Parkside Playground

Arnow Ave. bet. Olinville Ave. and White Plains Rd.

Bronx, 10467

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

Parkside Playground and the adjacent Parkside Houses housing complex reflects the park’s proximity to Bronx Park, one of the largest parks in New York City. Bronx Park features the New York Botanical Gardens, the Bronx Zoo and Ranaqua, Parks Bronx headquarters. The borough and Bronx Park itself were named to honor the 17th century settler Jonas Bronck (1600-1643). Born in Sweden, he settled in the area known today as the borough of the Bronx in 1639. Bronck purchased approximately 500 acres of land from the Dutch West India Company and traded tools, clothes and utensils with local Native Americans for land.