Mathews-Palmer Playground

What was here before?
This site was occupied by several four- and five-story buildings for several decades, including a carpet cleaning business on West 45th Street. A saloon liquor license was issued for a property on this site on West 46th Street in 1895, assigned to Bernheimer & Schmid Brewery.

How did this site become a playground?
The City of New York acquired this mid-block vest pocket park in several land transactions between 1936 and 1938. It opened to the public as 45th Street Playground in 1937, and the park house was completed later that year. The park was informally called West Side Playground and renamed twice: May Matthews Playground in 1977 and Mathews-Palmer Playground in 2007.

In 1972 artist Arnold Belkin painted a large-scale mural titled Against Domestic Colonialism on an adjacent building. A park renovation in 1977 included sand-cast panels and ceramic tiles made by local children and seniors. Neighboring buildings abutting the playground feature a mural created by students of P.S. 17 in 1991 as well as a series of panels displaying the names of several generations of playground users.

In 1988, singer Paul Simon filmed a music video for his 1972 hit song “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” in this park. A 1959 murder here later inspired Simon to write a musical called The Capeman in 1998.

The playground was fully renovated in 1997. In 2017 the parkhouse roof was replaced and a year later the playground received new play equipment, an adult fitness area, improved entrances, and basketball courts. The park’s new design includes a stage that references the theaters in the neighborhood and a locomotive play feature evokes a former play element that was removed during the reconstruction. A new ramp and a sweep of step-seating merged the park’s fragmented levels and improved the overall flow of the park.

Who is this playground named for?
This park has dual namesakes, social worker May Mathews (1887-1974) and local resident Alexandra Palmer (1934-2003).

Born in Paterson, New Jersey, May Mathews moved to New York City after graduating from Wellesley College in 1902. She worked at the Friendly House settlement in Brooklyn while studying at the New York School of Philanthropy (now Columbia School of Social Work), where she earned a certificate in 1904. She moved to Hartley House, a settlement house located on West 46th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, in 1903.

Mathews took over the management of Hartley House in 1904 and was head social worker until 1954. She focused her efforts on services for New York City’s newly arrived European immigrants, including language, citizenship and housekeeping classes, social clubs, and worker education groups. Mathews also campaigned for stricter child labor laws and hot lunches in public schools. In 1977, at the recommendation of the West 46th Street Block Association, the City renamed the playground in her honor.

Alexandra Palmer, the playground’s second namesake, was a longtime resident of West 46th Street who was deeply involved in the maintenance and restoration of the park. She worked with an urban planning group in the 1970s to transform the park into a community destination.

Palmer was instrumental in naming the park after May Mathews in the 1970s by running a contest. Between 1980 and 1990, she opened and locked the park each morning and evening, cleaned up the park, and served as a neighborhood liaison to Parks. She died in 2003, and her name was bestowed on the park in 2007.