Originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Herbert Von King Park was conceived as a central open space for the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant. The Olmsted layout is long gone, but the park remains a neighborhood emerald.
Conceived in the 1850s and constructed at the beginning of the 1870s, the park's 7.8 acres initially bore the name Tompkins Park, after Daniel D. Tompkins, abolitionist, New York governor, and Vice President under James Monroe. You can visit Tompkins in person at St. Marks Church-In-The-Bowery in Manhattan. And he still has his name on Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan and Tompkinsville Park in Staten Island's Tompkinsville neighborhood.
Tompkins Park in Bed-Stuy was renamed in 1985 for Herbert Von King, community activist and "Mayor of Bedford-Stuyvesant." Here's a brief video tribute to him, courtesy of the New York City Police Foundation.
[Caution before clicking on the above link: the Police Foundation website, ironically, is not a secure one.]
Bedford Stuyvesant: Herbert Von King Park from My NYC Story on Vimeo.
Among many other things, Von King served on the board of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center. The Center is still there today, on Lafayette Avenue across from the park, right by the titular and ecologically anomalous magnolia tree – a city landmark – that inspired it.
The Center's website explains that its founder, Bed-Stuy resident Hattie Carthan, was "among the nation's first African-American community-based ecology activists." MTEC has become "an epicenter for learning, environmental stewardship and community development."
Carthan's name endures not only in memory but in the community garden named for her, also adjacent to the park.
A two-part article in Brownstoner documents Tompkins Park's early years and modern development in admirable detail. William Merritt Chase painted the park's pleasures and denizens in the 1880s.
Tompkins Park, Brooklyn (1887) by William Merritt Chase
The surroundings are much more built up today. But the park still draws people (and animals) from around the neighborhood.
This denizen, I think, captures the divided spirit of the age:
A library was built in the center of the park in 1915. After it burned down in 1969, a recreation and cultural center with an outdoor amphitheater took its place. But this 1970s facility has seen better days, and is closed for renovation. "[T]he cultural center has never lived up to that name designation," admits the Herbert Von King Park Conservancy website ruefully.
Our Time Press reported back in 2015 on then-current talk of creating a Herbert Von King Park Conservancy. And there is a Conservancy website. Its news page hasn't been updated since 2015, and information on joining is still "coming soon." But they do sponsor tree lightings each December. And you can get your name on a bench.
Through this month (July 2019), you can see an evocative sculpture by Roberto Visani called "(x) of many children." I really like it.
Not enough culture for you? Check out Rima Yamazaki's artsy video taken in and around Herbert Von King Park. (I especially like the little kid with the stick, five minutes in.)
Nature and Geometry in the Park - Herbert Von King Park from Rima Yamazaki on Vimeo.
Herbert Von King Park is one of Brooklyn's oldest parks. It isn't among the borough's most beautiful or remarkable. But visiting and reading up on it opens a window into a vibrant and historic neighborhood. Bedford-Stuyvesant wouldn't be the same without it.
