Central Park: Tarr Family Playground - New York NY

City:: New York, New York City, NY
Site Type:: Playgrounds, Parks and Recreation
New Deal Agencies:: Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
Started:: 1935
Completed:: 1936
Quality of Information:: Moderate
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

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, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support.

After falling into disuse in the 1960s, the playground was rebuilt in 1972 and again in 2009.