MILESTONES: December 8, birthdays for Nicki Minaj, Dwight Howard, Ann Coulter
Brooklyn Today
Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 345th day of the year.
On this day in 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page covered the opening of two new playgrounds in Brooklyn Heights’ “Columbia Heights section.” Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore praised Parks Commissioner Robert Moses as “the modern Leonardo DaVinci.” The clergy of Plymouth Church, Assumption Roman Catholic Church and Congregation Mount Sinai were on hand to offer invocations and blessings. One of the playgrounds was described in detail. Based on the information, today’s reader could identify it as the former Squibb Park (which was demolished several years ago in the creation of Brooklyn Bridge Park.) The other playground may have been the one now named Harry Chapin Park (after a beloved neighborhood singer and composer). There is a third playground at the other end of Columbia Heights and its intersection with Pierrepont Street.
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