by Susan Price

For 50 years, from the 1920s until 1973, BFS maintained its own playing field in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Our alumni who played on the field or attended social events at the Field House will be glad to know that the field—now a city park—remains in use by the Midwood community and that the Field House still stands. The existence of both is an example of the enormous contributions of time, money and cooperation of earlier generations of BFS students, alumni and parents.

Covering 6.7 acres, the athletic field had room enough for red-clay tennis courts and simultaneous football, soccer, and field hockey games. The field witnessed many generations of BFS Upper School P.E. classes and sporting events, along with the annual Lower School May Day celebrations.

Henry Turner, a BFS parent in 1923, contributed the initial down payment for the then overgrown field next to Washington Cemetery in Midwood at Avenue L and East 4th Street. The field was formerly the site of Poly Prep’s oval racecourse. In the mid-1930s, a campaign was mounted to build a new field house. BFS parent and architect, Lorimer Rich, donated his services. The architect for many buildings in New York City and Washington, D.C., Rich is best-known as the architect who, with sculptor Thomas Hudson Jones, designed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. The final cost of the brick Field House surpassed $30,000 (approximately $400,000 today).

Everyone had a chance to help raise funds for the Field House. Even Lower School students were called upon to contribute “a penny a day ‘til the first of May.” One alumna remembers shining shoes in the St. George Hotel to earn her “penny a day.” Students were expected to earn their contributions rather than dig into their allowances.

Completed in 1937, the two-story brick Field House had changing rooms and showers on the first floor. The second floor, often used for social events, was paneled in knotty pine and had a wood-burning fireplace. BFS students were bused to the Field from the Thorne Building at 112 Schermerhorn. Although a caretaker was employed, the students had the responsibility of maintaining the Field House. BFS students and parents used the field and the Field House for the next 35 years.

With support from the Midwood community, the Religious Society of Friends sold the property to the City of New York for $2 million in January 1973 for a public park. Area residents had always been welcome to use the Field, and they loved it as much as we did. The occasion was marked by a ceremony at City Hall.

Our old Friends School Field, now called Friends Field, is maintained by the New York City Parks Department. The brick Field House suffered serious internal damage during a fire in July 1973, but the Midwood community rallied to rebuild it. According to The New York Times, January 6, 1974: “All of the key interior features of the building were restored, including the knotty pine paneling in the main hall, the wood-burning fireplace, the wagon wheel kerosene-type electrical fixtures, the expansive entrance foyer and the curving arched ceilings.” Today, the Field House is used by organizations such as the Girls Scouts.

The Field and Field House have changed during our absence over the last 30 years, but the Midwood community takes full advantage of both.

For our alumni: Please send any memories and photographs of the Field and the Field House for a subsequent article. We would like to build an archive of what you remember of the BFS Field. Please contact Susan Price at BFS, 375 Pearl Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 718-852-1029, ext. 208.