Davidson Playground

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

What was here before?

University Heights, the Bronx neighborhood in which this playground is located, is named for University of the City of New-York (now known as New York University), which occupied the 50-acre University Heights campus located at 180th Street between Sedgwick and University Avenues.

NYU’s move to the Bronx occurred in 1894, when Chancellor Mitchell MacCracken moved its operations and the undergraduate College of the Arts and Sciences from Greenwich Village to University Heights.

When NYU sold the University Heights campus, the arts and sciences division known as University College (1832), merged with Washington Square College (1914) in Greenwich Village. In 1973, NYU sold the land to the City University of New York (CUNY) in an effort to mitigate financial difficulties that began in the 1960s. Located a few blocks West of Davidson Playground, the Bronx Community College (1957) now occupies the campus.

How did this site become a playground?

This site was previously occupied by Davidson Avenue Community Garden, under the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. With community support, the property was transferred to NYC Parks in 1999 to be developed as a playground. The playground opened in 2000 and was renamed Davidson Playground.

Who is this playground named for?

This playground and adjacent avenue are named for Colonel Mathias Oliver Davidson (1819-1872), Chief Engineer of Streets from 1867 to 1872 and a Fordham landowner.

Davidson was born in Plattsburgh, New York and attended Plattsburg Academy in 1832. He married Harriet Standish in 1846 at Trinity Church in Plattsburgh and in 1848 moved to Cumberland, Maryland to manage the Cumberland coal mine. Attracted by the Gold Rush, Davidson went to Arizona where he found $50,000 worth of gold in 1850. Davidson was accepted into the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1854. He managed various projects in Cuba and the American Southwest until he settled in the Bronx in 1867. On a map from 1868, his property was bound by Kingsbridge Road, Davidson Avenue, West 190th Street, and the Veterans Hospital grounds. He died in 1872 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.