Gerard P. Dugan Playground

What was here before?
Originally home to the Lenape, this property was owned by farmer John B. Cole, Sr. by the early 1800s. Cole was a distant relative of one of Staten Island’s earliest residents of European descent, Abraham Cole, who owned land there by 1695. 
 
In 1853, this plot is noted on a map filed with the Clerk of Richmond County named “Map of Eighteen Beautiful Building Plots Containing 4 to 6 acres each…situated on the lower Bay, five minutes walk from the steamboat landing at Cedar Grove and four miles from Vanderbilt Landing.” By 1874, the property was owned by David J. Tysen, a farmer, businessman, and realtor who accumulated over 1,600 acres on the island. The New York Times declared Tysen “the city’s biggest land owner”. He also owned a lucrative tin shop and canning factory in New Dorp that canned the fruits and vegetables grown on his farms. An assessment of the surrounding property in 1897 described “a small frame building, farm house, one small hotel, [and] one church.” 

How did this site become a park?
The City purchased this parcel in 1931 from Francis T. Tysen and the executors of David J. Tysen’s estate and assigned it to NYC Parks for playground purposes. The park opened the same year, the eighth municipal playground built by NYC Parks on the island. The surrounding area remained largely undeveloped to the south, with some residential development northeast of the park in New Dorp.

In 1974 the playground, previously known as Isernia Avenue Playground, was renovated and renamed for Gerard P. Dugan under a local law. It was redesigned in 1997 with new shrubbery, play equipment, paths, plantings, and accessibility for children of all abilities. 

In 2023, the edge of Dugan Playground along Mill Road was softened by removing retaining walls and creating a sloping lawn. New features, including new play equipment and swing sets, spray showers, ADA accessible seating areas, and game tables, were also installed. 

Who is this park named for?
Gerard P. Dugan (1905-1973) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He served in the Marine Corps from 1923 to 1927. Dugan moved to Staten Island in 1935, where he became a dedicated community activist. He worked as a foreman for the Bethlehem Steel Company at the former Mariner’s Harbor shipyard until he retired in 1967. 

Dugan helped organize the Oakwood Beach Resident Committee. He also served as President of the Oakwood Civic Association and as Chairman of the Hurricane Protection Committee. In 1973 Dugan received the Richmond County Borough President Award as well as the Achievement Award from the Civic Congress of Staten Island, where he served as a delegate.