Thomas Jefferson Swimming Pool, New York City (E. 112th Street and First Avenue)

This park was planned and named by the Board of Aldermen in 1894, though the land for it was not purchased until 1897. The park opened on October 7, 1905 to provide organized play to the children of "Little Italy," as the crowded tenement district in East Harlem was then known. The pool opened in 1936, one of eleven immense outdoor public pools the Parks Department opened that summer. The heroically scaled pools project was financed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA), as part of a massive effort to alleviate adverse health conditions and provide safe recreation in predominantly working-class communities. Source New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/thomas-jefferson-park/history last accessed April 13, 2022)