St. Michael's Playground

What was here before?
This property was part of Newtown, one of the earliest European settlements (established in 1651) in what is now Queens, and it remained rural for the next couple of centuries. Established in 1852, the nearby St. Michael’s Cemetery is one of more than twenty cemeteries in Queens that came about after the State Rural Cemeteries Act (1847), which encouraged cemetery placement in the city’s suburbs.  

During the mid-nineteenth century, this plot of land was part of Catherine Wyckoff’s estate. While adjacent neighborhoods continued to expand streets and erect residential and small commercial buildings, this site remained largely undeveloped.    

How did this site become a playground?
The land for the park was acquired by the City of New York in 1941 through condemnation for the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE).  The highway’s construction led to the development of ten park properties in Queens, with St. Michael’s Playground being the largest.  

The site was vacant until 1946 when plans were made to lay out the property as a park and develop it with playground facilities.  Two years later it opened with a baseball field and spectator stands, handball, tennis, and basketball courts, a wading pool, swings, slides, and a “sand pit diggery” for small children. At the time, it provided recreational services to the residents across the street at the Northern Boulevard Emergency Housing Project, which provided emergency temporary housing for veterans after World War II.  

In 1994, the playground was reconstructed. A new synthetic turf field was installed in 2024 and the playground was redesigned with expanded play areas with new equipment, a water play plaza, and a new pickleball court shortly after.  

Who is this playground named for?
The park takes its name from the nearby parish church and cemetery, named for the archangel Michael who figures prominently in Judaism, Islam, as well as Christianity. He is often portrayed as a warrior or protector wearing a coat of mail and carrying a shield, sword, or spear.