The newly-refurbished Highbridge Doughboy in the Bronx. One of the most distinctive and recognizable variants of World War I memorials are the so-called “doughboy” statues. Though the derivation of the term “doughboy” remains in question, it was widely popularized during World War I to refer to infantrymen. Nine such statues were commissioned for New York City's parks, including the Highbridge Doughboy. After being in storage for more than 40 years, the Highbridge Doughboy was fully restored and erected in September of this year at a new prominent location at the gateway to the Highbridge community, next to Yankee Stadium at Jerome Avenue and 161st Street.
NYC Parks Celebrates and Commemorates WWI Armistice Centennial through 103 Memorials around the City
By Jonathan Kuhn, NYC Parks
Special to the United States World War One Centennial Commission web site
In honor of the centennial of the World War I armistice on November 11, NYC Parks’ Citywide Monuments Conservation Program (CMCP) staff joined forces with park partners this fall to refurbish and care for several monuments, including Father Duffy in Times Square, the Pleasant Plains Memorial on Staten Island, the Abingdon Square Doughboy in Greenwich Village, and the Carroll Park monument in Brooklyn.
For more info and photos, go to https://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/war-memorials/world-war-I
With 103 memorials of all shapes and sizes erected in the aftermath of World War I, Parks has one of the most prevalent collections of memorials to this important moment in history. Memorials can be found across the city, with 21 in Brooklyn, 18 in the Bronx, 23 in Manhattan, 12 on Staten Island, and 29 in Queens. Through the Public Art Map on our website, you can explore monuments like the Astoria Park War Memorial in Queens to the Woodlawn Heights War Memorial in the Bronx.
Here are a few highlights of CMCP’s work on WWI monuments and memorials around the city:
Highbridge Doughboy
Jerome Avenue and 161st Street, Bronx
After being stored away for more than 40 years, this monument was fully restored and erected in September at a prominent new location at the gateway to the Highbridge community next to Yankee Stadium.
Dover Patrol monument
John Paul Jones Park, Brooklyn
Through a partnership with Karcher Company, the city’s tallest WWI monument (at 75’ high) has been fully cleaned and all masonry repointed. Dating to 1931 the monument honors the heroic naval fleet that patrolled the English Channel in WWI.
Washington Heights Inwood War Memorial
Mitchel Square, Manhattan
Created in 1923 by noted sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, this monument has been fully refurbished. The work included replicating the missing bronze bayonet, cleaning and recoating the entire bronze sculptural group and numerous dedicatory markers, and repointing all of the masonry. Congressman Adriano Espaillat held a rededication ceremony at the monument November 7, 2018.
Eternal Light Monument
Madison Square Park, Manhattan
The Madison Square Park Conservancy has recently completed this monument’s refurbishment and created a new welcoming entryway around it.
Zion Park War Memorial
Zion Triangle, Brooklyn
Also known as the Brownsville War Memorial, work commenced this fall on a city capital project which includes the restoration of this historic memorial in Brownsville. In recent years annual ceremonies at the monument have been renewed by the Brooklyn Jewish History Initiative.
369th Regiment Memorial, in Manhattan. The 369th Regiment Memorial at 142nd and Fifth Avenue is the most recent World War I monument installed in NYC Parks (most were installed in the 1920s). Honoring the famed “Harlem Hellfighters,” it was dedicated in 2006, and is a replica of a monument in Sechault, France, where the regiment valiantly fought.One of the most distinctive and recognizable variants of World War I memorials are the so-called “Doughboy” statues. Though the derivation of the term “doughboy” remains in question, it was widely popularized during World War I to refer to infantrymen.
Nine such statues were commissioned for New York City's parks, examples of which include the Bushwick-Ridgewood Memorial in Brooklyn, the Abingdon Square Doughboy, Chelsea Park Memorial, and Clinton War Memorial in Manhattan and the Woodside Doughboy in Queens.
The doughboy statues, in realistic yet heroic poses, represent the sacrifice of the individual, anonymous soldier—decidedly different in focus from the Civil War monuments that focused on great men in war. They have an emotional range from combative to pensive.
Fun Facts About NYC Parks’ WWI Memorials and Monuments:
• Famous body builder Charles Atlas reputedly posed for the nude male figure in Dawn of Glory, a World War I memorial in Highland Park, Brooklyn
• William Van Alen, architect for the famed Chrysler Building, designed the granite pedestal of the Richmond Hill War Memorial in Forest Park.
• The 369th Regiment Memorial at 142nd and Fifth Avenue is the most recent World War I monument installed in NYC Parks (most were installed in the 1920s). Honoring the famed “Harlem Hellfighters,” it was dedicated in 2006, and is a replica of a monument in Sechault, France, where the regiment valiantly fought.
• The Bronx Victory Memorial in Pelham Bay Park is one of two World War I memorial in NYC Parks to honor all those who died from a borough. The other is the Prospect Park War Memorial.
• The 61st District Memorial by Charles Keck (who also sculpted the Father Duffy statue in Times Square, was moved to its present location to make way for the Prospect Expressway.
• The Winfield War Memorial in Queens has been hit three times by cars. It was restored in 2012.
• The Saratoga War Memorial in Bedford Stuyvesant was stolen in 2000 and recreated in 2014.
• The Pleasant Plains Memorial on Staten Island was car damaged and later stolen in the early 1970s, and recreated in 1997. Sculptor George Brewster’s wife posed for the allegorical figure holding symbols of peace and war.
• The Riverdale, Spuyten Dyvil, Kingsbridge Memorial Bell Tower is designed by Dwight James Baum, an architect responsible for many of the mansions in that community, as well as the West Side YMCA on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The tower contains a bell cast in Spain in 1748.
For more information on monuments and memorials in Parks’ collection, and read historical sign text and details, visit the monuments catalogue. Photos of many monuments are available upon request.
The Prospect Park War Memorial in Brooklyn. This memorial was commissioned by Red Hook shipbuilder William Todd. It is located lakeside near the ice skating rinks, honors the 2,800 deceased servicemen of Brooklyn who sacrificed their lives during World War I.