Playgrounds Sites

The 227th Street Playground in Bronx Park, June 2015, built by the New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) and opened on June 25, 1941. From the NYC Parks Department press release: The new development covers an area of about two acres in the sloping lawn between the Parkway and the Bronx River. The playground itself is semi-circular in shape, contains various items of play apparatus including swings, slides, see-saws, jungle gym, a sand pit and a shower basin, and is paved with bituminous material. It is fenced with chain link fabric for purposes of control and a number of trees have...

This small playground on Houston St. between Essex and Norfolk was constructed by the Department of Parks in 1934 as a playground for small children. According to the press release announcing its opening, it originally contained "a shelter house, basketball courts and complete playground apparatus," and was one of 38 new play areas "completely equipped with modern recreational facilities, which have been added to the park system during a period of four months by the new administration.” The playground took on its current name after a major renovation in October 1998. The name "reflects both its location at the northern...

In January 1940, the Parks Department announced the completion of a complete renovation of what is now the Alexander Hamilton Playground: "At the Hamilton Place area, the old playground has been entirely reconstructed to provide for wider and more intensive usage. Besides a new modern comfort station, there is now a wading pool, volley ball and handball courts, a jungle gym, swings, slides and see-saws, The entire area has been resurfaced with bituminous material to provide for continuous usage throughout the year. The opening of these two areas, designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration, makes a...

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists Alley Pond Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants, older children, adolescents and adults. Today's NYC Parks website confirms this timing: "The park, including 26 acres of newly constructed playing fields and the Alley Pond Park Nature Trail, the first such trail in the city’s park system, officially opened in 1935 at a ceremony attended by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia (1882–1947) and Parks Commissioner Robert Moses (1888–1981)....

Anacostia Park is one of Washington DC's two largest parks and recreation areas, along with Rock Creek Park.  It covers over 1200 acres along the Anacostia River from South Capitol Street SE to the Maryland boundary in NE.  The New Deal improved the park in major ways, after the Capital Parks system was put under the control of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. New Deal public works agencies developed such key features of the park as Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, Langston Golf Course and Anacostia Pool (see linked pages). Besides those major elements, improvements included,...

In 1935-6 the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed clay tennis courts at Framingham's Anna Murphy Playground; removed the remnants of a stone wall; and installed a wire mesh fence.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop Aptos Playground in San Francisco during the Great Depression.

St. Nicholas Park is a long stretch of park between Harlem and Manhattanville, reaching from 127th St. to 141st St. The park contains two playgrounds. The larger one at 129th St., known as St. Nicholas Playground, opened before the New Deal in 1931. A July 1934 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of a second playground at the opposite end of the park near 141st St.. When it opened, the 200 ft. by 60 ft. playground contained an "open pavilion, a comfort station and a wading pool which can be converted into a basketball court, and slides, jungle...

Arroyo Viejo Recreation Center/Park was developed between 1936 and 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), working with the Oakland Recreation Department.  The WPA funded the project for around $60,000 in 1935 (Chronicle 1935). The 16 acre site on Arroyo Viejo Creek was purchased by the city in pieces, starting in 1935.  The entire purchase cost about $36,000 (Post-Enquirer 1935). The property had belonged to the Japanese Domoto family, who operated a nursery there.  (An interesting sidelight is that Kenji Domoto went on to be a famous landscape architect) The work of creating a new park began with tearing down acres of...

On July 2, 1938, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a playground on the site of what is now the Astoria Health Playground: "In Queens, at 14th Street south of 31st Avenue adjacent to the Astoria Health Center, the new playground is equipped with swings, see-saws, play houses, slide, sand pit and a portable shower. A brick comfort station with facilities for boys and girls, and permanent concrete benches are also provided. The perimeter of the entire playground is landscaped with shade trees. …The work was performed by the Works Progress Administration, but planned and inspected by the Department of...

The Astoria Heights Playground, covering most of the block between 30th Rd., 31st Ave., 45th St. and 46th St., was developed by the Parks Department and the WPA in two stages between 1937 and 1938. In September 1937, a playground for small children was opened, "as well as handball courts for older children and benches for mothers and guardians." Just over two years later, the Parks Department announced the completion of the rest of the playground: "he new 2.3 acre area supplements and includes the small recreational area opened in 1937, and rounds out the entire block, the southerly end of which...

The 56-acre park dates from the early 20th century, but "major improvements in Astoria Park were undertaken by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and the Works Progress Administration during a hot summer in 1936. The stunning pool complex opened on July 4 of that year and hosted the swimming and diving trials for the U.S. Olympic Teams in 1936 and 1964" (NYC Parks). "Besides the swimming pool, various playgrounds and comfort stations were added or renovated during the course of the New Deal using relief labor" (kermitproject.org). This included "an adult play area with handball, basketball, horseshoe and shuffleboard courts, horizontal...

From NYC Parks: "In 1918, the War Memorial Fund was established to create a $1 million Memorial Arch to commemorate those killed in World War I. The organizers were forced to adjust their plans when they were only able to raise $210,000. By 1922 the project was scrapped and the money turned over to the City. Through time, the unspent fund earned interest, growing to nearly $340,000 by 1934. Commissioner Robert Moses (1888–1981), seeking additional open spaces for children, convinced the remaining members of the War Memorial Committee to allow the funds to be used for playgrounds... The War Memorial Fund was...

The New York Times reported in 1941 that WPA labor was to develop a playground at Bailey Avenue and West 234th Street in the Bronx. Bailey Playground now resides on that site: "WPA crews are busy on twelve other parks and playground projects in other parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx ...  A plot originally acquired for school purposes in 1929 will become the site of a playground at Bailey Avenue and West 234th Street, the Bronx.  A large wading pool is included in the plans." In August 1943, at the end of the New Deal, the Parks Department announced the opening of this...

St. Paul's west side "contains two W.P.A. built recreational structures, the Harriet Island Pavilion and the Baker Playground building at 670 S. Waseca Street."

"Banneker Playground is named in honor of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a noted African-American writer and mathematician... This playground is located on Marcy Avenue between Kosciusko Street and Lafayette Avenue. The site was formerly owned by the Board of Transportation, which held it as part of its property for the G subway line. After 1937, the city maintained a park on the site under a permit from the Board of Transportation. The park was originally built by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), a federal program that built 850 airports, 120,000 bridges, and 125,000 public buildings, in addition to its 8,000 parks nationwide." The...

Bath Beach Park, named for the surrounding neighborhood, was acquired by the City in 1937. In 1941-1942, the WPA completed extensive work on the park. A press release announcing the opening explained: "Located on a knoll on the center line of 17 Avenue extended is a semi-circular overlook sitting area commanding an unobstructed view over Gravesend Bay and the Lower New York Bay. A concrete ramp skirts the brick surfaced retaining wall which supports the overlook and connects with a 30 foot wide tree and bench lined mall... The smaller western section which is subdivided into six use areas by fencing, benches...

Between 1938 and 1941, with funding assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Seattle Park Department completed several improvement projects at Beacon Hill Playground. In the first of these projects, WPA workers re-painted the playground shelter house in 1938. This was part of a city-wide project to paint and repair park buildings that, due to budget cuts, had received little to no maintenance since the early years of the Great Depression. The following year saw the installation of new lighting fixtures to provide nighttime illumination of the playfield. Then, in 1941, WPA workers regraded part of the playfield, installed...

The bulk of present day Bensonhurst Park was first established in 1895. Two further parcels were added later. In 1942, the WPA completed major work on the park: "The Department of Parks announces the completion of work in connection with the reconstruction of Bensonhurst Park and the addition of a new playground, baseball fields and other recreation facilities… The old park area has been increased in size. Fifteen acres were added at the time that the Belt Parkway was constructed. This was done by pumping sand beyond the seawall which was erected at the outshore end of the property… The two previously undeveloped...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Bernal Recreation Center in San Francisco in 1939-1940.  It sits just behind and below the Bernal Heights Public Library. Work consisted of excavating and grading 1,492 cubic yards of rock and soil, building 75 feet of rubble wall (18 inches by 4 feet), and paving 16,000 square feet of playgr0und area. Notably, the report on WPA work in San Francisco made a point that the combination of the library and playground on the same property was ."... combining the benefits of physical and mental recreation.(Healy, p. 64). The WPA built rock walls are still visible above...

Berry Playground is a pocket park tucked along a side street in Brooklyn, which was constructed in 1937 by the city Parks Department with the help of the New Deal, most likely Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. The site had recently been acquired "...for $18,000 from the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital in 1936. It immediately came under the jurisdiction of Parks..." (NYC Parks) A new playground opened on the site on November 13, 1937, as explained in the Parks Department Press Release at the time: "...the new playground is for small children and has swings, see-saws, slides, playhouses, sand tables, a play...

Five years after the WPA built a new pool and bathhouse in Betsy Head Park, the Parks Department announced the completion of the rehabilitation of the south section of the rest of the park, bounded by Livonia and Dumont Avenues, Strauss Street and Hopkinson Avenue: "The remainder of the plot, to the west of the pool has been entirely reconstructed to meet the needs of a district well supplied with children and young people and under-privileged in the matter of play areas. The new plan, designed by the Department of Parks, called for the reconstruction of the baseball diamond, football field...

The Department of Parks announced the opening of this new playground on Bedford Ave. on October 14, 1935. As researcher Frank da Cruz explains here, almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor. After its inception in 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of relief funds and labor for the NYC Parks Department. In a 1939 study, The Works Progress Administration in New York City (pp. 101-102), future Columbia University professor John Millett describes the WPA's deep involvement: “The city Parks Department planned all work-relief activities in city...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration completed improvements at the Bloomingdale Playground in Washington DC, between 1933 and 1934. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Graded, completed drainage and water service system; fencing and 3-story recreation building 25 percent complete.”

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed the stone gymnasium structure at Blowing Rock School. It was one of many educational facilities constructed by the WPA in Watauga County. The WPA also constructed a "well-planned" playground. The school facility has since been largely demolished and replaced, though the WPA gymnasium still remains.

Parks acquired this property by condemnation in the mid 1920s. In December, 1935, the Department of Parks announced the opening of a new playground on the site. The press release announcing the opening explained that it, and the other 12 playgrounds opened on the same day, collectively contained: “88 small swings; 72 large swings; 36 seesaws; 14 playhouses; 15 large slides; 11 sand tables; 10 garden swings; 7 small slides; 7 small tables; 6 handball courts; 6 jungle gyms; 5 shuffleboard courts; 5 wading pools; 4 parallel bars; 3 horizontal bars; 3 horizontal ladders; 3 horseshoe pitching, etc.; 2 basketball...

The City acquired Breininger Park (previously known as Braddock Park) in 1938. The Department of Parks officially announced the opening of the park in August 1939: "In Queens, the new playground is located at Braddock Avenue and 240 Street, in the Queens Village section, where a three and one half acre plot, on which there is a fine stand of mature shade trees, was acquired as an adjacent playground site in connection with the Belt Parkway, from which it is three blocks distant. A feature of this playground is a large oval lawn surrounded by a roller skating rink. A comfort...

"In Attleboro, crews ... built the Briggs Playground."

New York City's Parks Department writes: ", formerly named the 43rd St. Playground, is bounded by 42nd and 43rd Streets and 10th & New Utrecht Avenues. It was acquired through condemnation and assigned to Parks for playground purposes in 1938. The playground was designed and constructed the same year by the Works Progress Administration ..." The completion of the playground was officially announced on March 18, 1939.

"Until 1937, the north portion of Bronx Park was owned by the NY Botanical Garden and the NY Zoological Society and had no public facilities such as paths, lighting, playgrounds, or athletic fields. As part of the Bronx River Parkway extension project, the Parks Department gained jurisdiction and, with Works Progress Administration labor, began to convert the entire area into a park. This was one big New Deal project with many parts, including: Reiss Field on the east side (1939); Waring Playground on the east side (1939); Rosewood Playground on the east side (1940); 227th Street Playground on the east side (1941); French Charley's Playground...

"Waring Playground in Bronx Park, across Bronx Park East from the block between Waring Avenue and Thwaite Place, June 17, 2015. It opened on September 28, 1939, as part of the larger project of developing the land turned over by the New York Botanical Garden to the Parks Department. Although the Parks Department's September 27, 1939 press release does not explicitly credit the WPA or any other New Deal agency with building or funding this facility, it states that it "is a unit in a chain of children's recreation areas already built or now under construction along the easterly boundaries...

In November 1937, the Department of Parks announced the completion of a new playground at Weller Ave. and Brookville Blvd in Brookville Park: "the new playground is equipped with swings, seesaws, slides, jungle gym, sand tables, playhouses, ping pong tables, horizontal bar and ladder, basketball and volley ball courts; also, a circular wading pool surrounded by shade trees and permanent concrete benches. Brookville Park, which occupies a long narrow valley and is entered from the Sunrise Parkway at the north, is being completely constructed as a modern park with modern facilities, of which this playground forms one unit. With the completion...

Then known as Bedford Park, this Brooklyn Park was first established in the 1890s. Since 1899, the Brooklyn Children's Museum has been located on the property. The park was renamed Brower Park in 1923. In 1941, the Department of Parks announced that the WPA had significantly reconstructed the park and area around the museum: "The new development, which reserves 80% of the area for passive enjoyment of broad tree-dotted lawns, also provides a new playground for youngsters where they may safely play on a variety of exercise units. The museum...has been provided with a spacious block paved terrace extending around all sides....

The WPA made extensive improvements to Brush School, Santa Rosa, California, under Official Project Number 65-3-364. The work to the one-room school house included building stone retaining walls, a playground and a presumed tennis court (Goddard, 1976: 72-74). Though now under private ownership, the stone walls and tennis court are visible from the public right-of-way. (Goddard does not identify the specific year of construction but it can be inferred from the WPA project number).

A New York City Parks Department press release from August 26, 1939 describes the WPA’s role in developing what is now known as Bufano Park: “The Department of Parks announces that the two acre playground bounded by Bradford, Edison, LaSalle and Waterbury Avenues, in the Borough of The Bronx, will be opened to the general public without ceremony on Saturday, August 26th... This playground was planned by the Department of Parks and the work performed by the Work Projects Administration. Besides a completely equipped children's playground with wading pool, it includes eight handball courts, a softball diamond and a large asphalt surfaced...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a project "the clearing and grubbing of land on the eastern edge of the Burnside Avenue Playground and installation of drives and walks." Furthermore, the WPA installed a "new drinking fountain ... at the Burnside Avenue Plavground near the tennis courts. This was done in connection with the laying of a new six-inch water feed line for filling the wading pool." The park in question is unclear to Living New Deal.

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) completed improvements at theBurroughs Playground in Washington DC, between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the following improvements: “Resurfaced two tennis courts.” The playground is on the school grounds of the John Burroughs Elementary School and is used as a school grounds and community playground.

The New York Times reported in 1941 that, as part of WPA efforts, Brooklyn would receive six new playgrounds, located at: "Third Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, Second Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Fifty-second Street, Albany and Foster Avenues, Park and Nostrand Avenues and Eastern Parkway Extension and Fulton Street." In November 1942, the Department of Parks announced that the WPA had completed the first part of the construction of a new playground at the last site mentioned above. The press release explained that Parks had received the land in 1940, with some restrictions for the nearby subways, and...

An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now Catbird Playground in Carl Schurz Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants and adolescents. The playground was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke and opened on June 20, 1935. It was further renovated in 1965 and 2000. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that New Deal park projects developed before August 1935 would have been financed by...

Carroll Park has been a public park since the 1850s. A March 27, 1936 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of this new WPA playground in the park: "The Department of Parks will open ten new playgrounds Saturday, March 28, making a total of 125 added to the recreational system in two years. …at Smith Street, Carroll Street and First Place there will be four hand-ball courts, four shuffleboard courts and six horseshoe courts… All of these playgrounds were constructed es Works Progress Administration projects." Further improvements to the playground, including basketball courts and a play apparatus for older children, were announced...