Taking the Plunge

A youngster takes a 30-foot dive off an abandoned rooftop into the East River in the summer of 1938. The Williamsburg Bridge can be seen in the background.

When this photo was published in The Times, the East River was an industrial zone, which might have led its inhabitants to seek out such thrills. But the waterfront was about to get a makeover thanks to a vision of Robert Moses, the city’s parks commissioner, who reclassified it as a recreational area. It would be only a year after this photo was taken when a new 50-acre park would arise. It would receive “the city’s most concentrated battery of tennis courts, wading pools, football fields, skating rinks and facilities for a dozen other kinds of play,” reported The Times, “There will be abundant shade trees and a long line of benches overlooking the water.” The East River Park opened on July 27, 1939.