Steuben Playground

Flushing Ave., Steuben St., Williamsburg Pl.

Brooklyn, 11205

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

Located just north of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway between Flushing and Steuben Streets, the Steuben Playground is named for Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustus von Steuben (1730-1794), a Prussian army officer and general in the American Revolution. Born in Magdeburg, Prussia (present-day northwest Germany), in 1730, Steuben became an officer in the Prussian army at age 17. He served with distinction during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). Following the war, he became a baron in the Prussian court, and traveled to France to raise money for the Prussian royalty. He returned to Germany in 1775, but went to France again two years later, hoping to secure employment in a foreign army. While in France, he met Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) and Silas Deane (1737-1789) who persuaded Steuben to join the American cause. Armed with a letter of recommendation from the two diplomats, Steuben arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in September 1777. In February 1778, he …