Recreation: Way Out to Play

Children poured into the playground and found two jet planes, a tank and three trolleys, an 1870 locomotive, a Coast Guard tug, an amphibious craft, a fire engine, a Marine obstacle course and a soapbox racing track. There were some old-fashioned things too—basketball courts, swings and seesaws.

This child's vision of Eden is the new John F. Kennedy Playground, which opened in Washington last week. The idea came from Attorney General Robert Kennedy after a drive through one of the city's most depressed areas, which had almost no recreational facilities. He studied the...