Edenwald Playground

What was here before?
From 1900 to 1913, John H. Eden owned a north central Bronx estate called Edenwald, which in German means ‘Eden’s Forest.’ Some time after Eden sold the estate, it became a Hebrew Orphan Asylum (HOA) for children with disabilities. The grounds had a swimming pool, green house, farming area and classroom to advance their education. Edenwald became the standard for education for individuals with disabilities at other HOAs.

How did this site become a playground?
The City acquired this land by condemnation in 1950, to build the 2,036-unit housing project, Edenwald Houses, for approximately 6,000 residents. The playground was constructed in 1954 with a softball field, a wading pool, and handball, shuffleboard and basketball courts.

The playground was reconstructed in 1995 and 2010 which reimagined the site as a greener space with new state-of-art play equipment, a youth rock climbing wall, swings, toddler play equipment and swing area, and a custom spray shower with boulders. The playground and public restroom feature ADA accessibility

In 2024, the basketball courts were updated, and a new inground pool was installed.

Who is this playground named for?
This playground, like the adjacent housing project, street, and neighborhood, takes its name from the Edenwald Estate, which stood near Boston Road, Light Street and Conner Street.

Schieffelin Avenue, which runs adjacent to this playground, honors the Bronx family that owned land in Edenwald, near Eastchester Road. Eugene Schieffelin, a wealthy drug manufacturer and theatre aficionado, brought European starlings to New York City as part of his attempt to introduce every bird mentioned the works of Shakespeare into the United States. Shakespeare’s sole reference to the European starling appears in King Henry IV, “Nay, I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but ‘Mortimer.’”

Schieffelin did not manage to introduce Shakespeare’s other birds into the United States, but he brought 80 of the birds into Central Park in 1880 and another 40 the following year. By 1950, an estimated 140 million starlings had made their way into every state of America and every province of Canada.