Austin J. McDonald Playground

Forest Ave., Myrtle Ave., Broadway, N. Burgher Ave.

Staten Island

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

This park honors Austin J. McDonald (1892-1918), a New York City resident killed in the line of duty during World War I. Located in Staten Island on Forest Avenue in West Brighton, it is one of nine playgrounds built by the Parks Department through a war memorial fund that were simultaneously opened on July 15, 1934.

Austin J. McDonald was born in New York City, he graduated from Curtis High School in Staten Island, and then from City College in 1913. He also studied at New York University and was employed as an auditor for the Penn Coal and Oaks Company until the war. McDonald enlisted in Company E, 107th Infantry, 27th Division on April 6, 1917, and was killed in action at St. Quentin Canal, Hindenburg Line, France, on September 29, 1918, just six weeks before the armistice and the end of World War I. His body was brought back to the United States and interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

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