Facilities

Overview

This park, associated with Baldwin School, shares one entrance and a parking lot with the Soule Recreation Center. The property is defined by its rolling topography, mature oaks over expansive lawn, and considerable variation between highest and lowest elevation. The playground includes 2 fenced tot lots, sand boxes, and swings.

Park History

In 1898, architect George F. Johnson designed a 2-story fire station to stand on the land the town had purchased the year before at the corner of Heath Street and Oak Street. This lot became the site of the Baldwin School and Chestnut Hill Library (no longer extant).

In 1903, the town bought 8.2 acres from the Amory Land Trust to be used as a public playground with the option to erect a school on the property. The owners of the Pond on Ivy Street offered the town the deed to the pond and a strip surrounding it, if the town would maintain it as a park, but the town did not accept this proposal.

Deed / Title / Restrictions

The town bought 53,655 square feet of the park from the Rivers School in 1941 for $3,500. Deed research conducted in 1960 found this information which is confirmed by land plans. The deed was not located during the 2003 research. The town bought a parcel of 51,726 square feet from Mary McCormack in 1871. Another land parcel of 12,155 square feet was bought from John and Margaret O'Handley in 1898. There are no known restrictions on the property. It is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.

Additional Information

• Category: School Playground
• Size: 1.25 acres
• Protection: Article 97, NR, SR
• Manager: Brookline DPW, Parks and Open Space Division
• Location: Heath Street
• Precinct: 15
• Inventory Date: October 26, 2004, revised February 1, 2005 and August 15, 2018 
• Vicinity: Abuts Soule Recreation Center at the back of Baldwin School