Thomas Jefferson Park
15.24 Acres
During the course of his forty years in public life, Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826) had a profound influence on the formation of the American legal and political
system. He began his career as a lawyer and a farmer and became a champion of equal
rights, religious freedom and public education. In 1776 Jefferson drafted the Declaration
of Independence. He went on to serve as governor of Virginia (1779-81), minister to France
(1785-89), and Secretary of State under Washington (1790-93). He was elected Vice
President in 1796 and then served two terms as President from 1801-1809. Aside from his
political influence, Jefferson’s legacy includes creating the decimal monetary system
and founding and designing the University of Virginia. This park was planned and named by the Board of Aldermen in 1894,
though the land for it was not purchased until 1897. It opened on October 7, 1905 to
provide organized play to the children of "Little Italy," as the crowded
tenement district in East Harlem was then known. The park contained two playgrounds, two
gymnasiums, baths, comfort stations, and a classical pavilion which provided shelter and
recreation space. The structure stood at 112th Street and East River Drive until the 1970s
when it was destroyed by vandals. A children’s farm garden, one of many which
flourished in parks in the first half of the 20th century, opened on May 20,
1911 with 1008 plots for children to grow flowers and vegetables. Designed as a place of
respite for child laborers, the farm garden later hosted nature study classes and, during
the World Wars, provided a lesson in self-sufficiency for local children. The park’s facilities were expanded in the 1930s according to the
vision of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. June 27, 1936 marked the dedication of the
second of ten pools to open that summer. Ten thousand people attended the ceremony
celebrating "the last word in engineering, hygiene and construction." Boccie
courts were also added around this time. The playgound adjacent to Benjamin Franklin High
School has been open since 1942. The school was renamed the Manhattan Center for Math and
Science in 1982. A renovation of the pool and recreation center was completed
in 1992 by architect Richard Dattner under a $10.5 million capital
project. The park was newly landscaped and reconstructed in 1994.
The center’s programming includes boxing, fencing, martial arts,
and aerobics, and the ballfields are popular with East Harlem teams.
The park features two sculptures that were commissioned and installed
in 1995 through a joint effort by Parks and the Department of Cultural
Affairs’ Percent for Art Program: Tomorrow’s Wind
by Melvin Edwards and El Arbor De Esperanza, or Tree of Hope,
by L. Brower Hatcher.
Sunday, Apr 04, 1999