Law History

Around the turn of the 20th century, an offshoot of the women's suffrage movement called the Mothers' and Children's Movement was active in promoting health, recreation, and welfare of children. The movement was responsible for a number of state-level policies protecting children in the labor force, and supporting construction of playgrounds and parks for their benefit.

In New York City, the first park was Seward Park on the lower east side of Manhattan. It was also the first municipally built playground in the United States. Named for New York Senator William Henry Seward, who became Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State, the park was first built on a parcel of condemned land with the help of private funds from the Outdoor Recreation league.

Seward Park opened in 1903 and featured a running track encircling a play area. A cinder block recreation pavilion and play equipment made this park a model for playground architecture.

It was in the 1930s, during the Great Depression that the number of playgrounds grew. The point of building all the playgrounds was to get children away from the streets. It was not that they were misbehaving. The problem was that they were being run over fairly regularly by wagons, trucks, and cars. These playgrounds were the classic swings/slides/see-saws/sandbox playgrounds that were built on asphalt with little or no shade. They were quite sturdy, but not very safe.

By the 1960s, the Depression-era playgrounds were falling into disrepair. Once again, mothers came to the rescue. The big catch phrase for 60s-era playgrounds was "adventure playgrounds." These recreational facilities featured rope ladders, pyramids, and many other types of climbing apparatus. These playgrounds were often designed by architects and they were very beautiful urban spaces. Unfortunately they still lacked safety.

During the 1970s and early 80s, playgrounds across America went into decline. Years of neglect made playgrounds unattractive and not very inviting. It was not until the early 1980s that playgrounds began receiving more attention. The new 80s playgrounds featured modular play units, decks, bridges, slides, and - importantly - higher safety standards.

Playgrounds continued to improve into the 1990s. Designers began appreciating the necessity of shade in playgrounds, and ground vegetation added to their beauty. Water features such as spray showers made their debut during this time. The playgrounds of the 90s were good, better by far than previous generations, but parents and children believed they could be even better.

That brings us to the 21st. The newest playgrounds feature less fixed equipment. But they also feature additions of structures like banked boardwalks around the outer perimeter for kids to run on, water features, and equipment that encourage open-ended play. Enormous rubber balls, ships masts, pulleys, artificial streams and water structures with locks and material to create temporary diversions and dams are rapidly becoming popular features of the modern playground. Safety is a top concern. Now there are numerous options for safe playground surfacing that is friendly to wheelchairs, allowing able-bodied children to play right alongside everyone else.

The latest news in American parks and playgrounds is the new economic stimulus package signed into law in February. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides significant funding opportunities for parks and recreation infrastructure through competitive grant programs complementing community development block grants. Money will also be set aside to clean up "brownfields," which are hazardous or derelict commercial sites, and these clean-ups will likely benefit parks and recreation departments as well.

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