Brooklyn · Kings County
Betsy Head Pool and Park
NYC Parks
- Location
- Dumont Avenue and Strauss Street, Brownsville
- Size
- 7 acres
- Hours
- 6 AM - 1 AM daily
- Type
- NYC Parks
Betsy Head Pool and Park is one of the largest recreational facilities in Brownsville, Brooklyn, featuring one of the city's WPA-era public swimming pools and extensive athletic facilities.
The pool, built in 1936 as part of Robert Moses' massive public pool construction program, is one of eleven giant pools built simultaneously across the city during the New Deal. These pools brought free swimming to neighborhoods that had never had such facilities.
Brownsville is one of Brooklyn's most underserved neighborhoods, with high poverty rates and limited commercial amenities. Betsy Head Park serves as an essential recreational resource for the community, providing free swimming, athletics, and green space.
The neighborhood's history includes its role as a center of Jewish immigrant life in the early 20th century, later becoming a predominantly African American and Caribbean community. The park has served all of these communities.
Betsy Head Pool and Park represents the New Deal's democratic vision of providing world-class public recreation to the city's poorest neighborhoods, a promise that the facility continues to fulfill.