Marx Brothers Playground

The land beneath your feet has undergone a remarkable transformation from industrial grit to public recreation. Before it became the Marx Brothers Playground in 1947, this entire block served as the car barn for the Second Avenue Railway. Throughout the late nineteenth century, this fortress-like structure housed the horses that pulled the city’s early transit cars, and later, it stored the electric trolleys that replaced them. Once buses rendered the trolleys obsolete, the massive brick facility sat dormant until its demolition in 1941, clearing the way for the community space you see today.