"It’s unusual to see groups of kids playing in the streets of New York City anymore. (At least without an adult supervising.) But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with parents at work and tenements too crowded for game-playing anyway, kids were free to roam the cityscape—running around sidewalks, playing ball in the middle of the road, or just sitting on the curb, horsing around. The street wasn’t a safe place to play, of course. Newspapers headlines of the era tell the stories of countless children being injured or killed by cars or horses. A public playground movement was underway. But by the 1910s, only 30 had been opened, and not always in the poor neighborhoods that needed them most. So park officials and the Police Athletic League came up with a novel alternative so popular, they still exist today: play streets. ..."
Ephemeral New York
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