CPL. Thompson Park

This park, located at Broadway and Henderson Avenues in the neighborhood of West Brighton on Staten Island, is named for Staten Island resident and nearby PS 18 graduate Cpl. Lawrence C. Thompson, who was killed in Vietnam in 1967 at the age of 20.

The park sits on the former site of a factory for New-York Dyeing and Printing (1819), the first factory in the area, which came to be known as Factoryville. A portion of the property comprised of Factory Pond, which used water from a dammed creek for the factory’s operations. The pond was filled at the turn of the 20th century and in 1932, the dyeing factory ceased operations. Seeking to improve their neighborhood’s reputation, residents began referring to Factoryville as West Brighton after the more upscale New Brighton neighborhood to their east.

A portion of the former pond’s site was developed in 1962 as New Brighton Houses. The neighborhood had become more densely populated, and several new schools and housing projects having been built. 

The housing projects in the area offered only limited play areas, so Parks moved to acquire the former factory site, at the time the last significant undeveloped site in New Brighton.  Part of it was used as a makeshift baseball field for neighborhood youth. The site was acquired by the City in 1968 but construction was not completed nearly a decade later as a result of fiscal hardship experienced by the City.  Facilities include a pool, play areas, and ball fields.

In 1972 the park was named for Lawrence Thompson, the first African-American from Staten Island to be killed in the Vietnam War.  Corporal Thompson enlisted in the Marine Corps and served with the honor guard in Vietnam.  Refusing a medical discharge for a foot ailment, Thompson re-enlisted for a second tour of duty and was killed in action in Quang Nam on June 10, 1967.

An oak play sculpture, Broadway Starship, by local artist Elizabeth Egbert was placed at the site in 1985 and removed in 2000.  In 1996 Parks teamed with the West Brighton Local Development Corporation to perform a renovation to the site that added a jogging track and playground, as well as new landscaping, benches, and pavement. A plaque commemorating Corporal Thompson was installed on a boulder in the park in 2015. At the unveiling ceremony, local community leaders were joined by members of the Staten Island Veterans Organization, Staten Island Marine Corps League, 369th Veterans Association, and Catholic War Veterans, all representing the borough’s proud veteran population.