Named after the sister of Averell Harriman,
the late governor of New York State,
Mary Harriman Rumsey this spacious
playfield with its sand surface is a large
rectangular space used for school sports
for most of the year. At other times it is
the home to the Summerstage, which
presents a varied catalog of free musical
concerts in Central Park.
Located at the northeast end of the Mall
it replaced an original design of Calvert Vaux,
a two room stone cottage called the Ladies
Refreshment House. With the soaring
popularity of this spot it slowly evolved
with some elaborate additions into The Casino
as it was then named. In 1928 it was taken
over and transformed into a fashionable
nightspot and hangout of Mayor Jimmy Walker
and his political cronies. The depression put
an end to the party and many New Yorkers
burdened by the weight of the trying times
saw the spot as a symbol of New York
decadence and the overindulgence of the
privileged.
With the election of the vehement reformist
Fiorello La Guardia to the mayor's office the
end came swiftly for the nightspot when his
nearsighted Parks Commissioner Robert
Moses had it torn down and replaced by the
Rumsey Playground. Ill conceived it was far
too inconvenient a location for nannies and
when it remained unused it was replaced by
an open field in the 1980s.
Guarded by two small sculptures, Snow Babies by Victor Frisch, its entrance, with the statue ofMother Goose, is probably its most
interesting feature.
