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Parks and Playgrounds
The creation of small parks and playgrounds
in New York City is intimately linked to the processes of slum clearance
and urban renewal. For reformer Jacob Riis, the destruction of tenements
was to be followed by the building of parks, bringing the restorative
powers of nature to those deprived of adequate light, air, and space.
Late 19th and early 20th century reformers decried the evils of
the densely populated tenement districts and the streets as a venue
for outdoor play, prescribing as a remedy small parks and playgrounds
for "their healthful influence on morals and conduct."
Just as the tenements held some essential immorality, "nature"
would mysteriously reduce their inhabitants' penchant for crime
and motivate them to hard work. While the idea persisted that immigrants
themselves were responsible for the conditions of their neighborhoods,
many believed that human behavior would improve in direct relation
to their living conditions.1
The first small park to be built in the place of demolished tenements
was Columbus Park, located between Mulberry, Worth, Baxter, and
Bayard Streets. Completed in 1897, Columbus Park stood on the remains
of Mulberry Bend, in the heart of the old Five Points neighborhood.
Riis attacked Mulberry Bend, the "foul core" of New York,
as a place of unmatched physical and moral destruction. The tenement
represented not only a breeding ground for the ills affecting poor
and working-class individuals, but for a potential revolution from
below. Embarking upon a campaign to rid Mulberry Bend of its deplorable
housing and erect a pastoral park in its place, Riis mobilized the
inchoate machinery of city government against resistant politicians
and private owners. Taking private property for public use, the
city demolished the tenements on the Bend and in 1895 and opened
Mulberry Bend Park two years later in 1897. The park was later renamed
Columbus Park in 1911 at the request of the neighborhood's Italian
immigrant majority.2
In 1897, Jacob Riis was chosen to lead the Small Park's Advisory
Committee, which urged the city to build playgrounds for their "healthful
influence upon morals and conduct." In 1903, the city built
Seward Park at the corner of Essex Street and East Broadway as a
recreational center for the most heavily populated part of the city.
Three blocks of tenements were razed to construct the park, displacing
almost 3,000 residents. In doing so, Riis and his colleagues sought
to offer an uplifting response to the problem of youth gangs. Housing
reformers believed that the children of the neighborhood, living
in overcrowded and unsanitary tenements, had no place to play but
the dangerous streets. There, many impressionable youths found their
way to organized gangs and became involved in crime. Seward Park
became an important recourse to sunlight and air for residents of
the surrounding blocks, and the site of the first permanent playground
built by the city. The new park, however, was initially a disappointment.
Immigrant mothers could not keep an eye on children while they were
in the playground. Children were also disappointed because of the
structured nature of the playground and adult supervisors.3
During the 1960s, as open space was becoming scarce, small parks
often built on vacant lots wedged between buildings became popular.
Also known as vest pocket parks, many were developed with funds
from the city, state, and federal governments and at the urging
of community groups and charitable organizations. In neighborhoods
that lack adequate open space, vest pocket parks continue to be
used as playgrounds, sitting areas, and community gardens.4
See also: Lower East Side.
1 Kenneth T. Jackson, The Encyclopedia of New
York City (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995); Max Page, The
Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-1940 (Chicago: Chicago University
Press, 1998).
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
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