WHAT St. Nicholas Park lacks in width, it makes up for in length, extending from West 128th Street all the way north to West 141st, but at the width of only one city block between St. Nicholas Avenue and St. Nicholas Terrace. Plenty of Manhattan streets are named for St. Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of the Netherlands; the Dutch were among the first white settlers on Manhattan Island beginning in the 1620s, though several expeditionary missions had visited the island for over. acentury before that. The park was acquired by the city in different parcels between 1886 and 1906.
The north end of the park since 2008 has been the home of Hamilton Grange, the home of first Treasury Secretary and revolutionary War hero Alexander Hamilton. However, I know it for a different artifact. In the northbound park path nearest St. Nicholas Avenue and West 135th Street, I spotted this iron lamppost base. It either supported a longmasted Corvington post or a curving Bishop Crook; and there’s an outside chance it also carried a Type F mast. Without an old photo, there’s no way for me to know.
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3/10/23