Harry Chapin Playground
New York, Kings County, New York
Marker Inscription
Harry Chapin Playground 0.3 acre This playground is named in honor of the singer and songwriter Harry Chapin (1942-1981). Born in New York City, Chapin grew up in Brooklyn Heights, and he and his brothers often played in this very park. Chapin studied at the Air Force Academy and at Cornell University, and later worked in theatre and film. Chapin's best-known songs include "Taxi", and "Cat's In The Cradle." Chapin worked to eliminate world hunger; his efforts included lobbying Congress on behalf of President Jimmy Carter's Commission on World Hunger. He gave more than 100 benefit concerts a year, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charitable, environmental and political causes. Chapin's life was cut short in 1981, when he was killed in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway. He was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. Harry Chapin Playground, located at Columbia Heights and Middagh street, is set in historic Brooklyn Heights. The Dutch were the first to purchase settlements in Brooklyn from the Lenape, or Canarsee, Indians, who called the area Ihpetonga. Known as Brooklyn Heights in the early 1800s, the area remained sparsely populated until 1814, when Robert Fulton's new steam ferry began to offer an easy daily commute to and from downtown Manhattan. In the 1820s large farms were divided up into lots measuring 25 x 100 feet for the construction of single family homes, and the Heights became Manhattan's first suburb. In 1965, Brooklyn Heights became the first officially documented historic district in New York City. The City of New York acquired the land for Harry Chapin Playground by condemnation in 1945. The site was named in 1986 by a local law sponsored by Council Member Abraham G. Gerges and signed into law by Mayor Edward I. Kock. On July 29, 1987, a dedication ceremony was held to rename the park Harry Chapin Playground. The site features play equipment, tot swings, safety surfacing, and benches as well as a drinking fountain, and game tables. Pin oak trees (Quercus Palustris) and American lindens (Tilia americana) grow in and around the playground. A plaque above the Middagh street entrance is dedicated to Dr. Virginia Travell Weeks (1900-1981), a pediatrician and humanitarian who served the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood.
Erected by City of New York Parks & Recreation
The Story
This small Brooklyn Heights playground honors singer-songwriter Harry Chapin (1942–1981), who grew up nearby and played in this very park before finding fame with songs like "Cat's in the Cradle." The surrounding neighborhood carries a much longer story: land the Lenape (Canarsee) knew as Ihpetonga, purchased by Dutch settlers, and transformed after Robert Fulton's steam ferry began daily runs in 1814 into what became Manhattan's first commuter suburb. In 1965 Brooklyn Heights was named New York City's first officially designated historic district.
Why it matters
It ties a beloved American musician and hunger activist to one of the nation's earliest suburbs, a place that helped invent the very idea of commuting to the city.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- South Street Seaport Museum0.6 mi away · 12 Fulton Street
- Museum of American Finance0.8 mi away
- Fraunces Tavern Museum0.9 mi away · 54 Pearl Street, New York, NY
- National Museum of the American Indian1.0 mi away · 1 Bowling Green, New York, NY
- Hall des Lumières1.0 mi away · 49 Chambers Street, New York, NY
- MĒRCER LABS1.1 mi away · 21 Dey Street
Attractions
- Kayak Brooklyn0.2 mi away
- Brooklyn Flea0.2 mi away
- Brooklyn Heights Promenade0.2 mi away
- Brooklyn Bridge0.3 mi away
- Brooklyn Heights Promenade0.4 mi away
- PIER 170.5 mi away
Food & drink
- Bluestone Lane2.2 mi away
- Maman2.2 mi away
- Yaso2.2 mi away · 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
- Krispy Pizza2.3 mi away · 33 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
- Sweetgreen2.3 mi away
- Semicolon Cafe2.3 mi away
Places to stay
- Holiday Inn Express0.7 mi away · 126 Water Street, New York, NY
- Hotel Indigo0.7 mi away · 120 Water Street, New York, NY
- The Wall Street Hotel0.7 mi away · 88 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Hyatt Centric0.7 mi away · 75 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Radisson Hotel New York Wall Street0.8 mi away · 52 William Street, New York, NY
- Wall Street Inn0.8 mi away · 9 South William Street, New York, NY
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Harry Chapin
- · Robert Fulton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building
New York, NY
Built in 1860–61 beside the Fulton Ferry landing, this red-brick Italianate building housed the offices of one of New York's earliest large-scale transit companies. By the century's end its dozen streetcar lines fanned out from the ferry terminal, carrying tens of millions of riders a year through a booming Brooklyn. After a later life as a factory, the building was converted to residences in the 1970s and folded into the Fulton Ferry Historic District.
Titanic Memorial Lighthouse
New York, NY
When the steamship Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, roughly 1,500 passengers and crew were lost in one of history's most infamous maritime disasters. This lighthouse memorial, raised in New York the following year, honored the dead and once served the city's sailors from atop the Seamen's Church Institute. Its light kept the tragedy before the harbor city that so many of the victims had been bound for.
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Manhattan Plaza
New York, NY
Opened on May 25, 1950, the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel runs beneath New York Harbor to link Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn, and at 9,170 feet was celebrated as the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in North America. Built in the era of Robert Moses's sweeping public-works program, it threaded automobile traffic under the harbor rather than over it, preserving the view from Battery Park. This plaza marks its Manhattan portal.
American Merchant Mariners' Memorial
New York, NY
This memorial stands for America's merchant mariners — the civilian sailors who crewed cargo and supply ships and whose losses lie in the unmarked depths of the sea. Merchant seamen have long borne heavy casualties, especially in wartime, when their vessels ran gauntlets of submarines and mines to keep the nation supplied. The memorial gives a place of remembrance to men who have no marked graves.