Duffy Square, named Father Duffy Square in 1939, is the northern triangle of

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City. It is bounded by 45th and 47th Streets,

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and Seventh Avenue. It is now well known for the

TKTS The TKTS ticket booths in New York City and London sell Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, music, and dance events and West End theatre tickets, respectively, at discounts of 20–50% off the face value. New York City New York City's TKTS (whic ...

reduced-price theater tickets booth located there. In the 18th and 19th centuries Lowes Lane connected Bloomingdale Road to

Eastern Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of post roads, mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post ...

. The west end of the lane was at the modern Duffy Square, and the east end at approximately the modern Third Avenue and 42nd Street. Lowes Lane and Eastern Post Road were suppressed late in the 19th century, but Bloomingdale Road survives under the name of Broadway. Duffy Square was briefly dominated by a fifty-foot, eight-ton plaster statue entitled ''Purity (Defeat of Slander)'' by

Leo Lentelli Leo Lentelli (20 October 1879 – 31 December 1961) was an Italian sculptor who immigrated to the United States. During his 52 years in the United States he created works throughout the country, notably in New York and San Francisco. He also taugh ...

in 1909. Now the square has two statues: a

bronze statue Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements t ...

of Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York's "Fighting 69th" Infantry Regiment, after whom the square is named, sculpted by

Charles Keck Charles Keck (September 9, 1875 – April 23, 1951) was an American sculptor from New York City, New York. Early life and education Keck studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York with Philip Martiny, ...

, and another statue depicting composer, playwright, producer and actor

George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...

, by sculptor

Georg J. Lober Georg John Lober (November 7, 1891 – December 14, 1961) was an American sculptor best known for his 1959 statue of composer George M. Cohan situated in Times Square, a 1949 sculpture of statesman Thomas Paine in Morristown, New Jersey, and a ...

. The statue of Duffy was dedicated by Mayor

Fiorello LaGuardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...

on May 2, 1937, who also signed the law authorizing the renaming of the square to "Father Duffy Square" on March 29, 1939; on June 13 of that year, the street signs were changed.Staff (June 13, 1939
"Duffy Sq, Signs To Be Put Up Today"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' The statue of Duffy and the square itself were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2001.

Gallery

Image:TimesSquare1820 Map2 crop.JPG, Lowes Lane meets Bloomingdale Road, 1820 Image:Duffy Square 1904.jpg, A 1904 photo of north end of Times Square before the creation of Duffy Square Image:Monuments & memorials - statue of Virtue. N.Y. LCCN97517194.jpg, Defeat of Slander statue Image:Father Duffy statue and TKTS booth risers.jpg, The red steps behind the statue of

Father Duffy Francis Patrick Duffy (May 2, 1871 – June 27, 1932) was a Canadian American soldier, Catholic priest and military chaplain. Duffy served as chaplain for the 69th Infantry Regiment (known as the "Fighting 69th"), a unit of the New York Army Na ...

are the roof of the TKTS booth Image:Ferris wheel Bway 2021-08-24 jeh.jpg, Ferris wheel under construction, August 2021

References

External links

The Fighting 69th Regiment Homepage

NYC Parks
{{Authority control Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan National Register of Historic Places in New York City Squares in Manhattan Times Square