Thomas Jefferson Park – New York NY

City:
New York, New York City, NY

Site Type:
Parks and Recreation, Playgrounds, Athletic Courts and Fields

New Deal Agencies:
Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs

Started:
1935

Completed:
1936

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The land for Thomas Jefferson Park park was first purchased in 1897, but was greatly expanded in the 1930s under Commissioner Robert Moses. In September 1935, Moses and Mayor LaGuardia oversaw the opening of the north playground, “equipped with a wading pool, two soft ball diamonds, a roller skating track, play houses, seesaws, jungle gyms, etc.”  The south portion of the park opened two months later, including at least some of the following: baseball, basketball, bocci, handball or horse shoe courts, and jungle gyms, swings, slides, playhouses, sand tables, see-saws, shuffle board courts, and  wading pools. In December 1936, Parks remodeled a play area in the park to provide two baseball diamonds that could also be used “for football, soccer and rugby.”

The playground, “designed principally for adults,” and located at First Avenue and 111th Street in the park, was one of seven Works Progress Administration (WPA) playgrounds opened in New York City on November 22, 1935.

Source notes

Department of Parks, Press Release, September 20, 1935
Department of Parks, Press Release, November 21, 1935
Department of Parks, Press Release, December 4, 1936
NYC Parks - Thomas Jefferson Park
The New York Times: "7 NEW PLAY AREAS OPENED BY MOSES," November 23, 1935 (pg. 17)

Site originally submitted by Frank da Cruz on September 19, 2016.
Additional contributions by Evan Kalish, Joshua Shiffman.

Location Info


2180 1st Ave.
New York, NY 10029

Coordinates: 40.793135, -73.935183

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One comment on “Thomas Jefferson Park – New York NY

  1. Josh Shiffman

    Hello,

    My name is Josh Shiffman and my A.P. United States history class recently learned about the New Deal and the Great Depression. One assignment was to locate a New Deal facility (project one by the WPA, CCC, TVA, etc.), and take pictures of it and document it. I noticed that on your website there are no pictures for the Thomas Jefferson Park and pool project, and I took some pictures for you. In order to get extra credit in school and to help out your site, I would greatly appreciate if you could post one (or more) of the pictures I attached to the document below (link included)! I also shared, via your email, an additional document with the pictures. Also, if you copy and paste the link at the bottom into your web browser, the document should load.

    – Thanks very much, and your website is truly impressive.

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ZN_sucC6hRmyZmOWPMLZm181K5YDihOu6XBdaY80T0/edit?usp=sharing

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Contribute to this Site

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Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site

One comment on “Thomas Jefferson Park – New York NY

  1. Josh Shiffman

    Hello,

    My name is Josh Shiffman and my A.P. United States history class recently learned about the New Deal and the Great Depression. One assignment was to locate a New Deal facility (project one by the WPA, CCC, TVA, etc.), and take pictures of it and document it. I noticed that on your website there are no pictures for the Thomas Jefferson Park and pool project, and I took some pictures for you. In order to get extra credit in school and to help out your site, I would greatly appreciate if you could post one (or more) of the pictures I attached to the document below (link included)! I also shared, via your email, an additional document with the pictures. Also, if you copy and paste the link at the bottom into your web browser, the document should load.

    – Thanks very much, and your website is truly impressive.

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ZN_sucC6hRmyZmOWPMLZm181K5YDihOu6XBdaY80T0/edit?usp=sharing

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

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This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.