Flynn Playground

Brook Av to 3 Av bet. E 157 St and E 158 St

Bronx

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

Among the more than 400,000 Americans killed in World War II were two brothers from this neighborhood. Michael J. (1916-1944) and John P. Flynn (1923-1944) were lost within three months of one another. This playground, which opened in the summer of 1949, was named in their memory.

Michael Flynn was born on December 3, 1916 at 496 East 162nd Street. John, seven years his junior, was born on April 15, 1923 in an apartment house at 500 East 161st Street. As children, both attended Saints Peter and Paul Parochial School, located just north of here, on Brook Avenue near 161st Street. Michael graduated from Morris High School in 1933, and John received his diploma from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1941.