Seth Low Playground is a five-acre park located in the

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...

neighborhood of Brooklyn. The park is named after

Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of t ...

, a former mayor of New York City and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. The City acquired this playground in 1924 as a park. Prior to this, it was the site of Indian Pond, a historical watering hole and ice skating location near the border of the former towns of

New Utrecht New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York Cit ...

and Gravesend. The park is bounded by

Stillwell Avenue Stillwell Avenue is a major two-way north/south thoroughfare in southern Brooklyn and the central section of Coney Island. It is long and begins at a dead end at Riegelmann Boardwalk on Coney Island. The road goes north, leaving Coney Island, ...

, Bay Parkway, West 12th Street and Avenue P. In 1896, the pond was filled with ash from a trash incinerator, covering it entirely. The smaller part of this park carries the name Bealin Square. The namesake, Sgt. James J. Bealin was the first Bensonhurst resident killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The local American Legion Post also carried his name and lobbied for the Bealin Square designation. The square was named on July 5, 1927. Within this square, the Legion dedicated four trees to local veterans killed in combat: Flight Officer Abraham Elhal (KIA 1944), Sgt. James J. Bealin, Flight Officer Arthur J. Vogel and Lt. Walter V. Sigberman. In 1946, the Parks Department listed the park as a venue for ice skating on a "flooded area", one of ten such improvised skating rinks in Brooklyn. The park was called Seth Low Playground by people in the neighborhood, but was only officially designated as such by the city of New York in 1987. The adjacent square was given the same name at that time also. The park is located one block north of the western terminus of Kings Highway, a historical road that traverses Brooklyn. A major renovation, the first since 1995, was announced in 2013 and the last phase of the three-phase $4 million renovation of the playground was completed in October of 2017. Just to name a few examples, areas such as the basketball courts were renovated, while the asphalt baseball field was converted into a turf soccer and multipurpose field.

References

External links

Seth Low Playground / "Bealin Square" ''New York City Department of Parks & Recreation''

Kadinsky, Sergey "Indian Pond, Brooklyn" ''Hidden Waters Blog'' January 6, 2016
{{coord, 40.608083, -73.986323, display=title Parks in Brooklyn

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External links