On the North Shore of Staten Island, at the northeastern corner of Broadway and Forest Avenue, you can find a McDonald's fast food restaurant. Behind this fast food restaurant, to the northeast, you can find McDonald Playground, whose northern boundary is Myrtle Avenue. It may be hard to believe, but it is actually by mere coincidence that the McDonald's fast food restaurant and McDonald Playground are located right next to each other, as neither of the two facilities were named due to the location of the other one.
McDonald Playground was opened on July 15, 1934. It was named in honor of Austin J. McDonald, a resident of New York City who had attended the nearby Curtis High School. McDonald entered the First World War in 1917 and was killed in action the following year. McDonald Playground was created due to a War Memorial Fund which could only be used by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation if the park was to be
 dedicated as a war memorial.
When it had first opened, McDonald Playground included a wading pool, play equipment, and a field house with a recreation hall. A flagpole was also erected within the park with a tablet to honor the fallen soldier. Today, there are still many great recreational facilities within the park. The field house, which was renovated in 1985, still stands. In addition to this, you can also find basketball courts, game tables, handball courts, play equipment, a softball field, and spray showers.Â
Posted by Anthony Licciardello on
In the 1950s and 1960s McDonald playground was my second home . To this very day I have lifelong friends from law great days of playing stickball , basketball , Touch tackle and any other sport you can think of from horse shoes to Ping pong . West Brighton and McDonald playground will always be in my heart .
Posted by Robert A on Monday, May 8th, 2017 at 5:24pmLeave A Comment