Elizabeth Stroud Playground

Stuyvesant Ave. and Fulton St.

Brooklyn

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

This park takes its name from the adjacent Fulton Park, which in turn was named for Robert Fulton (1765-1815), the renowned inventor, engineer, and painter. Fulton was born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. At 17, he went to Philadelphia to study portraiture and landscape. Four years later, in 1786, Fulton traveled to England, where he continued his painting, and began to study nautical engineering and design as well. In 1797, Fulton went to Paris, and while living in France, between 1797 and 1806, he built the submarine Nautilus (1800) and an experimental steam-powered vessel (1803) that plied the Seine River.