J. MARION SIMS, FORMERLY 5TH AVENUE

Depending on who you speak to, there’s a wide opinion on the accomplishments and career of Dr. James Marion Sims.

Dr. James Marion Sims (1813-1883) is often called the father of gynecology; he founded the Women’s Hospital of New York City. To some, he is a respected figure for having advanced medical knowledge; to others, his name is reviled because in his native South Carolina, he performed experimental surgery on African American women slaves without the benefit of anesthesia. This page gives an account of some of that side of Sims’ story.

Dr. Sims’ statue, sculpted by Ferdinand von Miller III in 1893, was originally placed in Reservoir (now Bryant) Park, was removed from the park in 1928 and put in storage under the Williamsburg Bridge until 1934, when it was then taken to 5th Avenue and 103rd Street on the Central Park side and given a stone pedestal.

In the spring of 2018, Dr. Sims was on the move again. In the wake of some communities’ removal of statues and memorials commemorating prominent Confederate figures, New York City’s Public Design Commission took a look at memorials in NYC that might prove ethically questionable, including the many memorials to Christopher Columbus. In the end, only Sims was deemed worthy of removal. The decision was made to pack his statue off to his gravesite at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn (the repository of Fredrick MacMonnies’ work, Civic Virtue, also controversial because it depicted a Herculean figure (Virtue) trampling a pair of writhing mermaids symbolizing Vice).

I do not know if Dr. Sims’ statue was raised in Green-Wood at his gravesite; I’d have to check with them. The pedestal that lauds his work is still in place at 5th and 103rd; logically, it should have been moved with the statue.

Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”

5/16/19