Stalwart local neighborhood park. It’s really two entirely different playgrounds for different age groups, with a cool climbing wall for the older ones and some fun ladders for the littles to try.

It’s very easy to avoid the water feature in the summer, should you want to do so.

But watch out for the many, many off-leash dogs everywhere in this park.

We often come to this playground because it offers an easy time watching our toddler. The toddler and older kids sections are separated and gated. 

This was a great early playground when our infant was just graduating from getting pushed in a toddler swing to exploring on his own. The toddler section is fairly easy to use with steps up to the platforms. It's a simple, linear design leading to slides – but that makes it easy to keep tabs on the kids. 

One afternoon Bruno showed up here determined to learn how to climb ladders, and he worked his way through every ladder in the playground. The straight vertical one was the hardest, but he eventually got it, and then he was ready to go home. 

Since the two sections of the playground are separated, its also fun to visit the toddler section before going to the section designed for slightly older children where the spiral slide is. It also has a lot of climbing walls. 

The water feature is old and gross, and often used by dogs for bathing. One of the big problems in Cooper Park is the many dogs who are allowed off leash. Their owners have turned much of the grassy areas into dirt patches, but of course the parks department is rarely here. 

The picnic area of this park was a great place to meet up with friends in 2020 for a few beers because it was outside and lawless. However, there are also people who sleep in the bushes. 

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Cooper Park is named for Peter Cooper, the industrialist and inventor. Cooper owned much of the land and operated a factory in the area. The playground was named in honor of Margaret Carnegie who was a local public housing advocate.