Washington Heights & Inwood Online

A one-acre triangular plot bounded by Broadway, 166th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue has been dedicated to the 95th Mayor of New York City and to the veterans of the community who served in the First World War. The park itself is .774-acres, with the remaining part for the Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial, at the northern end of the park.

The property was acquired by the City of New York as a park in 1908 and was dedicated as a public space in 1911. The Broadway side of the park serves as a bus stop for local bus routes. For years the park’s name was misspelled with 2 L’s until community activists mentioned the problem to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

John Purroy Mitchel was born in the Fordham section of the Bronx in 1879 and was the son of a fire marshal who was a staff officer to Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson during the Civil War. Mitchel graduated from the New York Law School in 1901. Eight years later he was elected to the Board of Aldermen of New York City with the aid of the anti-Tammany Hall forces.

With the help of these same groups, Mitchel was elected Mayor in 1914, which made him the youngest person to hold this office at the age of 35. Mitchel appointed able officials and was supported by progressives who helped to reorganize and restructure city government. Mitchel reformed vice control, taxation, transit and introduced a relief program for the unemployed.

Mitchel antagonized such groups as the Germans, Irish and the lower classes, who were alienated by his support of vocational education. His reputed snobbish, elitist attitude and the fact that he was a poor politician and reformist cost him the mayoral election in 1917, which brought the Tammany Hall forces back into the city government.

With the First World War already in progress, Mitchel enlisted in the Army Aviation Corps. After a period of training, Mitchel was flying solo on July 6, 1918, at Gerstner Field near Lake Charles, Louisiana. According to Army reports, Mitchel fell out of his plane at an altitude of 500 feet because his safety belt was unfastened. New Yorkers responded to Mitchel’s death with a flurry of eulogies and memorials.

Within the park is a memorial plaque honoring Mitchel with his rank as Major. This plaque is located at the 166th Street entrance to the park. The park was officially named on February 8, 1919, by the Board of Aldermen of New York City.

At the northern end of the square is the Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial. This is dedicated to the men who died overseas during World War One. The statue of 3 soldiers was sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875-1942) who was commissioned by the Washington Heights and Inwood Memorial Association. The architectural firm of Delano and Aldrich designed the circular granite pedestal set within a two colored flagstone paving into which are embedded 20 bronze star-shaped plaques listing the 357 local casualties.

The memorial was dedicated on May 30, 1922, which coincided with parades and military demonstrations throughout the city for Memorial Day. The statue has become the visual centerpiece of the plaza. Ms. Whitney, just back from a trip abroad, had made every effort to be at the dedication ceremony. She had received an award from the New York Society of Architects for her work on the statue.

As an added tribute to Mayor Mitchel there is a two-level granite plaque with a gilded bust of Mitchel. This is located in Central Park at the Reservoir near Fifth Avenue and 90th Street.

In 1998 the park was restored with monies gotten by then City Councilmember Guillermo Linares. This restoration included new benches, shrubbery, landscaping and a black wrought-iron fence. This was a joint project of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation. The memorial was fully restored with the replacement of a missing bayonet. With the construction of the new medical research buildings of the New York Presbyterian Hospital, the park has become an oasis for the staff of the medical center as well as for residents of the neighborhood.

In Hempstead, New York, where Hofstra University and the Nassau Coliseum are located, there had been an airfield used by the Army Air Corps and the United States Air Force. The field was in service from 1918 to 1961 and was named to honor Mayor Mitchel. A children’s museum will open in one of the former bomber hangers. The complex is the last major piece of property to be developed on Long Island. The army still owns fifty acres, and portions have been preserved as Hempstead Plains.

For more information on Mitchel Square Park, read a reproduction of the Parks Department’s sign located in the park.