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Prall Playground

Elizabet.h St., Forest Ave., Broadway, Clove Lake Pl.

Staten Island

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

Anning Smith Prall (1870-1937) was born to William Henry Prall and Josephine Rebecca Cartwright. The Pralls had lived on Staten Island since 1670, and Anning Smith boldly added to that legacy by serving three times as President of the Board of Education and as Congressman for Staten Island.

As a boy, Prall attended Staten Island public schools. Later in life, he invested himself professionally in the future of the Island. As head of the Staten Island Savings Bank’s Mortgage Loan Department, he held interests in local real estate. During World War I (1914-1918), he was Vice President of Cosgrove and Company, he sold coal to the City at the bargain price of $5 a ton. From 1919 to 1921 he served as President of the New York Board of Education. Later, acting on his interest in finance, Prall joined the Board of Taxes and Assessments in 1922. Until he was elected to Congress in 1923, he had never lived more than a mile from his birthplace in Port Richmond.

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