Samuel N. Bennerson 2nd Playground

W. 64 St., bet.ween Amsterdam Ave. and West End Ave.

Manhattan, 10023

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

Samuel N. Bennerson (1923-1970) was a second generation resident of the Phipps Houses, an experiment in low-rent housing erected in the Lincoln Square neighborhood between 1907 and 1911. The son of parents from the Virgin Islands, Bennerson was educated in the New York City public school system and took special training courses in still photography. He spent four years in the Air Force, where he served in Japan. In 1946 Bennerson married Edna Deas of Charleston, South Carolina. Their four children were born in the Phipps Houses, becoming third generation Lincoln Square residents.