparatus for older children is located in the space adjoining Cropsey Avenue." This playground...

This playground on the edge of Forest Park in Queens is named after Glendale's original name: Dry Harbor. The NYC Parks site explains that it was "constructed in 1934 with swings, see-saws, a wavy slide, a flagpole, and a schoolyard gymnasium." A June 1936 press release also announced the completion of the reconstruction of an area in this playground to contain "a wading pool, complete equipment for small children and a play area with a soft ball diamond and horseshoe pitching court for boys," and in December 1936 Parks announced the completion of the second half of the remodeled playground...

Dunbar Playground is named after African American poet Paul Dunbar. It was opened by the New York Department of Parks on September 23, 1935. The department press release stated that the playground would be "equipped with a wading pool, shuffle board court, handball courts, swings, slides, seesaws, etc." (kermitproject.org). Although the release does not specify federal involvement, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that “it is safe to say that every single project completed by the NYC Park Department during the 1930s was federally funded to some degree.” After April 1935, the WPA was especially involved in the development of...

Although Duniway Park was founded in 1918 to serve residents in south Portland, improvements had been limited and those who used it complained of the odors associated with the landfill that originally established the playground area. In 1934, the Oregon's State Emergency Relief Agency (SERA) authorized funds to improve the park. SERA was funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) during 1934-1935. FERA operated from May 12, 1933 through 1935 when it was replaced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as the New Deal's primary work relief program. One of the city's major newspapers, The Oregonian, reported that the SERA funded...