Poor Richard's Playground

What was here before?
This land was once part of Harlem Creek and its surrounding marshland. Captain Johannes Benson settled in Nieuw Haarlem in 1696 and for two centuries his heirs owned large portions of Harlem and East Harlem, including this property. His descendant, Sampson Adolphus Benson owned a farm that encompassed this site until the early 19th century.

As the city expanded northward, the creek, which had been critical to farmers for centuries, was filled in. Traces of it vanished at by the turn of the 20th century with the construction of transit lines and subsequent population growth.

By the 1940s, the East Harlem community was a mix of working-class residences and commercial enterprises. Four-story brick buildings lined East 108th Street and the businesses along Third Avenue included Banner Furniture store, a real estate office, print shop, delicatessen, paint shop, and an undertaker.

How did this site become a playground?
In 1954 the New York City Housing Authority submitted a plan for the Benjamin Franklin Houses, a neighboring school and playground. The plan included acquiring the properties between E. 106th and E. 109th Streets, Second and Third Avenues, relocating existing residents, and clearing the "substandard and insanitary area" for the new development.

In 1956 the City acquired the property, and an additional .57-acre parcel in 1959 at the corner of East 109th Street and Third Avenue, for recreational purposes. The site opened in 1960 as P.S. 117 Playground, named after the adjacent school, with facilities for handball, basketball, volleyball, baseball, roller skating, and shuffleboard as well as benches, game tables, a restroom, and play equipment for younger children.

The playground was renovated in 1981 and renamed Benjamin Franklin Playground in 1985. It was renovated again in the mid-1990s and renamed Poor Richard's Playground. In 2023 a new, welcoming entrance was added to the playground's northwest corner. Upgraded play equipment, swings, spray shower, seating, game tables, and plantings were also added.

This playground is a Jointly Operated Playground (JOP) serving the Luis Munoz Rivera Education Complex 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.

Who is this playground named for?
This playground bears the name of one of Franklin's most beloved aliases, Poor Richard Saunders. Born in Boston, Franklin (1706-1790) apprenticed with his brother in the printing trade. In 1723 Franklin moved to Philadelphia, and launched the Pennsylvania Gazette, soon the most popular newspaper in the colonies. One of Philadelphia's leading citizens, Franklin founded the first circulating library, proposed an Academy (which became the University of Pennsylvania), established the American Philosophical Society, and created programs to pave, light, and clean the city streets. He invented the efficient "Franklin Stove" and experimented with a kite in a thunderstorm, proving the presence of electricity in lightning.

From 1733 to 1758, Franklin published Poor Richard's Almanac under the alias Richard Saunders. The Almanac was widely read in the American colonies and prized for its witty aphorisms, such as "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,"

Franklin began his political career as clerk of the General Assembly in 1736 and was elected to the Assembly the next year. He served as Postmaster in Philadelphia (1737-53) and as Postmaster General for the colonies (1753-74). Franklin proposed a union of the colonies and served as agent for several colonies in England. He returned to America in 1775 and was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. In 1776 he helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution, Franklin established the American alliance with France and in 1781 was appointed a commissioner to negotiate peace with Britain. Returning to Philadelphia in 1785 he served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Though a slave holder himself earlier in his life, his last public act before his death was to issue a petition to Congress urging the abolition of slavery.