VILLAGE VIEW TRIVIA
Where is the General Sheridan Statue Located?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA
The Village has a number of odd triangular public spaces, recently satirized in a Saturday Night Live skit because they are called Squares. Naming these peculiar spaces can be tricky, because we don’t want to name something for someone alive who might mess up and create shame for the city. But then, sometimes history’s viewpoint may change with the times, and war heroes become more like other lesser humans.
Here in the Village, we have a larger-than-life bronze statue of General Philip Sheridan by sculptor Joseph P. Pollia, completed in 1936. General Sheridan, who died on August 5, 1888, was considered a hero at the time, especially in the North. General Sheridan was appointed by Ulysses S. Grant as commander of the Army of the Shenandoah, where he defeated Confederate troops. Sheridan further gained fame when his tactics helped to force General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. He was instrumental in the official designation of Yellowstone as a National Park and, in 1888, his career reached its apex when he was appointed General of the Army by President Cleveland.
Trivia question: Where is the Sheridan statue located? see below!
A New York Times article from 1896, announced the decision by the Aldermanic Committee on Land, Places, and Public Parks to officially name a strip of land Sheridan Square. This is the small triangle encompassed by Washington Place, West 4th Street, and Barrow Street, but not quite reaching Seventh Avenue South. Sheridan Square is one of those names that Villagers and New Yorkers know because it’s a subway stop (since 1918), and there are a couple of large apartment buildings with that address. During most of the twentieth century, Sheridan Square served as a traffic-safety island. In 1982 the area went from a paved triangle to a lovely viewing garden. This project came about when a group of Sheridan Square neighbors, the Sheridan Square Triangle Association, convinced the Parks Department to turn this plot of land into a garden.
But they didn’t get the Sheridan statue, which had been erected instead at the nearby Christopher Park (encompassed by Christopher Street, West 4th Street and Grove Street) in 1936, creating an ever-confusing mix-up of the two areas. The question we might ask is, “Why didn’t they choose to erect the statue in Sheridan Square instead?” Perhaps it was too much work to fix up the “Square” in that Depression time?
Photo by Brian J. Pape, AIA.
