I think wood chips were added later (after I was out of that school) “for safety” and then rubber mulch was an even later upgrade.
And when did something soft go in the playground area? Waaaay later, the school got actual grass in the playground - instead of playground equipment. 🙄 Building was closed within a few years of that happening.
Ooh, damn that’s rough!
I think we had some bars over asphalt/concrete/cement (I dunno, it was a big solid surface that was also the parking lot, the kickball diamond, the wiffle ball field, and where we had all of our field and track days) but I only ever fell off the ones over the rocks. I do remember friends with broken teeth or busted noses from that, tho.