<View Some Photos of Moore Park From The Days of Old>

Joseph F. Moore Park is a Pittsburgh city park located off of Pioneer Avenue in Brookline. Moore Park was developed in 1939 and its many fine attractions include an olympic sized swimming pool, a water slide, three lighted tennis courts, a playground, an outdoor basketball court, a whiffleball court, a regulation sized lighted baseball field and a smaller field, an outside spash pool with a water fountain and a multi-purpose recreation building. The facility is one of several community parks nestled in the hills around the city.

For many years now, Moore Park has been one of the community's landmark gathering places. In the summertime, the pool is full of swimmers and the playground buzzing with children and their parents. For years, the ball fields were used by local baseball, football and softball leagues. Today, the fields are still used extensively by the Brookline Little League, and since 1999 by the Brookline Youth Soccer Association. The Brookline Recreation Center now hosts it's own Fall Flag Football League at Moore, started in 2005. Those who were here during the 1950s will remember the firework displays, held each Independence Day, on the lower field.

Moore Park has seen many upgrades over the years. The pool, which used to have three diving boards (one quite high) and descended to 16 feet at its deepest, has been modified. It now sports a water slide instead of the diving boards, and it no longer is as deep as in the past, going to just six feet in the deep end. The building is no longer used as a bath house, but instead has been modified for use as a meeting place and computer laboratory.

During the 1990s, the playground was upgraded to include new child-safe features and additional parking was added near the lower field to accomodate the large crowds for sporting events. In 1999, then-Councilman Michael Diven dedicated a new pavilion on the walkway beside the swimming pool. Other than these changes, the park appearance has remained pretty much the same since the day it was dedicated sixty-some years ago.

Up until 1970, Moore Park had its own Recreation Director. From 1957 until 1970 the director was none other than legendary Brookline boxing coach Chuck Senft. Moore Park was the original home of "Charlie's Angels," the local boxing club that gained a reputation as one of the finest programs in the Commonwealth. When the new Brookline Recreation Center in Brookline Memorial Park opened in 1971, Chuck and the Angels moved into the new facility. Chuck's career as Brookline's Recreation Director spanned 47 years, from 1957 to 2003.

Moore Park was built as part of a city-wide effort to create public recreation facilities for the many urban neighborhoods. The park has its roots in efforts begun by the principal of the West Liberty School District, Joseph F. Moore to provide playground space for children in the Brookline neighborhood. Professor Moore was an ardent advocate that playgrounds were the best answer to the problem of juvenile delinquency.

Since 1911, when he spurred efforts to have the city purchase space near Brookline School for playground use, Professor Moore's vision began to take shape. The first playground lasted only a couple years until the land was needed for school expansion. In 1930, the Joint Civic Committee of Brookline, of which Professor Moore was a part, began work on community improvement.

<View Photos of Moore Park Under Construction * 1939-1941>

One of the initiatives was creation of a new public park. When sections of the Paul Farm became available, the community purchased the 10 acres from the city. The thirties saw many civic improvements in the community infrastructure and the addition of a Carnegie Library. In 1939, the dreams of Professor Moore became reality when Mayor Scully dedicated the newly built Moore Park. The park was christened "Joseph F. Moore Park" in honor of the man who worked so hard to see that the children of Brookline had a place to play.

Photos of Moore Park Over the Years

The Paul Farm * 1910
Moore Park Construction * 1939-1941
Moore Park Pool * 1946
Moore Park Fountain * 1958
The Brookline Royals * 1967-1971
Maury Wills Baseball Camp * July 17, 1968
Pushball Championship * July 26, 1968
Connie Hawkins Basketball Camp * Summer 1969
Punt, Pass and Kick * Fall 1969
Pick-Up Football Game * Fall 1969
New Pavilion * Fall 1999
Moore Park in the Fall * 2004
Brookline Flag Football * 2005-2006

Brookliners past and present have so many memories of Moore Park. For myself, it was swimming every summer day as a young teen and pitching a game for the 1976 Senior League All-Stars. Others speak of the Independance Day Festivals and the fireworks that used to be held on the lower field, with the fading embers descending upon a packed crowd lining the steps. One thing, however, that only the old-timers might recall, is that Art Rooney and his Pittsburgh Steelers once used the bath house as a place for team meetings and workouts. Back in the 1940s it was a common site to see the Chief and his team milling about the building working on game plans and reviewing game films. It's just another of the fun facts that make up 60 years of Moore Park history.

If you have any old photos of Moore Park that you would like to share with us,
please notify us via our guestbook, located on the Brookline History homepage.