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Play Systems Now and Then |
| Date Added: October 26, 2009 08:53:59 PM |
| Author: Anuj Shah |
| Category: Sports |
Play Systems Now and Then: Play systems Beginnings: Several plans submitted in the 1850s for the original Central Park included various play areas, but in practice, areas for free play were restricted during the early years of the park. Central Park designers Olmsted and Vaux designated a hill in the southern portion that they called the “Kinderberg” or “Children's Mountain” for children to climb on (at the present–day Chess & Checkers House), but overall there were few formal play areas in the park. At first schoolboys (not girls) were allowed to use parts of the park for free play on certain days of the week, but the park would lack permanent equipped play systems for many decades. During that time, however, a period of just 30 years during the 19th century, a wave of immigration more than doubled the population of New York City, from 720,000 in 1865 to 1.8 million in 1895. Overcrowded tenement districts on the Lower East Side and the neighborhood on the west side of mid–town Manhattan known as “Hell's Kitchen” teemed with children, many of whom worked long hours in factories. Around the turn of the century, child labor laws began to improve life for many youngsters, but the only place they could play outdoors was the street, alleyways, or vacant lots. In response to these deplorable conditions, leading reformers of the Progressive era in New York City lobbied for the creation of a new kind of small park for children— the play systems. In 1884 a Tenement House Committee was appointed to study the problem, and in 1889 the Brooklyn Society for Parks and play systems was organized, the first society of its kind in the state of New York. The New York Society for Parks and play systems was incorporated in 1891, described as a “moral movement not a charity.” The New York Society was founded by Charles A. Stover, former Mayor Abram S. Hewitt, and Columbia University President Seth Low. The society lobbied city government, demonstrated how to use play equipment to mothers and children, and operated an experimental play systems from 1891 to 1894 on Second Avenue between 91st and 92nd Streets. The Old Ways of Plays: Before the Parks Department provided recreation opportunities for children, play areas were built by private philanthropic organizations and the public education system. The earliest play systems, called “sand gardens” or sand boxes, appeared in the 1880s on the grounds of social service centers known as “settlement houses,” established by reformers in tenement districts. These facilities typically featured play equipment such as sandboxes and slides, as well as open space for organized games. Play areas existed at city schools thanks to a state law passed in 1895 that decreed, “Hereafter no school house shall be constructed in the City of New York without an open–air play systems attached to or used in connection with the same.” In New York, the Board of Education aimed to open at least one play systems in each school district. The first two such play systems, no longer extant, were located at 69th Street and Broadway and 95th Street and Amsterdam. These play systems were open during the school year, after school hours, and early plans included opening the facilities year–round and with buildings for winter activities. The Modern play systems The reform spirit of the play systems movement subsided after World War I, but it forever changed the perception and use of parks in America. By the 1920s, play systems and recreation had become established policies of parks departments all over the country. Under Commissioner Robert Moses, who served from 1934 to 1960, the Parks Department advanced the work of earlier reformers by greatly expanding the number of play systems in the city. During this era, space for organized play was seen as necessary for every neighborhood, and the play |
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