Sign at the entrace to Heckscher Playground in Central Park.
Before the New Deal, Heckscher Playground was the only playground in all of
Central Park, and prior to 1926 there were no playgrounds at all. In 1935 a
plan was announced for the "complete renovation and redevelopment of the
area", to include a memorial to
Sophie Loeb, a new wading pool, a renovated recreation building,
and "swings, slides, see-saws, jungle gyms, horizontal bars and ladders for
children, and croquet and horseshoe pitching courts, separated from the
children's area, have been included for adults."
References:
- NYC Parks Department press
release, March 24, 1935, plan for Heckscher Playground renovation.
- NYC Parks Department press
release, December 30, 1936, opening of reconstructed Heckscher Playground.
- Federal Writers' Project, The WPA Guide to New York City, Random House (1939), p.351: ”Heckscher
Playground—a venture in which philanthropy and the Works Progress
Administration have combined to provide for the recreational needs of
children.”
- New Deal Assistance in
NYC Parks Department Projects, 1934-43, which explains how all
Parks Department work 1933-1938 (and much of it until 1943) was with New
Deal, funding, labor, and/or design.