Mabel Hampton Garden
overview
Many New York City public parks and playgrounds are named in honor of prominent figures in New York City and American history.
Mabel Hampton Gardens, in the Bronx, specifically honors an LGBT individual.
Mabel Hampton, 1922. Courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archives.
History
Many New York City public parks and playgrounds are named in honor of prominent figures in New York City and American history. The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project compiled a list of public parks and playgrounds named after gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals, several of which intentionally honor an LGBT individual. This list includes Mabel Hampton Garden, in the Bronx.
Formerly known as Morris Garden, this park was re-named for Mabel Hampton in 2021 in honor of the Black experience in New York City, and also specifically for her LGBT history. Hampton (1902-1989) was an African-American performer during the Harlem Renaissance and, in the 1970s and ‘80s, a key member of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. An icon of the New York lesbian community, Hampton lived in a Bronx apartment building at 639 East 169th Street with her partner Lillian Foster from 1943 to 1978 (Foster’s death), and on her own until about 1988.
The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation acquired Morris Garden in 1997, and named it after the prominent family of landowners and statesmen, who purchased land in the Bronx beginning in 1670.
Entry by Jay Shockley, project director (September 2021).
NOTE: Names above in bold indicate LGBT people.
Sources
“Morris Garden,” NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, on.nyc.gov/2XAJKgq.
Do you have more information about this site?
This project is enriched by your participation! Do you have your own images of this site? Or a story to share? Would you like to suggest a different historic site?
