Leathers & Associates re-builds first playground...

Leathers & Associates has just completed a playground on the site of Bob Leathers’ very first playground. When Bob opened his business in the early 1970s, he planned to specialize in residential design and construction. But in 1971, he was asked to organize a group of people to build a playground at his children’s elementary school in Ithaca, New York. Bob interviewed the students at the elementary school and based his design on their ideas. The parents and the kids worked together to create a magical structure. The news of the project’s success quickly traveled to nearby communities, who were soon asking Bob’s firm to help them create playgrounds. Thus began his community-built career, which has now spanned three decades. As news of his playgrounds spread, projects began to sprout up farther away. Since that first playground, the firm has worked on more than 1,600 projects throughout all 50 states and 4 other countries.

A portion of the original playground, which was still in use, was removed just prior to the start of construction of the new playground. Bob’s son, Marc Leathers, who is now president of Leathers & Associates, led the effort. Marc has worked with the firm since he was a teenager and had the opportunity to work on a community-built playground at his own children’s school in June 2000.

The staff of Leathers & Associates worked with Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (the current owner of the building that was once an elementary school) and volunteers from the local community to build the playground, which was completed on June 30, 2002.

As you can see by looking at the photos of the old and new playgrounds, the process and materials have naturally evolved over the years. Leathers’ designs and the quality of materials and workmanship meet or exceed all federal guidelines for playground safety. The new playground was constructed of a plastic composite for nearly all contact areas and arsenic-free lumber for structural support with an engineered wood fiber groundcover. Leathers donated its services for the design of the playground as well as several days of volunteer labor by Leathers’ employees. The following long-time suppliers to Leathers’ projects donated the materials for the construction of this very special playground:

• Denney Lumber (St. Louis, MO) donated the lumber
• The Trex Company (Winchester, VA) donated the plastic composite called Trex
• Fibar Systems (Armonk, NY) donated the engineered wood fiber groundcover
• Superior International Industries (Carrollton, GA) donated a slide, a horizontal ladder, and rings
• Darquest Industries (Grand Rapids, MI) donated a fire pole, chain and all hardware
• Pacific Sales & Manufacturing (El Sobrante, CA) donated the sealer

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