Equity Park was the 250th playground built in New York City
under the direction of Parks Commissioner Robert Moses
(1888-1981). Throughout his tenure in office, Moses opened as
many as 15 playgrounds in a day, increasing the number of such
spaces in the city from 119 to 777. This prolific expansion
began with 71 new playgrounds opening in 1935, with 72 more
constructed in 1936 and 52 in 1937. Of the 119 playgrounds in
existence before Moses became Parks Commissioner in 1932, only
four were in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two in Harlem,
and thirty-two in the entire borough of Brooklyn, an average of
one playground for every 14,000 children living in New York
City. In addition to building new playgrounds, Moses increased
the quality of many of the existing sites, since many in
existence before his administration were poorly equipped and not
surfaced. Equipment was so scarce that some children had to wait
in line to play in many of the city’s sandboxes. By 1934 Moses
had resurfaced every playground in the c