Brighton Playground

Brighton 2 St. bet.ween Brightwater Ct. and Boardwalk E.

Brooklyn, 11235

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

This playground is located at Brighton 2nd Street, Brightwater Court, and the Boardwalk in the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 1868 entrepreneur William A. Engeman began to purchase land in the area and transformed a tract of marsh land and sand dunes into fairgrounds, hotels, and a bathing pavilion. In 1878 the area was named Brighton Beach for Britain’s well-known resort on the English Channel. The Hotel Brighton, the Ocean Hotel, the Brighton Beach Racetrack, and the Brighton Beach Baths (built on the site of a former amusement park) attracted visitors to a middle-class resort destination just east of the more boisterous West Brighton and Coney Island amusement areas.