Accessibility InfoThis text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.
This playground takes its name from the adjacent Grassmere Terrace housing complex. Playgrounds have a long and storied history in New York City. From 1865 to 1895, New York City's population more than doubled. As thousands of new immigrants moved into already overcrowded tenement districts, the streets teemed with children, many of whom worked long hours in factories. With the enactment of the first child labor laws at the turn of the 20th century, leading reformers in New York City lobbied for the creation of a new kind of small park for children -- the playground.
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