Thursday, June 23, 2022 – A PARK THAT HAS MANY USES FROM VISITING SAILORS TO VIETNAM MEMORIAL

By admin

FROM THE ARCHIVES

THURSDAY,  JUNE 23, 2022

THE  709th EDITION

JEANETTE PARK

TO VIETNAM VETERANS PLAZA

NEAR SOUTH STREET

SEAMEN’S CHURCH INSTITUTE

NEW YORK CITY MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES

NYC PARKS DEPARTMENT

Jogi Schultz

Coenties Slip, Jeanette Park. New York City, 1926.

1920’s New York Project.

Jeannette at Le Havre in 1878, prior to her departure for San Francisco in a trip that would see her round Cape Horn

Vietnam Veterans Plaza was Jeanette Park

The City of New York acquired the northern section of this plaza in 1686 and 1730 by virtue of the Dongan and Montgomerie Charters, which assigned all unused or excess properties to the City. At that time, the remainder of the property was in the East River and was known as Coenties Slip. When the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 laid out Manhattan’s grid, the island contained hundreds of piers, but as the City’s population grew, the waterfront was filled in to make more land.

Coenties Slip was filled in 1835. In 1884 the trapezoidal parcel created by filling in Coenties Slip was named Jeannette Park in honor of The Jeannette, the flagship of the ill-fated Arctic Expedition (1879-1881) sponsored by New York Herald editor James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who named the ship after his sister.

In 1886, Horticulturist Samuel Parsons Jr., who served as Superintendent of Parks, designed Jeannette Park. More than 60 years later, Commissioner Robert Moses rebuilt the park with horseshoe pitches and tennis, paddleball, handball, and shuffleboard courts all arranged around a tear-shaped asphalt plaza with a flagpole. 

Manhattan: East River waterfront, Jeanette Park, the Brooklyn Heights

waterfront, elevated railroad tracks, South Street, undated. N-YHS

View looking across at the “music shell”; Jeannette Park is surrounded by an iron fence; the park is surround by low buildings, and skyscrapers are in the back. 1935-1941 WPA

Dedication on dome to merchant seamen of World War I, man in door
Date:  December 11, 1924

In 1971 Paul Friedberg redesigned the enlarged, triangular property in brick, with an amphitheater fountain. The owners of the skyscraper at 55 Water Street maintain the site in exchange for receiving permission to build over what was once Coenties Slip. In the early 1980s Mayor Koch campaigned forcefully for a memorial to honor those who fought and died in Vietnam. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission raised $1 million from private donations to finance the memorial, as well as to provide counseling and employment services for Vietnam veterans. In 1982 a mayoral task force selected Jeannette Park as the future site for the memorial, and the property was renamed by a local law which Mayor Koch signed that year.

The winning design, by architects Peter Wormser, William Fellows, and writer/veteran Joseph Ferrandino, is a wall of translucent glass blocks, on which are engraved excerpts of letters, poems, and diary entries written by men and women of the armed forces, as well as news dispatches. A granite shelf runs along the base of the monument, onto which visitors from time to time have placed tokens of remembrance, such as baby shoes, military patches, pictures, plaques, and American flags

In 2001 Vietnam Veterans Plaza underwent a $7 million restoration that transformed the site, creating an attractive and dignified setting for this important memorial. A public/private coalition including the New Water Street Corporation, Vietnam Veterans of America, City of New York/Parks & Recreation, City Parks Foundation, the United War Veterans Council, and the Alliance for Downtown New York was formed to lead the plaza’s redesign and reconstruction. Mayor Giuliani, Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and the City Council provided $2.5 million of the total cost of the project.

The completely redesigned plaza features a new ceremonial entrance that provides access through the site from Water to South Street as well as new plantings and a new round, black granite fountain that forms a curtain of water. Visitors to the park are now guided through the site with a series of new features that educate and inform. An etched stainless-steel map that provides a geographical perspective of the war and details battle zones in South Vietnam greets visitors.

The “Walk of Honor,” a series of twelve polished granite pylons with the names of all 1,741 United States military personnel from New York who died as a result of their service in Vietnam, leads to the refurbished memorial, which was cleaned and repaired during the park’s renovation. Today the redesigned plaza and restored memorial serve as a timeless tribute to the Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

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WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY 

BRYANT PARK

BRYANT PARK HAS 5 STAR COMFORT STATIONS!!!

LAURA HUSSEY, ED LITCHER, ARON EISENPREISS, ANDY SPARBERG, ED LITCHER, HARA REISER, ALEXIS VILLAFANE
GOT IT!

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)

Sources

NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
SEAMEN’S CHURCH INSTITUTE
NYC PARKS DEPT.

FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD

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