Yak Playground

Yak Playground. 3.643 acres. , This parkland, between Coyle and Batchelder Streets, is named for the Yak because of its Avenue Y address and its location in Sheepshead Bay, whose name evokes another wooly animal. A Yak is a Tibetan ox native to the mountainous regions of Central Asia. Used for its meat, milk, and leather, and as a beast of burden, the yak, an endangered species, is an enormous blackish-brown, bushy-haired animal up to almost seven feet high and 2,200 pounds. Sheepshead Bay itself is named for a fish native to the Atlantic coast all the way from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf of Mexico. The silvery, black-banded Sheepshead fish is so called for its teeth, which resemble those of sheep. Sheepshead's Bay's name likely dates back to 1844, when Benjamin Freeman built the first hotel in the area, The Sheepshead., The Canarsee Indians, Sheepshead Bay's original inhabitants, continued to live here largely undisturbed until almost 150 years after European settlers arrived in nearby Gravesend in 1643. In the seventeenth century, the Wyckoff and Lott families established homesteads and built farms in the area. The Henry and Abraham Wyckoff House, built in 1766, still stands today on the corner of Kings Highway and East 22nd Street. Fishing became popular in the bay in the early 1800s, and little cottages soon dotted the rim of the inlet. Cool coastal breezes and fresh seafood began to lure tourists in the middle of the nineteenth century, when Sam Leonard's Hotel and Tappen's Hotel were built and the opening of Ocean Avenue provided the first direct route to the area., After the Coney Island Jockey Club, founded in 1880, opened the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, gamblers flocked to the area. Legend has it that the nearby Holwell Mansion was one of the first tipster rackets, where timers watched trial races and sold information to bookmakers. In 1911 the racetrack also served as a runway for the Vin Fiz, piloted by Calbraith P. Rodgers, when it made the world's first transcontinental flight. The Sheepshead Speedway replaced the track when the Jockey Club disbanded in 1915. The famous $3,500,000 automobile track was demolished in 1919, and replaced with housing. The city revitalized the neighborhood in the 1930s, with improvements such as the widening of Emmons Avenue. In the 1950s, brick apartment buildings replaced the wooden houses, and by 1960, Sheepshead Bay was the fastest growing community in Brooklyn. Today, it is still a popular destination for recreational fishermen and diners enjoying the excellent restaurants it offers., Yak Playground is jointly operated by Parks and the Department of Education. The land was acquired by condemnation in 1953 and on October 28, 1961 the playground opened. Originally including a baseball diamond, fields for football and soccer, a high jump and broad jump, a running track, basketball and handball courts, and a comfort station, it was renovated in 1987. The football field, which had new 1,000-seat bleachers installed, was converted to synthetic turf and the track was extended around it; both are the responsibility of the school.