MacArthur Playground

E. 48 St. To E. 49 St., FDR

Manhattan

Directions via Google Maps

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

In a career that spanned four wars and five decades, General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) established himself as an important, if controversial, figure in American history. MacArthur was born on January 26, 1880, in Little Rock Barracks, Arkansas, to General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. (1845-1912), a Civil War hero, and Mary Hardy MacArthur (1852-1935). In 1903, MacArthur graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

His first tour of duty as a Second Lieutenant was in the Philippine Islands. After serving in Mexico in 1916-1917, and in France during the World War I (1914-1918), MacArthur returned to the Philippines twice in the 1920s. In 1930, President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) appointed MacArthur Chief of Staff of the Army. Following his retirement in 1935, MacArthur became a field marshal in the Philippine Army, serving until 1941.

Show Disclaimer