In 2011, a park opened in the neighborhood of Annadale. For years, the land taken up by the park, as well as surrounding land, had been undeveloped. By the end of the 1960s, after the housing boom, one house was built on 
the property of the current park. This house was demolished just a few years later, however. Up until 2010, the land was left to its own devices and a gate protected the wildlife within.
In the middle of February of 2010, construction began on the parcel of land. Construction was completed in April of 2011. By the end of July of 2011, the park opened as Drumgoole Tot Lot. Drumgoole Tot Lot is located to the west of the Korean War Veterans Parkway. It is bounded to the north by Grantwood Avenue, to the south by Carlton Boulevard, to the west by Rathbun Ave., and to the east by Drumgoole Road West.
Drumgoole Tot Lot was appropriately named not for its neighboring street, but for the man whom that street was named after: Father John C. Drumgoole. Father Drumgoole was an advocate for needy children. He was the chaplain of St. Vincent's Home for Homeless Boys of All Operations, which was established in 1870 in Manhattan. Once the site
 proved to be too small, Father Drumgoole founded Mount Loretto on Staten Island in 1882, which became the largest institution in the United States to care for children.
The triangular Drumgoole Tot Lot provides play equipment for all children between the ages of two and five. The play equipment was specially-designed so that children with disabilities could also have access to them. Aside from the play equipment, Drumgoole Tot Lot has a picnic table and a number of benches scattered throughout the park.
Posted by Anthony Licciardello on
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