Vleigh Playground is a 2.243-acre park in

Kew Gardens Hills Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to t ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It takes its name from Head of the Vleigh Road, a colonial period path that ran along the northern boundary of the playground site. This path is presently followed by Vleigh Place and 70th Road. This road connected the town of

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

during colonial times, allowing travelers to circumvent

Flushing Meadows Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...

, then an impassible swamp. Its name is derived from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word nl, vlaie, label=none (also spelled nl, vlie, label=none, meaning "swamp" or "valley") in reference to

. Prior to the mid-20th century, much of Kew Gardens Hills was farmland owned by the Campbell, Jackson and Miller families. In the early 20th century, some of the farms were purchased by the Arrowbrook and Pomonok golf clubs that capitalized on the hilly terrain and scenic views. With the extension of the

Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND or ISS), formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOSS) or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (ICORTR), was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of th ...

's Queens Boulevard line to

Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station The Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station (signed as Union Turnpike–Kew Gardens station on overhead and entrance signs) is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Union Turnpike and Queens ...

in 1936, which promised a 20-minute ride into

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Kew Gardens Hills became more attractive to developers. Entrepreneur Abraham Wolosoff purchased land in the area hoping to use its hills and rural setting to attract residents. The developer gave the neighborhood its current name, Kew Gardens Hills, after the nearby

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...

neighborhood. With residential construction increasing following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, there was demand for a new school in Kew Gardens Hills. Recognizing the quickening loss of open space, the City’s

Board of Estimate A board of estimate is a governing body, particularly in the United States. Typically, the board's membership will consist of a combination of elected officials from the executive branch (e.g., the mayor or county executive) and the legislative br ...

voted to acquire this remaining undeveloped parcel for a school and playground. The city acquired the land for this playground in 1949 through condemnation. It opened in on January 15, 1952 as the PS 165 Playground. The adjacent school, PS 165 is co-named after Edith K. Bergtraum (1918-1994) a teacher and member of the New York City Commission on the Status of Women. Her husband Murry Bergtraum. Murry Bergtraum served as president of the New York City Board of Education from 1969 until his death in 1973. The co-naming was sponsored by Rep. Gary Ackerman in 1995. Surrounded by the apartment complexes of Dara Gardens, Georgetown Mews and Pomonok Houses, the Vleigh Playground offers much needed playing space for the neighborhood’s children.

References

External links

Vleigh Playground
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New York City Department of Parks & Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

{{coord, 40.729407, -73.817060, display=title Parks in Queens, New York Robert Moses projects Kew Gardens Hills, Queens