Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park

Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park stands as a tribute to one of the most important figures in American medical history. Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree in New York State and only the third in the entire country. Born in 1847 to a prosperous family in the historic free Black community of Weeksville, she overcame intense hostility from male peers during her training to graduate as her class valedictorian in 1870. Throughout her long career, she specialized in prenatal care and childhood diseases while operating a successful private practice in Brooklyn. Beyond her clinical work, she founded the Brooklyn Women's Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary and served as a tireless advocate for women's suffrage and racial equality. The park itself occupies land that was once a byproduct of massive urban upheaval. In the mid-twentieth century, the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway cut through the neighborhood, displacing countless residents and businesses. For decades, this site existed as a nameless remnant of that project, simply serving as a functional space near the expressway. It was designated as Bridge Park Two for many years, referencing the nearby Manhattan Bridge, before being officially renamed in 2020 to honor Dr. McKinney Steward. The current layout includes a synthetic turf field and fitness areas, representing a contemporary effort to reclaim and revitalize land that was fractured by mid-century highway development.