Reinhardt Park

Reinhardt Park is on Armory Avenue between Knowles Avenue and Warner Street. The park includes children’s play equipment and tree-shaded benches and tables for sitting and picnicking. The park, dedicated in 1984, was named in honor of Anna C. Reinhardt who ran the Home School for Young Deaf Children from 1921 at that location until her death in 1935. She began teaching at a house in Kensington on the northwest corner of St. Paul Street and Metropolitan Avenue between 1908 and 1920. When the owner of that house sold it, Ms. Reinhardt purchased a more suitable house (built in 1891 and formerly known as the Hermann House, or ‘The Spruces”) on a large parcel of land facing Armory Avenue, close to Warner Street. She was able to convert a barn on the property into classrooms in 1922. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, an expert on the education of the deaf, and his wife both admired and supported Reinhardt’s work. They joined Dr. Gilbert Grosvenor, editor of the National Geographic Magazine, at the dedication of the new school building. The building was named Bell cottage in honor of Dr. Bell. The school continued in operation until 1946, and the building burned down in 19634. The open grassy area surrounding this block, including the park, is owned by the Town and is used for special events throughout the year.