- City:
- Elmhurst, New York City, Queens, NY
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Comfort Stations (Restrooms), Playgrounds
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1937
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
NYC Parks describes the origins of this playground in Queens: “This public space was acquired by the City of New York by consolidation on January 1, 1898, and transferred to the Department of Parks in 1917. It was not developed as a playground until 1934-35. The playground opened on August 9, 1935 with slides, swings, sandbox, seesaws, benches, comfort station, tool house, and cherry and hawthorn trees.”
On April 3, 1937, the Department of Parks announced the further completion at this site of “a new recreation building of brick construction,” containing “a boys and girls’ comfort station, a mother’s room and play-room.”
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.
Source notes
NYC Parks - Newtown Playground Department of Parks, Press Release, April 3, 1937 New York City Parks Department New Deal Projects 1934-43Site originally submitted by Frank da Cruz on October 22, 2016.
Contribute to this Site
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.
Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site
Join the Conversation