PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT

PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT. As an answer to crowded cities and long work days, the playground movement attempted to save children from unhealthy crowded neighborhoods. The movement began with "sand gardens" in Boston in 1885. The following year two more sand piles, known as sand gardens, were added to church yards. By 1887 there were ten sand gardens with matrons paid to supervise. Tools for digging and blocks for building were provided. Twelve years later in 1899, there were twenty-one sand gardens in Boston; twenty were located in school yards. (1)

By 1900 reformers realized that play and playgrounds had educational value. In the neighborhoods with a supervised playground, children appeared to be more attentive in classes, physical health increased, and truancy and bad behavior decreased. These positive results encouraged the involvement of schools in creating play spaces. (2)

Beginning in 1905, playgrounds included recreation for all ages. Social, aesthetic, and civic activities were added such as dances, musical programs, dramatics, public forums, and elections. In 1906 the Playground Association of America was formed. This evolved into the Playground and Recreation Association of America by around 1915. (3)

By 1910 the benefits of playgrounds were being advocated in Dubuque. The role of the play-leader drew considerable attention. Rather than determining what games were to be played, advocates explained this individual was important in organizing games and keeping several groups active at the same time. (4) In May, 1910 the announcement was made by the board of education that Dubuque would have a supervised playground prepared by the woman's hygienic committee during the summer at one of the school yards. It was there that:

                The playground is the true home of democracy, there
                it is that brawn and brain properly mixed win the
                day. The owner of a stout heart and a strong body
                lords it over the owner of mere superficialties (sp)
                like good clothes, automobiles, bicycles and such. (5)

Playground Association of America officials announced three plans of supporting and conducting playgrounds. Playgrounds could be maintained by voluntary contributions, boards of education, or directly by the city government. The choice in Dubuque was support through voluntary contributions. Dr. Mary KILLEEN served as treasurer of the hygienic committee and collected all monies. (6)

In 1912 the playground at FRANKLIN SCHOOL ran daily from July 8 through August 31 with the morning session from 10:00 a.m. until noon and the afternoon session from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The total attendance over the 47 days was 441 with the highest day being 212. Children attending came from a wide area including Calendonia Place, West Seventh, West Third, Cleveland Avenue, Southern Avenue, Rush Street, and Jackson with the great number arriving from the immediate area of the school. Most of those attending came regularly with some never missing a day.

The playground equipment included a giant stride, athletic slide, horizontal bar, two teeters, and basketball equipment. In 1912 folk-dancing was introduced after HARGER AND BLISH loaned the program a record player. Books were distributed every Friday by the CARNEGIE-STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY and a reading table was provided. A story hour was carried out with smaller children weaving mats, making chains, and creating posters. Older children could take sewing and embroidery classes. (7)

The playground movement was only one program to provide wholesome activity for children. Another popular action-oriented program for children in 1912 was PARK LIFE. In explaining its philosophy, B. J. HORCHEM explained,"Park Life involves the principles of the playground movement, Boy Scout movement, Garden movement, and other such plans." (8) The playground movement continued to evolve.

In 1924 an Honor Roll had been used in the summer program for children aged 2 to 10. The plan encouraged the children to take part in all games of the playground including handwork, gave credit for being members of winning teams and for unusual work and negative marks for mistakes in conduct. Two top scores were announced from each playground--Franklin, Prescott, Peter Cooper, Lincoln, Audubon and Marshall. There was a baseball and a horseshoe league and all the children were invited to EAGLE POINT bathing beach by its manager for swimming events. Special events included "Demonstration Night" when parents could observe all the activities of the summer, a lantern parade for the girls, and a pet parade. Educational MOTION PICTURES were shown in the early evening at each playground. More than 200 boys and girls participated in the stilt parade which began at WASHINGTON PARK, proceeded north on Main, and ended at JACKSON PARK where races were held. (9)

The impact of the playground movement can be seen in the statistics: in 1909, 336 cities had 1,535 playgrounds; in 1948, 1,917 cities had 13,520 playgrounds – an increase of 880% in less than 40 years. Over the same time period, funding increased from $1,353,114 to $96,000,000 and paid play leaders grew from 3,756 to 48,548. (10)

In 1924 citing the popularity of playgrounds and the alternative of turning children loose for "idleness and street-play," the supervisor of city playgrounds advocated a change in policy. Instead of running the program for six weeks, he supported the program be extended to eight weeks. (11)

The supervisor's recommendation was adopted in 1926 when the announcement was made that playgrounds would open on June 21st. Nine playgrounds were in operation: Irving, Lincoln, Franklin, Prescott, Fulton, Audubon, Marshall and in the vicinity of the Peter Cooper School from noon until 8:30 p.m. The exception was the Franklin school playground which would run from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. From then until 8:30 p.m. the area was open to adults. There were two playground supervisors-one for the girls and another for the boys. Activities planned included baseball, basketball, volleyball, horse shoe pitching, handicraft, track and field for the boys, folk dancing, story telling and dramatics for the girls. Inter-playground competition in competitive sports was scheduled to encourage loyalty to their own playground. An achievement plan would be offered to encourage a variety of activities. (12)

Two additional playgrounds sites were opened in 1927--Bryant and Jackson (13)

In 1930 each playground had a "youthful" reporter to notify readers of playground activities. Activities included a booster parade of participants at Franklin, Bryant, Central, and Fulton-Comiskey around their neighborhoods; the formation of a hiking club at Jackson, and a swimming class at Washington-Irving. (14)

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Source:

1. Play and Playground Encyclopedia. Online: https://www.pgpedia.com/p/playground-movement

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. "Playground Move Popular," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 19, 1910, p. 7

5. "Public Playground for the Children," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, May 24, 1910, p. 12

6. "Playground Move..."

7. "Miss Lucas Gives Report of Work," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, September 13, 1912, p. 6

8. "Tells Educators of Park Life Plan," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 16, 1912, p. 15

9. "Thousands Enjoy Playground Facilities," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, August 24, 1924, p. 17

10. "Playground Move..."

11. "Thousands Enjoy Playground Facilities," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald August 24, 1924

12. "Playgrounds Will Operate Longer Time This Season," The Telegraph-Herald, June 13, 1926, p. 15

13. "Greatest Year for Playgrounds," Telegraph-Herald, August 14, 1927, p. 8

14. "News of the Playground," Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal, July 6, 1930, p. 37