McCarren Park

McCarren Park is located in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn. The park is named for Patrick Henry McCarren (1849-1909), a popular Democratic politician of the late 19th Century. McCarren was born in East Cambridge, Massachusetts to Irish immigrants. He later moved to Williamsburg, where he attended school and learned the cooper or barrel-making trade. He went on to work in sugar refineries along the waterfront and eventually became a lawyer. He began his political career at the age of 21 and quickly rose through the ranks of the Brooklyn Democratic Party to win election to the State Assembly in 1881 and the State Senate in 1889. In 1909, the Board of Aldermen re-named the park, formerly Greenpoint Park, in his honor. At the turn of the century, the area around the park was largely industrial, with chemical, varnish and iron works, and braid factories. The four parcels that became the park were acquired by the City of New York between 1903 and 1905. Two playgrounds with outdoor gymnastic equipment were developed almost immediately: one for boys at the corner of Bedford and North 14th Streets and one for girls at the corner of Manhattan and Driggs Avenues.