Mill Brook Playground
This playground, bordering on the Bronx neighborhoods of Mott Haven and Port Morris, 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 eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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 plight of the indigent and to revitalize the area. In a letter to the City Planning Commission, he also argued for the community’s concern for “the lack of park and playground facilities in the area.”Â
In 1954 the City acquired land for the housing project and assigned Parks 1.5 acres to build a playground on the site. In May 1959 Mill Brook Playground opened. In 1987, the playground underwent an extensive $728,000 renovation including the planting of 16 additional trees. In 2007, Council member Viverito allocated $1.425 million in funds for a reconstruction of the playground, including a spray shower area, fitness unit, a synthetic turf play area, decorative pavements, a climbing structure, swings, other playground equipment and landscaping.
Directions to Millbrook Playground
Millbrook Playground Weather