Russell Sage Playground

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, November 9, 2004

RUSSELL SAGE PLAYGROUND GETS REVAMPED; NEIGHBORHOOD KIDS GET BOISTEROUS NEW PLAY EQUIPMENT

On the morning of Friday, November 5, Parks & Recreation Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski and Council Member Melinda R. Katz cut the ribbon on the reconstruction of Russell Sage Playground.

Two play areas that had previously stood separately were joined, and Russell Sage was endowed with bright new play equipment, swings, and a spray shower. Parks & Recreation also landscaped the site with new trees and shrubs, and installed new pavement, curbs, walls, fences, benches, water and drainage fixtures. The project cost $1.4 million and was funded by the City Council. Frank Strauch was the Landscape Architect on the project, and Jean-Louis Missael was the Resident Engineer.

"This was my first ribbon cutting as the Queens Parks Commissioner," said Commissioner Lewandowski. "I am pleased to be part of a team that is creating wonderful spaces for children to play safely."

Russell Sage Playground, located in Queens on Booth Street between 68^th Avenue and Pedestrian Way, was named after Russell Sage (1816-1906), a financier and railroad tycoon who left a philanthropic legacy. He began as a clerk in his brother’s grocery store in Troy, New York, and in 1839 opened his own wholesale grocery business. Through mergers and stock manipulation, Sage controlled 15,000 miles of railways by 1883, including the entire New York City elevated system.

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.
Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
Dark like me—
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening . . .
A tall, slim tree . . .
Night coming tenderly
Black like me.

"Dream Variations"
Langston Hughes