Washington Square Park

The weather has been wet and stormy the last couple of days.  So when the sun eventually came out I headed for the park, this time Washington Square Park.  NYC has 1900 public parks and at 9.75 acres Washington Square Park is one of the most famous.  NYU owns the buildings surrounding the park and thinks of the park as its quad but the park is public.
Initially it was marsh land with the Minetta Creek flowing through it.  The Dutch turned it into a farm and then gave it to their freed slaves.  It then became known as "the land of the Blacks".
The NYC Common Council purchased the land in 1797 and made it a potter's field and the place for public hangings.  One or two hangings have been reported to have taken place in the park.  The Cemetery was closed in 1825 but never moved and it is estimated that 20,000 souls rest underneath the park.  During remodeling of the park in 2007 a headstone from 1797 was unearthed.
In 1826 it was a military parade ground.  In 1871 the park came under the control of the newly formed Parks Commission.  In 1934 Robert Moses included the park in his urban renewal plan.  He wanted to extend Firth Ave. through the middle of the park.  The opposition was strong, and most especially tireless, considering the fact that it took over 30 years to free the park of vehicular traffic.  They won, thanks to the hard work of Jane Jacobs, Shirley Hayes and Eleanor Roosevelt, who lived on Washington Square Park West.
In time the park became a hangout for artists, musicians, comics and many types of performers.
First the Beatniks and folksingers in the 50's and early 60's.  The community, mostly working class, considered them "undesirables" and got the authorities to 'clean' up the park.  April 9, 1961 was what the NY Mirror called the 'Beatnik riot'.  500 musicians had gathered to protest the law requiring permits in order to play music in the park.  They were met by police with billy clubs, and ten people were arrested.  The park was thereafter patrolled by police and was pretty much a community park until the 70's when it became a hangout for drug dealing and general criminal activity.
Some of the many people who have hung out in the park: Buddy Holly, when he lived nearby, Stanley Kubrick played chess in the park and Barack Obama held a political rally there on 9/27/07.
$16 million is being spent for the renovation.

House of Worship

The Church of the Nativity on 2nd Ave. between 2nd Street and 3rd was initially the site of a Presbyterian church built in 1832.  The Catholic Archdiocese bought that building and founded the Church of the Nativity in 1842.  The old building was demolished in 1970 and the current church was built.

In 1842 it served the growing numbers of Irish immigrants in the community, then Italians and now Hispanics from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  Described as having a cinder-block and brick institutional drab look it was built by the parishioners at basement prices because the neighborhood could not afford more.  The inside is plain white, with oak pews and little else but an altar.  Unfortunately, It is scheduled for closing by the Archdiocese of the City of New York.  Staffed by up to 4 Jesuits at one time, it has one priest now.  As the neighborhood has become gentrified and rents increased many parishioners moved further north.  Manhattan with 25% of the churches has only 17% percent of the church going population.  The younger more affluent community growing in the east village does not appear to be church affiliated.  Dorothy Day, who dedicated her life to the poor, worshiped here for many decades.
In related news:  the Sunday Times had an article about a monastery closing in North Dakota because of the lack of new novitiates.  It is a Benedictine Monastery as founded by St. Benedict in the 6th Century for those wishing to serve God through work and prayer.  It is  not a cloistered Abbey.  The last novitiate to be accepted into this Abbey was in 2002 and since then 9 monks have died.  One of 40 in the U.S., Assumption Abbey was founded by Swiss Benedictine Monks in 1890 and was populated by German speaking monks from Russia and Hungary, because North Dakota was 'settled' by immigrants from those countries.  The Abbey currently has 1900 acres with 155 cows, 8 bulls and 155 calves.  Usually the Monastery would just sell the calves, but this year they are selling the entire herd.
"No more cowboys taking vows", was the headline.  Brother Placid Gross, I swear by all that's holy that's his name, is the last cowboy monk at Assumption Abbey and at 76 years of age it is more than he can handle.  There are 28 monks in residence but Brother Placid says they are more interested in 'intellectual stuff'.
"Happy trails to you
until we meet again
happy trails to you
keep smiling until then."
Dale Evans Rogers