C: General Worth Square

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1800-1850 1850-1950 1950-Today

This monument to a veteran of the Mexican-American War is one of only two in Manhattan that serve as an actual mausoleum. Inside the 51-foot obelisk lie the mortal remains of General William Jenkins Worth, one of only two monuments in New York that also serve as mausoleums. The other is the much more famous Grant’s Tomb uptown.

The mausoleum is located on a small traffic island bordered by 25th Street, Broadway, and 5th Avenue. The City originally leased this site at the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, West 24th and West 25th Street in the Flatiron district of Manhattan to the United States Government for $1.00 as part of an 1807 land deal. It reverted to City ownership in 1824. Parks designated it as a public park in 1847. The monument was designed by James Goodwin Batterson, whose pedigree also included being one of the builders of the Capitol and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. It features plaques commemorating Worth’s principal battles, a bronze relief of the General himself astride his horse, and a relic box placed in the cornerstone.

The Worth Monument is the second oldest monument in New York – the oldest being the 1856 George Washington equestrian monument at the southern end of Union Square.