Millbrook Playground

Mill Brook Playground

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

What was here before?

Four- and five-story apartment buildings formerly lined the property, with Public School 29 capping the block on Cypress Avenue. In 1937 the residences on the south side of East 135th Street were demolished to make way for the Triborough Bridge onramp, but the buildings on the north side survived until they were razed to develop the Mill Brook Houses which opened in 1959

How did this site become a playground?

In January 1952, Ira S. Robbins, Executive Vice President of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Council, recommended the construction of a housing project in the Bronx both to assist the impoverished and to revitalize the area. In a letter to the City Planning Commission, he stated the project would “remove some of the worst slum blocks in the borough”, and also argued the community’s concern “with the lack of park and playground facilities in the area.”

In 1954 the City acquired land for the housing project and assigned NYC Parks 1.5 acres to build a playground, which opened in May 1959. The playground was renovated in 1987 and 2007. The site features a spray shower area, fitness unit, a synthetic turf play area, decorative pavements, a climbing structure, swings, other playground equipment and landscaping.

Who is this playground named for?

This playground is named, like the nearby Mill Brook Houses, after the stream that once flowed through the area from the North Bronx and emptied into the Bronx Kill. Mill Brook, also known as Saw Mill Creek, provided water that transported goods and powered many saw mills in the Bronx during the 18th and 19th centuries.