Murphy Brothers Playground

Ave. C, FDR Dr., E. 17 St.

Manhattan

Directions via Google Maps

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

What was here before?
The area where this park is located was once called the Gas House District, named because of gas storage tanks lining the eastern waterfront, including two giant circular gas storage tanks off Avenue C between East 15th and East 16th Streets. Although there were occasional gas leaks from the plant, the neighboring tenements were home to many arriving European immigrants looking for affordable housing. By the 1930s, most of the gas tanks were removed and the sites cleaned up. This was the beginning of the urban renewal project that razed eighteen city blocks and led to the development of nearby Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village by the late 1940s.

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