Cooper Park

This playground honors Margaret Carnegie (1910-1993). Born in Lawrenceville, Virginia, on April 27, 1910, Carnegie moved to New York in 1920, where she attended the Florence Garnett Training School for Girls, Junior High School 136, and Morris High School in the Bronx. In 1953, Carnegie moved to Greenpoint, Brooklyn where she became deeply involved in the community for the next forty years of her life. Shortly before her death in June of 1993, this playground was renamed in her honor.

Carnegie was involved in several community organizations including the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation, the Independent Friends of McCarren Park and the McCarren Pool Restoration, the Council for the Aging, the Williamsburg Greenpoint Independent Democrats, the Crispus Attucks Community Council of Williamsburg, Inc., and the Devoe Street Baptist Church. She also served as chaplain to the Cooper Park Senior Citizens Organization and as president of the Grandparent Organization, Inc. Carnegie frequented Cooper Park and regularly participated in poetry readings held there.

A major reconstruction project for the entire park in 1965 removed the track and wading pool, adding basketball and handball courts, game tables, and bocce courts. New play equipment, like the spiral/helical slide, hexapod and ups-‘n-downs represented 1960s innovations in playground design. In 1984, a new oval design, intersected with diagonals, was created for Carnegie Playground. New play equipment, safety surfacing, and a spray shower were also added.