100% Playground

What was here before?

Until the late 1920s, the surrounding neighborhood was defined by impassible roads and the land was thick with trees. In August 1929, the City of New York carved out new streets and taxable lots for sale. Two of the earliest owners were the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation, which had a rail car storage lot adjacent to this site, and the City itself. Concerned that the new lots would be attractive to the growing transit company, the City purchased a parcel of land, comprising a full city block, to build a much-needed elementary school in 1931. Public School 242 opened in 1935 and was later expanded with an addition. It has been Olympus Academy High School since 2008.

How did this site become a playground?

After the school was built, the northern half of this City-owned site remained empty. In 1956 it was designated a Jointly Operated Playground (JOP) serving P.S. 242 (Leonard P. Stavinsky Early Childhood School) and the local community. Beginning in 1938, the Board of Education (now the Department of Education) agreed to provide land next to schools where NYC Parks could build and maintain playgrounds that could be used by the school during the day and by the public when school is not in session. In the intervening years, the site was a paved lot for play. A design for the playground was approved in 1961, but the playground did not officially open until 1965.

The park was renovated in 1998 and 1999 with new fencing, play equipment, frog sculptures, and a spray shower.  The existing basketball and handball courts were also improved.  The playground also features game tables and seating. In 2005 the central portion of the lot, which had been used for parking for the school, was incorporated into the playground. Play equipment and full and half basketball courts were added, as well as painted games, planting and seating.

What is this playground named for?

100% Playground, located here in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood, is a reference to its location on East 100^th Street.