Claremont Playground

The plain of Claremont Playground was the site of fierce combat during the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776, then became the setting for Michael Hogan’s Federal-style Claremont Mansion after he purchased land there in 1806. After passing through a series of owners, the mansion was being used as a popular roadside inn by 1860, and after the City acquired the property in 1873 for the development of Riverside Park, it continued to operate the inn. Around the turn of the century, the Claremont Inn and its formal gardens drew politicians, military officials, socialites, and entertainers, and by 1907 it was a public restaurant frequented by notable visitors. The inn burned down in 1950, and within two years a new playground was built on the site. Nearby are the Amiable Child Monument of 1797, marking the grave of St. Claire Pollock; Grant’s Tomb, dedicated to U.S. President and General Ulysses S. Grant on April 27, 1897; the Riverside Viaduct of 1901; Sakura Park, acquired in 1896; and a tablet presented by representatives of the Chinese empire in memory of General Grant in 1897. Founded in 1994, the Claremont-Sakura Playground Association helped secure a $635,000 reconstruction funded by the Manhattan Borough President in 1996 and completed in 1998, adding new play equipment and infrastructure and shaping the playground’s water and wildlife theme around the history and environment of the Hudson River Valley.

New York, New York · United States