In 1914, Police Commissioner Arthur Woods began a social movement that would eventually be known as the Police Athletic League. CommissionerWoods, a well-known advocate of New York City’s poor, worked closely with the Commissioner of Charities, John Kingsbury. Commissioner Woods instructed police officers to seek out the needy in their precincts and bring these people to charitable persons or organizations for help. Commissioner Woods had a special concern for the poor children who lived in the congested tenements of New York City with no safe places to play. In reaction to this problem, the police commissioner organized a city-wide search for vacant lots which could be converted into playgrounds. In addition, he set aside 29 blocks as playground blocks, where traffic was prohibited inthe afternoons every day except Sunday.

In 1914, The New York Times articulated the need forthese playstreets: “Children must play, and children, if they live in the cities, must play in the streets.” The objective of these playground blocks, according to The New York Times, was to “reduce the temptations of wrongdoings by keeping children off the streets and by giving them a chance for wholesomeplay under proper supervision.”

A separate goal of the playstreet program was to reduce tensionsbetween police officers and youth. Ruth Robinson of the People’s Institute remarked, “One or two of the policemen have entered into the spirit of the games going on at their end of the block,thus creating a necessity for the small boy to take a new stock of policemen generally...It bids fair to decrease antagonism to the police.”

The public reaction to the development of playstreets in New YorkCity was overwhelmingly favorable. When Commissioner Woods inspected playstreets, mothers rushed to thank him and children cheered his efforts.