Joseph LeeBorn 7 Mar 1862; died 28 Jul 1937 at age 75.American inventor known as the “Father of the American playground movement,”who introduced the first contemporary neighborhood playground in the U.S.Born to a wealthy Boston family, Lee believed that with fortune comes responsibility. To counter social problems of the time, he promoted recreation activities as nurturing experiences. A Boston charity, copying a German practice, established sand-pile play areas among the Boston tenements. In the early 1890's, Lee extended this idea by establishing his own playground for research and demonstration purposes. In speeches and articles Lee supported the spread of the playground movement across the U.S. |