Gambit Remembers Olive Stallings
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/current/blake.php
New Orleans Know-It-All March 18, 2008
Hey Blake,
I have a bit of information about Olive Stallings. Can you tell me more?
Charlie London
Dear Charlie, I’ll tell the readers the information you have, then I will tell everyone a little more. Olive Andrews Stallings is known as the ‘Mother of Playgrounds in New Orleans.” In 1906, she established the first play center, the Poydras Playground, at her own expense and continued to maintain it for two years. When the Playgrounds Commission was established in 1911, she served as its first president ” a post she held until her death in 1940. When Stallings died, she left one-fourth of her estate ” $150,000 ” to the playgrounds system, which was soon to become the New Orleans Recreation Department. This remarkable woman was born in New Orleans on June 22, 1866. She was educated at the Holy Angels Academy and soon became active in various civic and philanthropic movements. Stallings was founder and first president of the New Orleans Outdoor Art and Improvement Association, which sponsored the tree-planting commission later known as the parkway commission. She is best known, however, for her work in promoting public playgrounds. It was in 1906 that Stallings attended the first recreational congress. Held in Pittsburgh, this first congress grew into the National Recreation Association. It was upon her return to New Orleans that she founded the first playground. Others were soon to follow: the Cleveland playground in 1909, the St. Roch Playground in 1910, and the Taylor Playground in 1911. That same year, Stallings was made president of the playground community service commission, a group created by the New Orleans City Council. For her efforts, Stallings was awarded The Times-Picayune Loving Cup in 1929. The Loving Cup is given out annually to a citizen who has rendered great service to the city the preceding year. She also received a loving cup from the New Orleans Progressive Civic Association in 1932. Stallings continued to work on behalf of the city’s children. By 1938, two years before her death, $1 million had already been spent on a total of 18 playgrounds and six swimming pools, and children visited the playgrounds more than a million times annually. Never seeming to tire, Stallings was a member of the first zoning board of New Orleans and founder of the first Girl Scouts organization in the city. It’s hard to name an organization, civic or religious, to which Stallings did not contribute her time, talent and money. Stallings Playground at 1600 Gentilly Blvd. was built in 1938, and on Jan. 18, 2008, hundreds of people gathered to give the eponymous playground a new beginning. Folks from organizations such as the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association (FSJNA); KaBOOM, a national nonprofit devoted to creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America; the New Orleans Recreation Department and the New Orleans’ Hornets came out on a rainy, cold day to help. The FSJNA raised the $14,000 needed for a concrete pad for the new playground structure, and Whitney Bank contributed $25,000 for the rubber surfacing. Grants came from the Keep Louisiana Beautiful Foundation ($11,000), Home Depot ($3,000) and the Greater New Orleans Foundation ($1,000). The largest contribution came from NBA Cares, the National Basketball Association’s philanthropic division, which paid for most of the $100,000 project. If readers would like to see a short video of the restoration of Stallings Playground, you can go to www.katrinafilm.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/olive-stallings-playground-renewal-2/. I think you will be impressed with this group of volunteers who worked with FSJNA President Kathryn Parker and project supervisor Kenneth Briscoe to remake this old playground in just one day. Even better, take your children to the playground to see for yourself. I believe Olive Stallings would be very, very proud. Question for Blake? Email blresponse@gambitweekly.com or mail to 3923 Bienville St., 70119.
