I-Am-Park

What was here before?
This site was once part of the estate of Jonas Bronck (1600-43), for whom the Bronx is named. The land was later held by the family of Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), one of the authors of the U.S. Constitution. After 1857, the area was known as “Janes’ Hill” for owner Adrian Janes of Janes, Kirtland & Co. Iron Works, which manufactured bridges for Central Park, railings for the Brooklyn Bridge, and the dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. 

This site was later occupied by residential buildings as early as 1870 through the 1940s. 

How did this site become a park?
In 1963 this land was acquired by the city as an addition to JHS 155 located across Jackson Avenue. Originally named JHS 155 Playground when it opened in 1971, it was renamed Jackson Playground in 1987 after the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) and namesake for adjacent Jackson Avenue.

This playground is a Jointly Operated Playground (JOP) serving JHS 155 (now x754 JM Rapport School for Career Development and the Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies) and the local community. Beginning in 1938, the Board of Education (now the Department of Education) agreed to provide land next to schools where NYC Parks could build and maintain playgrounds that could be used by the school during the day and by the public when school is not in session.

From 1971 to 2015, the park was defined by a unique wall structure along Jackson Avenue, built by Roulf Myller and Associates in 1970. The stepped retaining wall was topped by a series of large geometrically shaped concrete slabs, some with cut-outs. The words “I AM” were painted on this exterior wall as part of the original design.

The decorative wall was removed when the park was renovated in 2015. Originally envisioned as a schoolyard and eastern entrance to the expansive St. Mary’s Park, the park today contains a basketball court as well as an entrance that leads to St. Mary’s Park.