Heckscher Playground

A design competition was held for Central Park in 1857; applicants were required to conform to several specifications, including at least three playgrounds of between 3 and 10 acres (1.2 and 4.0 ha).[4]^{: PDF pp. 29–30}[5]^{: 111–112}[6]^: 21[7]^: 24–25 The winning plan, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's Greensward Plan, included a play area called the Children's District in the southern part of Central Park. This area included the original Ballplayers House and the Dairy, both built in the 1860s.[6]^: 58–59[7]^: 74 However, the early design of Central Park encouraged exercise and "individual recreation" over team sports and games, and as such, playgrounds and recreational fields were not originally included within the park.[5]^{: 248–249, 251} By 1914, only nine percent of the parkland was devoted to sports uses.[5]^{: 392–393}

In April 1925, New York City park commissioner Francis D. Gallatin announced that 16 acres (6.5 ha) on the west side of Central Park would be set aside for a play area funded by the philanthropist August Heckscher, who was providing the money through the Heckscher Foundation for Children. The play area would contain a wading pool, six ballfields, and a grove of trees.[8] The plans immediately drew opposition from several parties, including those who wanted to preserve the passive landscape of Central Park,[9][10] and several other opponents who called Heckscher's gift "a private memorial".[11] Yet others said that the mere presence of a children's play area would cause the condition of Central Park to deteriorate.[3] In response, Heckscher said that the Central Park playground would show the wealthy "an idea of what a modern playground should be", while another playground that he funded near Mulberry Bend in Chinatown, Manhattan, would serve the poorer communities there.[12] That May, mayor John Francis Hylan ordered the construction of the playground,[13] and the city's Board of Aldermen rejected an aldermanic resolution that opposed the playground and other Central Park "encroachments".[14]

Heckscher Playground opened near the southern end of Central Park on June 22, 1926. At the opening of his namesake playground, Heckscher announced that he would start a program to raise $3 million for Central Park improvements.[15] His namesake playground quickly became popular with poor immigrant families.[5]^{: 395–397}[2] Most of the playground's users were lower- and middle-class families who came from further away.[16] By 1933, Heckscher suggested the construction of additional playgrounds in Central Park.[17] In 1934, work started on the extension of one of the park's bridle paths through the middle of Heckscher Playground. However, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses ordered that the bridle path's construction be halted that May.[18]

By 1935, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that the playground would be renovated. Among the proposed improvements were the construction of additional athletic fields; the landscaping of the wading pool; planting of additional trees; and installation of extra play structures.[19] A proposal to remove the Heckscher Ballfields and relocate all baseball games to the North Meadow was overturned.[20] Additionally, August Heckscher paid for a $15,000 memorial to social reformer Sophie Irene Loeb, one of the earliest supporters for a playground in Central Park. The renovation was completed in 1936.[21] To make way for the playground's expansion, a bridge called the Oval/Spur Rock Arch was destroyed in 1934,[22] and the bridle path through the playground was cut off.[23][24] In addition, under Moses's tenure as parks commissioner, twenty-one additional playgrounds were built in Central Park by the late 1930s.[5]^{: 450–451} Heckscher Playground became popular not only among children, but also among adults who used the various facilities for exercise.[25]

Heckscher Playground was rebuilt again and reopened to the public in June 1970. At the time, the New York City Subway's 63rd Street lines were being built, with their planned routes running directly under the south side of Central Park. The city's parks commissioner, August Heckscher II (the grandson of the playground's namesake) expressed concern that the brand-new playground would have to be destroyed to make way for the excavation of the 63rd Street lines, located directly below the playground site.[26] In early 1971, the subway system's operator New York City Transit Authority agreed to reduce construction time from three years to two years and construct a temporary playground nearby.[27] When demolition of the playground commenced in August 1971, just fourteen months after its renovation, several people protested against the construction of the subway lines directly under the brand-new playground.[28][29] Even so, work continued on the subway project. Richard Dattner designed the temporary play space, a $250,000 "water playground", which opened in 1973.[30] The restored Heckscher Playground was reopened by 1977.[31]

The playground was renovated yet again in 2005.[1] As part of the $3.5 million project, the adjacent restroom building was also restored.[16] The work was completed in 2007.[1]