Washington Square Park (Rochester, New York)

Washington Square Park is an urban park in Rochester, New York. It contains the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, erected in 1892.[1]

Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park in Rochester, New York
Location of Washington Square Park within New York state
TypeUrban park
Coordinates43.1534°N 77.6053°W / 43.1534; -77.6053
Created1817 (1817)
Operated byMonroe County
OpenAll year

History

It was formerly known as Johnson's Square.[2] The land for the park was donated to the public by Elisha Johnson in 1817.[3]

On 1 August 1848, it was the site of a public address by Frederick Douglass.[4] Douglass also spoke there in 1852.[2]

Austin Steward wrote in his Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman that numerous Black Americans celebrated the end of slavery in New York in Johnson's Square on July 5.[5][6]

In 2017, the Washington Square Park Neighborhood Association received a $15,000 grant to develop a new Master Plan for the park.[7]

Austrian cannon

An Austrian cannon captured by the Italian army during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in World War I was given as a gift to Rochester in 1921 by the Italian government.[8][7] The cannon was given as a symbol of the patriotism of the large Italian immigrant population in Rochester at the time.[8] At least 1,400 Rochester residents Italian descent fought in the war.[7] The cannon was restored and rededicated in 2017 in time for the centenary of World War I.[8]

See also
  • Gradual Emancipation Law of 1817

References
  1. "Soldiers and Sailors Monument". Democrat and Chronicle. 2018. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
  2. The encyclopedia of New York State. Eisenstadt, Peter R., 1954-, Moss, Laura-Eve. (1st ed.). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. 2005. p. 501. ISBN 0-8156-0808-X. OCLC 57506556.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Shilling, Donovan A. (2011). Rochester's remarkable past : twenty-four most unusual stories about some very unique people, places and events. [Victor, N.Y.]: Pancoast Pub. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-9821090-7-6. OCLC 729265587.
  4. Blair, William A. (2012). Journal of the Civil War Era, Summer 2012 Issue. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-8078-5264-4. OCLC 795119929.
  5. Steward, Austin (1852). Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman. William Alling, Exchange Street. p. 150.
  6. Steward, Austin. "Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman; Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West: Electronic Edition". Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. "News Release - City Rededicates World War I Cannon in Washington Square Park". City of Rochester. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. Kramer, David (28 January 2018). "The Austrian cannon is back in Washington Square Park. And some Italian Rochester history". Talker of the Town. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
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