Washington Square Park

By Tours of 1930s NYC

Washington Square This photo represents one of the entrances to Washington Square, taken by the 1940s tax department. Source: New York City Municipal Archives Date: 1939-1941

"Washington Square, on the other hand, is striking for its dignity, still undestroyed by the commercial and tenement advances that swept around it, while many of the streets to the north between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, have scarcely changed through the decades. The site of the square served as the city's potter's field in 1789, and the use of its trees - some still standing - as the public gallows during that period was an attraction drawing large crowds of holiday makers on execution days. In 1823, however, the potter's field was closed. Four years later a park was laid out and the first of the impressive mansions which give the square its present character was erected. The square today is well shaded by trees; pin oaks, oriental planes, yellow locusts, ash, and American elm. Benches line its path, and here meet Italian workers, mothers and their broods from the south, apartment dwellers from the north, university students from the east, and young Villagers from the west (NYC Guide, pp. 131-132)."