Printers Park Upgrades Hoe Homesite with Press Playground

On South Bronx property the New York City Parks Department acquired in 1997 and partly renovated four years later, city and state officials opened a new playground on July 29 at the site of Richard March Hoe's mansion that recalls the former owner's contribution top newspaper printing.

Thanks to $1 million allocated by a local city council member, Printers Park was re-landscaped with additional trees, benches, fountains and a shower that diverts runoff to irrigate plantings were installed, and playground equipment was replaced with what resemble rotary press components, including graduated steps that mimic press cylinders, a white concrete pathway that winds through like a newsprint web.

Hoe's 1846 "lightning press" replaced the flatbed printing surface with a revolving cylinder, a design that eventually was able to accept paper from rolls rather than individual sheets. The resulting faster press enabled the printing of larger number of newspapers in a timely fashion. Hoe, who farmed and raised cattle nearby, died 40 years later and is buried about two miles away at St. Ann's Church.