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Playground Seventy Five

1954 establishments in New York CityFresh Meadows, QueensParks in Queens, New York

Playground Seventy Five is a public park located on 160th Street and 75th Avenue in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Queens, New York. It was acquired by the New York City government in 1929 as part of land condemnations for the construction of Public School 154. The undeveloped section of the block was reserved as a schoolyard and developed as a playground in 1954. The playground was named after 75th Avenue, a historical thoroughfare known as Quarrelsome Lane that dates to the 19th century when the surrounding landscape consisted of farmland. In 1911, Queens Borough President Maurice E. Connolly directed the borough's Topographical Bureau to design a numbered grid system to connect road segments across Queens and eliminate duplicate names. Quarrelsome Lane became 75th Avenue and nearby Black Stump Road, named after the stumps that delineated farm boundaries, became 73rd Avenue.The section of Fresh Meadows surrounding this playground was historically known as Flushing Suburban was developed in the 1920s and experienced an influx of African Americans in the 1950s. In contrast to many other racially changing neighborhoods, Flushing Suburban maintained its diversity throughout the following decades. Following the 1964 expansion of the Public School 154, the remaining portion of the playground was jointly operated by Parks and the Board of Education.Through the efforts of Flushing Suburban Civic Association, residents participated in the civil rights movement by protesting instances of discrimination in Queens while also traveling to the South to promote voter registration. Since 1990, the group organized volunteer cleanups of Playground 75, along with sports programs in partnership with P.S. 154 and other neighborhood schools.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Playground Seventy Five (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Playground Seventy Five
75th Road, New York Queens

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Latitude Longitude
N 40.726292 ° E -73.808272 °
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75th Road 160-10
11366 New York, Queens
New York, United States
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Vleigh Playground

Vleigh Playground is a 2.243-acre park in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York City. 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 to Brooklyn during colonial times, allowing travelers to circumvent Flushing Meadows, then an impassible swamp. Its name is derived from the Dutch word vlaie (also spelled vlie, meaning "swamp" or "valley") in reference to Flushing Meadows. 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's Queens Boulevard line to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station in 1936, which promised a 20-minute ride into Manhattan, 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 neighborhood. With residential construction increasing following the Second World War, there was demand for a new school in Kew Gardens Hills. Recognizing the quickening loss of open space, the City’s Board of Estimate 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.