Central Park: Rudin Family Playground – New York NY

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 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 with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935, the WPA quickly became the main source of this support.

The playground was rebuilt in 1992. Today, a “prominent wisteria-covered trellis, which divides the space into two areas, provides a shaded place to rest and watch children play, and is well-used by parents and caregivers”   (planforplay.org).