Utopia Playground

73 Ave., Jewel Ave. bet. Utopia Pkwy. and 179 St.

Queens, 11365

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

Utopia Playground takes its name from a housing development in Queens that was never built. The Utopia Land Company planned to construct an expansive cooperative community for Jewish residents of the Lower East Side on fifty acres of land east of 164th Street between the communities of Jamaica and Flushing. The land was obtained for development in 1905, at which time the company acquired a $9,000 mortgage to grade streets and divide the land into lots. The plan included industries and a cooperative store. The roadways in Utopia were to be named after Lower East Side streets such as Ludlow, Division, Hester, and Essex.

When the Utopia Land Company found itself unable to secure additional funding, the project was swiftly abandoned. While the dream of the development faded, the project’s name was remembered, providing a name for Utopia Parkway, which in turn lent its name to Utopia Playground.