18 times • SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.timesnewsweekly.com old timer Presented By The Woodhaven Cultural And Historical Society Playground name tells tale of Woodhaven legend If you have any memories and photos that you’d like to share about “Our Neighborhood: The Way it Was,” write to The Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 62-70 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood, NY 11385, or send an email to [email protected]. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned upon request. In July 1914, residents of Woodhaven were unhappy with the layout of the Forest Park Golf Course. As originally constructed, the course stretched all the way to Ashland Avenue (now Park Lane South) leaving no land at all for a playground for the neighborhood’s children. Then-Queens Parks Commissioner John Weier met with residents and agreed to have some of the course turned over to the community for this purpose. After a few years of negotiation, the Parks Department agreed to shift four holes of the golf course directly off of Ashland and extend the course northward, picking up the land to build four replacement holes near the Myrtle Avenue side of the park. Development of the playground (referred to at the time as the Lott Avenue Playground) was delayed by World War 1, but finally opened in June 1923 at 79th Street and Park Lane South. Today, the Lott Avenue Playground is known as Mary Whalen Playground and it has been in the news lately as it will be undergoing a massive renovation, funded by City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley. But who was Mary Whalen and why was the playground named in her honor? Mary Joyce was born in August 1917 in Brooklyn and moved to Woodhaven in 1963, where she and her husband Peter Whalen immediately got involved in their new community. Over the next quarter-century, Mary Whalen would become an integral figure in Woodhaven, and there wasn’t an organization that she didn’t belong to. She was president of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association and the vice chairperson of Community Board 9. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary of American Legion Post 118, the Catholic Veterans Group and the Woodhaven Women’s Democratic Club. Mary Whalen was a longtime member of the Columbiettes, a branch of the Knights of Columbus. She not only served with the Columbiettes, but also rose through the ranks and eventually became president of the Supreme Council of the Columbiettes, the top spot in the nation for that large, influential group. One of Mary Whalen’s crowning achievements locally was the founding of the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation. She not only founded the organization, but also served as its first president. “There wasn’t anything she couldn’t accomplish once she set her mind to it,” Maryann Keller, daughter of Mary Whalen, recalled. “She was well known for her determination and her love for her community.” Maryann Keller remembers fondly some of the traditions that her mother helped start in Woodhaven, many of them still part of the community’s fabric to this day. “I remember the Christmas Tree lighting and the parade and the street fair.” “A lot of the improvements she brought to Woodhaven helped make it the community it is to this day,” she said. The Whalens lived a block away from the playground and not only did Mary Whalen take her children there, she took her grandchildren there as well. The playground was an integral part of their lives. As WRBA president, Mary Whalen also led numerous cleanups of the playground. She remained active in many organizations until illness forced her to slow down in the mid-1980s. She passed away in February 1987, just a few months shy of her 70th birthday. Within a year, there was a movement to name the nearby playground in her honor. The Lott Avenue Playground name had long since faded from people’s minds and then-City Councilman Arthur Katzman submitted a bill to rename it. On Sept. 26, 1990, the Parks Department hosted a ceremony formally naming the playground in honor of Mary Whalen. There is great value in naming playgrounds and streets after those who have done so much to benefit their community. Unfortunately, people have short memories and without signs to remind people, their contributions are often forgotten. Case in point, witness Harry Tourte of Woodhaven. Harry Tourte was, for many years, president of the Woodhaven Homestead Civic Association, a powerful civic group around the turn of the century into the 1930s. Tourte fought for years to get a new bandstand built in Forest Park. His efforts paid off but sadly Harry Tourte did not live to see it finished. A sudden illness took his life just a few months before it was opened. On June 15, 1924, the Forest Park bandstand was dedicated in his name, but no official sign declaring it to be the Tourte Bandstand was ever erected and his name was lost to history. Today the bandstand is known as the George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell, named for the legendary conductor whose band played many concerts in Forest Park over the years. Or witness Ed Salvinski, a resident of Woodhaven who took it upon himself to maintain a section of Forest Park near Park Lane South and 87th Street until his death. In 1984, Mayor Ed Koch signed a bill into law naming that section of Forest Park “Ed Salvinski Promenade” but no sign was ever erected and his name has also been lost to history. In early 2014, the WRBA held a cleanup at the Mary Whalen playground. Maryann Keller joined them, in honor of her mother, and she was happy to see her mother’s name on the sign at the entrance of the park. “She loved Woodhaven,” she said. “And I’m glad this park is here to help remind people of all the good that she did.” Top picture: The dedication of Mary Whalen Playground was featured on the front page in an October 1990 issue of the Times Newsweekly and Ridgewood Times. Middle picture: Mary Whalen is pictured second from left in this undated photo. Her daughter, Maryann Keller (inset), recalled her mother as a tireless civic leader who worked to make Woodhaven a better place. Bottom picture: Mary Whalen Playground in its present condition.
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