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Vietnam Veterans Plaza is an American memorial plaza in

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. It honors New York City citizens who served during the 20th-century

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

Description and history

Located in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

in Lower Manhattan, it lies on a

trapezoid A quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides is called a trapezoid () in American and Canadian English. In British and other forms of English, it is called a trapezium (). A trapezoid is necessarily a convex quadrilateral in Eu ...

al parcel of land that was formerly a roadway named

Coenties Slip Coenties Slip is a street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It runs southeast for two blocks in Lower Manhattan from Pearl Street to South Street. A walkway runs an additional block north from Pearl Street to Stone St ...

. The slip road was used from the 17th century by Dutch sailors between journeys. The slip was filled in 1835, and it then became Jeannette Park in 1884, dedicated to the ill-fated of the ''Jeannette'' expedition.

Horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

Samuel Parsons Samuel Bowne Parsons Jr. (8 February 1844 – 3 February 1923), was an American landscape architect. He is remembered as being a founder of the American Society of Landscape Architects, helping to establish the profession. Early years Parsons w ...

was responsible for laying out the garden in 1886. By the mid-20th century, city planner Robert Moses had rebuilt the park with "horseshoe pitches and tennis, paddleball, handball, and shuffleboard courts all arranged around a tear-shaped asphalt plaza with a flagpole". As part of the construction of the neighboring

55 Water Street 55 Water Street is a skyscraper on the East River in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The 53-story, structure was completed in 1972. Designed by Emery Roth and Sons, the building was developed by the Uris brothers ...

, Paul Friedberg was commissioned to redesign the land in 1971, to which he added the amphitheater fountain. Initially, 55 Water Street's owners were responsible for maintaining the park, which was paved in brick similar to the Elevated Acre plaza next to the building. In 1982, plans were unveiled to redevelop Jeannette Park into a memorial for veterans of the

. The architects Peter Wormser and William Fellows and the writer Joseph Ferrandino won a competition to design it. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission raised private donations of $2.5 million ($1 million from

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, who served as co-chairman of the commission) to finance the memorial in 1983. The park was officially renamed Vietnam Veterans Plaza on July 20, 1983. The next year, it was announced that the plaza would contain a memorial wall, similar to that at the

Vietnam Veterans Memorial The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those ...

but made of glass blocks. It was dedicated on May 6, 1985, by then-mayor Edward I. Koch to honor the 1,741 citizens of the city who died during the Vietnam War and the 250,000 men and women who served between 1964 and 1975. Mayor Rudy Giuliani rededicated the plaza on November 9, 2001, following the September 11, 2001, attacks, as it underwent a $7 million restoration. A new ceremonial entrance was added providing access from Water Street to South Street and a

black granite In the construction industry, black rocks that share the hardness and strength of granitic rocks are known as black granite. In geological terms, black granite might be gabbro, diabase, basalt, diorite, norite, or anorthosite Anorthosite () i ...

fountain placed at the center. The "Walk of Honor" contains 12 polished granite pylons with the names of all 1,741 people who died. In the future, the park may be the site of an entrance to a

Second Avenue Subway The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue on the East Side of Manhattan. The first phase of this new line, ...

station under Hanover Square.

Footnotes

External links

Vietnam Veterans Plaza
at the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

's official website {{Portal bar, Architecture, War, New York City 1884 establishments in New York (state) 1985 establishments in New York City Cultural infrastructure completed in 1985 Financial District, Manhattan Monuments and memorials in Manhattan Parks in Manhattan Vietnam War monuments and memorials in the United States

Description and history

See also

Footnotes

External links