Herbert Von King Park
park in Kings County, New York, United States of America

Herbert Von King Park is an urban park in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. It was one of the first parks established in Brooklyn, from land originally acquired in 1857. The park was originally named Tompkins Park, after former New York governor Daniel D. Tompkins, and was renamed in 1985 in honor of Herbert Von King, a longtime local community organizer who was nicknamed the "mayor of Bedford–Stuyvesant". The park is bounded on the north by Lafayette Avenue, to the east by Tompkins Avenue, to the south by Greene Avenue, and to the west by Marcy Avenue.
The park contains a ballfield, a playground, and the Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center, the latter of which opened in 1973. The facility also has the Almira Kennedy Coursey Amphitheatre, named after a longtime advocate for the facility's construction.
Description
Herbert Von King Park is located in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City; it is bounded to the north by Lafayette Avenue, to the east by Tompkins Avenue, to the south by Greene Avenue, and to the west by Marcy Avenue. Its total size is 7.819 acres (0.03164 km2).
The park contains a baseball field, playground, and barbecue areas, in addition to the Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center, which holds classes and events.
History
The Lenape indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands were the first inhabitants in what is now the New York City metropolitan area.
“Herbert Von King Park” enters the record as park in Kings County, New York, United States of America. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Herbert, King and Park can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q49500133. Authority coordinates are 40.690, -73.947. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1857, 1985 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Herbert Von King Park” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.