PARK FACT:
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Parham Playground
Adelphi St, Clermont, Dekalb, Willoughby Aves
Brooklyn
Acres: 1.25
Located south of Willoughby Avenue between Adelphi Street and Clermont Avenue, and adjacent to Clinton Hill Elementary School, this playground is named for Albert Lysander Parham (1914-1990). Mr. Parham generously left Parks $263,700 to fund the extensive renovations made here in 1990. Born on May 11, 1914, Parham was a lifelong Brooklyn resident. A beloved local philanthropist, he provided the funding that made possible the community garden known as Albert’s Garden in Manhattan. Albert Parham died on March 29, 1990, leaving a legacy of improved parkland that generations of children will enjoy.
Parham Playground lies in the historic neighborhood of Clinton Hill. The English purchased the Clinton Hill from the Dutch in the 1600s. The neighborhood, which occupies one of the highest areas in Brooklyn, is named for DeWitt Clinton (1769-1828), former New York City mayor, governor, state senator, and a one-time presidential candidate. Clinton Hill began as a rural retreat in the 1860s. The bucolic character of the area was quickly lost, however, as developers scrambled to build row houses that came to line almost every street. Some remain today, along with the mansions of some of Brooklyn’s most affluent industrialists. Clinton Hill is also known for the Pratt Institute, an industrial and art school that Charles Pratt founded in 1887.
In 1949, the Board of Estimate acquired this property, then occupied by a housing complex. The site was cleared of decaying buildings later that year and the playground opened in 1954, jointly operated by Parks and the Board of Education. Formerly known as Clinton Hill Playground, the park was renamed Albert Lysander Parham Playground by a local law in 1991. The park was renovated in 1985, 1990, and 1996. The Board of Education funded the most recent renovation, which cost $14,000. This project involved the installation of new basketball and handball courts, benches, a sandbox, tot equipment, and fencing. A comfort station mural, entitled “Unity Thru Murals,” was painted by Bryan Collier, Siriboa Monro, David Kenneth, and Cornelius Morrison, and features a neighborhood map depicting people of different races living in harmony. With its mini-pool, extensive climbing equipment, sprinkler showers, tot equipment, and picnic benches, Parham Playground offers recreational amenities to everyone from agile little children to their grandparents, who can rest in the shade of towering oak trees.
