Tompkins Square Park (Tour)

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This memorial honors those who lost their lives when the excursion vessel, PS 'General Slocum,' caught fire while traveling up the East River on June 15, 1904. Chartered by Manhattan’s St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church for its annual picnic, the wooden side-wheel steamer was destined for Locust Grove, a picnic site on the north shore of Long Island. Of the roughly 1,300 passengers aboard, most were women and children from the German-American community of the Lower East Side. In all, over 1,000 passengers and crew perished in the tragedy. Prior to the terrorist attacks on September 11, the burning of the 'General Slocum' was the deadliest disaster in New York City’s history. It remains, however, the worst in-land waters, peace-time tragedy in American history. In 1906, the Sympathy Society of German Ladies donated a memorial to commemorate the victims of the disaster. Designed by sculptor Bruno Louis Zimm and erected in Tompkins Square Park, the memorial consists of a nine-foot-tall stele fountain made of pink Tennessee marble. It features a single lion’s head that spouts water into a small basin below and a bas-relief of two children gazing into the distance.

2. Former Residence of Charlie Parker

A landmarked building that faces Thompkins Square Park was once the home of jazz legend Charlie Parker. Parker lived in the home with his family from 1950 to 1954 and though he was at the peak of his career, during this time he was also very much a family man. Years after Parker's death, jazz promoter Judith Rhodes bought the building and lived in Parker's ground floor apartment. The building is a New York City Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

3. The Christodora House

The Christodora House is a historic building in Manhattan’s East Village/Alphabet City area. Originally designed as a settlement house for immigrant land low-income residents in 1928, the Christodora House would help those who came through its doors get settled into a home of their own, providing food, education, and other necessities to its residents. In March of 1986, the Christodora House was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Christodora House still rents out rooms for residents as a condominium complex.

4. Samuel Sullivan Cox Monument

Designed by sculptor Louise Lawson, this East Village monument commemorates congressman and U.S. diplomat, Samuel Sullivan Cox (1824-1889). A native of Ohio, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly thirty years during the latter half of the nineteenth century, representing congressional districts in Ohio and New York. In Congress, Cox ardently supported the U.S. Life-Saving Service and helped pass legislation that gave U.S. Postal Service workers a wage increase, paid time off, and a forty-hour workweek. Additionally, he served briefly as secretary of the legation at Lima, Peru in the 1850s and U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the 1880s. Shortly after Cox’s death, U.S. Postal Service employees embarked on a nationwide campaign to raise funds for the erection of this monument to honor the lawmaker. Mail carriers from 188 cities across the United States donated a total of $10,000 to fund the monument, which was dedicated on July 4, 1891. The monument features an over-life-sized bronze statue of Cox standing on a granite pedestal. It was originally located at the intersection of Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Astor Place, just south of his former residence on East Twelfth Street. An estimated 2,500 letter carriers from as far away as Memphis and New Orleans attended the unveiling. In 1924, the monument was moved to Tompkins Square Park, where it remains today.

This Tour is a Virtual Museum or Site Tour.

Tompkins Square Park

Created by Sara Marian on March 21st 2016, 9:00:01 pm.

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Tompkins Square Park in the East Village is named for Daniel D. Tompkins (1774-1825), New York Governor and Vice President of the United States under James Monroe.The land, originally a swamp, was acquired by the City of New York in 1834 for the creation of a public square, and was landscaped and graded from 1835-1850. An open parade ground for the Seventh Regiment of New York was created at the site in 1866 through the removal of park trees. City residents pressed for the space's redesignation as a public park, and their efforts were rewarded in 1879. The park now hosts performances and events including Wigstock (the outdoor drag festival), the Howl Festival (commemorating poet Allen Ginsberg), and the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. Park facilities include a handball court, chess tables, a basketball court, and two playgrounds.

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Tompkins Square Park

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