Forest Park

This playground honors Lawrence G. Linekin (1931-1996) a local community activist who created the Friends of Forest Park in 1976 and served as its chairman until 1990.

Dedicated to improving the lives of his family, friends, and neighbors, Linekin participated in a vast range of community groups. He served on the Board of the Parks Council of New York City, as Vice President of P.S. 113 Parents Association, as President of the Home School Association of the Scared Heart School, and numerous other civic organizations. Linekin’s political career included running as a Republican for the New York State Assembly in 1970 and for the New York City Council in 1981.

Of all Linekin’s achievements and contributions to his community, none outweighs what he did for Forest Park and especially this playground. In 1976 Lineken choose not to let the City’s budget crisis harm his beloved park. Confident that the community could come together to combat this problem, he initiated the formation of the Friends of Forest Park. With the goal of beautifying the park, he helped plant flowers here and coordinated the painting of a mural on the exterior of the park house. In 1979 Parks & Recreation planted an evergreen tree near the playground where Linekin started an annual community tree lighting ceremony that continued ever since. In 1999 Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern dedicated that tree in Lineken’s name.

This facility, which stands in Forest Park near the corner of Myrtle Avenue and 80th Street, opened in 1934 as Dry Harbor Playground in recognition of the neighborhood’s historic name. An 18th century observer, looking from Cooper Avenue across the valley to Forest Park, thought the houses sitting atop the crests of trees and hills looked like a harbor with no water. In 1869 residents renamed the area Glendale, but left Dry Harbor Road as a reminder of the past.

A 1983 renovation brought new basketball courts, benches, a wading pool with a spray shower, shuffleboard, a jungle gym, slides with safety surfacing, drinking fountains, horseshoe courts, a flagpole with a yardarm, boccie ball courts, timberform play equipment, and a baseball field. In 2004 Commissioner Benepe renamed this site Lawrence Linekin Children’s Playground, in honor of the man who dedicated himself to this park and his community.