Washington Square

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Washington Square Park

Washington Square was originally farmland on the northern outskirts of the New York colony. When the Dutch settlers encountered trouble with the Lenape Indians, from whom they had purchased Manhattan Island, they freed several of their slaves on condition that the slaves farm the land and pay a portion of the harvests to the settlement. This did not stem from any antipathy towards slavery. The freed slaves were considered a buffer against the Lenape Indians, and children of the freed slaves were considered still slaves.

By the time the British had taken over the settlement, the land was perceived as too valuable and was distributed among the affluent British and Dutch settlers. It remained farmland. A stream called the Minetta crossed through the current Square, and the freed slaves were used to farm the land. The slaves lived in an area just below the Square, now Little Italy.

By 1797, the cemeteries of the island were full, and the city fathers purchased a large tract at the southwestern section of the current Square for use as a potter's field. There were annual bouts of yellow fever, thought to be caused by the terrible living conditions in lower Manhattan, but actually caused by the mosquitoes carried on ships from the West Indies. Each summer the fever would take its toll, until the cold weather came. The potter's field was used to bury indigent people. It is estimated that the field contains over 20,000 bodies. When it became full, about 1826, a new potters field was chosen on the site of the current New York Public Library along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd street. Later that site became a reservoir for the Croton Water System, and the potters field was moved to Hart 's Island in the East River, where it remains today. Graves are tended by prisoners from nearby Rikers Island.

The potters field became the site for duels and public hangings. Condemned prisoners were marched from Newgate Prison on Tenth Street near Hudson River, publicly hanged in the potter's field, and then buried. This continued until the cemetery was closed 1 May 1825. One myth about the Square was the "Hanging Elm", a huge tree in the northwest corner of the Square. It was said that General Lafayette, when passing through the park, once saw twenty bodies hanging from the elm, but there is no evidence to support this grisly tale. And there is the legend of the wrongly hanged Irishman who still haunts the park on dark nights on the anniversary of his hanging. The last known hanging was of a young black woman,Rose Butler, hanged in 1819 for setting fire to the house in which she worked -- probably an accidental fire as most were in the era of wooden houses, burning candles and open cooking fires.

When the potter's field was closed down, the Square became the site of military training. There was no regular army, but each state had its own militia, and several different groups were formed. The Square became a training and parade ground. One of the most famous groups was the 7th Regiment, a blue-blood contingent, which later located its armory uptown around 68th street.

One important landholder, Thomas Randall, had been in command of the boat which rowed Washington across the Hudson during the Revolution. His son inherited the large farm at the northeast corner of the Square. When he died, he left the farm and a considerable amount of money to an association called Sailors Snug Harbor. This nonprofit had been formed to provide housing and care for retired sailors. The association determined that it would be better to lease the land on the north side of the Square and use the proceeds for maintenance of the old sailors' home than to build the home on the Square. So a home was built on Staten Island overlooking the narrows, and about 1830 the northern section of the Square east of Fifth Avenue was leased long term to a group headed by John Johnston.

In 1833 construction was begun on the row of houses from 1 to 13 Washington Square. They were connected, of uniform height and appearance in Greek Revival style and achieved the nickname "the Row".. (There was great admiration in the US for the Greeks who had fought for their independence from Turkey. Remember Lord Byron?) The houses were quickly grabbed up by the wealthy, and that became the center of high society for almost forty years. One disadvantage for scholars was that the names of the occupants are not listed on any deeds. One advantage is that the houses remained intact in style. On the west side of the northern edge of the Square, individuals purchased land and built houses in various styles. These houses also were sold individually, and several of them were replaced with apartment buildings.

As the press of immigrants moved north, crowding against the south edge of the Square, the Square lost its cachet for the affluent, and they began to move up along Fifth Avenue between 10th and 40th Street. But the romantic aura of the Square remained, fueled in large part by Henry James' Washington Square and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. Curiously, neither novel was written in the Square; both were penned in Europe. But their drew upon the authors' remembrance of how the Square had been when they grew up there.

During the Civil War, the supply of volunteers, many of them Irish, dried up for the Union Army. Early in 1963, the government instituted a draft with several enormous loopholes. A draftee could avoid service by finding someone outside the age limits (less than 18 or older than 35) or by paying $300. In an era when a workingman was lucky to earn $10 per month, this meant that the rich were exempt. This led to draft riots centered in the Square, since the Irish immigrants were located largely south of the Square. Animosity was particularly strong against black, as the Emancipation Proclamation issued about the same time, made it look as if the Civil War was fought to free the slaves. In the ensuing riots, at least 20 people were killed, many of them blacks who lived just south of the Square. The riots were quelled by moving an entire regiment of troops from Gettysburg battlefield. They set up quarters on the Square.

By the end of the 19th century, the low rents in the deteriorating Village area attracted many artists, poets, authors and sculptors. The area became known for its artistic community and for its freewheeling ways. After World War I, this reputation grew with artists such as Jackson Pollock, the Ashcan School, and many others living there. During Prohibition, the Square was known as a great place to drink or purchase alcohol. Almost every apartment in little Italy had deliveries of cases of grapes. Along the square itself, it is estimated there were 53 separate speakeasies.

Real estate developers were attracted to the square during the period between the two World Wars. The entire west side of the square had its townhouses torn down to be replaced by apartments. Eleanor Roosevelt rented one because she expected herself and Franklin to live there. She chose the apartment because its entrance had no steps. Franklin visited the apartment only once, but she lived there until 1949.

The south east and south borders of the park have been dominated by NYU. Its original Gothic building at the northeast corner was replaced by the main building, and the New Dutch South Reformed Church at the southeast corner was torn down, replaced by a warehouse, later converted to an academic building. NYU found itself at odds with the local gentry as it purchased land along the south section, first for a law school, later for the Courant Mathematics Building and the Bobst Library. When finances were tight, NYU sold its Bronx campus (designed by McKim, Mead and White) and consolidated its main operation along the Square.

The Washington Arch designed by Stanford White was preceded by a temporary arch  which straddled Fifth Avenue above Eighth Street. The design was so impressive, that a group of private persons collected money so that White could erect a permanent monument in marble. The current arch was completed in 1895, and has been remodeled several times since as it did not withstand rain too well. In 2002 it again underwent a face lift.

There is a statue of Garibaldi still standing in the Square. This was financed by donations of Italian immigrants who lived south of the Square, and is testament to the presence for over 150 years of a large Italian population which had exerted its influence on the Square and Greenwich Village. Garibaldi was largely admired for his struggle for independence of the Italian provinces from the Austrian-Hungary empire and the absorption of the Papal States into a unified Italy. Americans tended to admire anyone who fought for independence, since such a struggle resonated with the American experience.

Vehicular traffic through the part was discontinued by 1959. Washington Square Park remains the busiest part in the city, and retains its reputation for tolerance of all types.