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McKinley Playground

Ave. A, E. 3 St. to E. 4 St.

Manhattan

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This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

What was here before?

This block was once occupied by tenement buildings, which were razed to construct the adjacent P.S 63, which opened in 1903. On the south side of East 3rd Street are the First Houses, which opened in 1935. These residential buildings were one of the first public housing projects built in the United States and used Works Progress Administration laborers and were funded in part by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The construction of the First Houses was also the first instance in which the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was granted the right to exercise eminent domain to seize land for public housing projects. The First Houses were designated both a New York City and National Historic Landmark in 1974.

How did this site become a playground?

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96
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