Mother Waldron Playground – Honolulu HI

Description

Mother Waldron Playground is an urban playground that is bounded by Halekauwila, Cooke, Pohukaina, and Coral streets. It was constructed in 1937 on a 1.76-acre (77,000-square feet) site in the Kakaako district of Honolulu, Hawaii. Built elements within the park include a comfort station and remaining portions of a low wall that encompassed the original park. The built components contain design elements of the Art Moderne and Art Deco styles, including an emphasis on horizontality, rounded corners and piers, and streamlined appearance. WPA labor was used to construct the park and concrete bricks were the chosen material. Mother Waldron Playground has undergone several major alterations since its initial construction, including removal and replacement of some of the park’s original features, and subsequent expansions to compensate for other changes. The paved area, comprised of the northwest and southeast perimeter walls, benches, comfort station, and covered walkways are original to the playground’s 1937 construction date. Mother Waldron Playground’s paved area is surrounded by an approximately three foot high perimeter wall. The wall is approximately nine inches thick. Along Coral Street, this wall zig-zags forming triangular points and provides a wide opening into the park.

Margaret “Mother” Waldron, a Pohukaina School fourth grade teacher and volunteer welfare worker, was credited with nearly single-handedly ridding Kakaako of its gangs and turning their members into model citizens through her organized activities for the district’s youth. The site of the future playground was proposed to be named in 1930 for Margaret “Mother” Waldron, but she refused the honor. Her name was given to the park following her death in 1936. Costing approximately $50,000 to construct, Mother Waldron Playground opened September 20, 1937.

Per calendar: “The brick comfort station with its sweeping pergolas serves as a focal point at Mother Waldron Playground in Kaka’ako (1937), a WPA project. Nationally renown planner Lewis Mumford applauded architect Harry Sims Bent’s moderne design, and recommended that the site’s artistic sensitivity be emulated in other city playgrounds.”