ONE of Brooklyn’s lest-known and perhaps least-visited WWI memorials is at Bernard Weinberg Triangle, Tillary Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension, the southeast end of McLaughlin Park. This was originally the corner of Tillary and Bridge; Flatbush Avenue would be “extended” north when the Manhattan Bridge opened in 1909. The 12-foot tall limestone stele is engraved with the names of over 100 soldiers from the neighborhood who perished in the “Great War.” Six 20-inch tall artillery cases stand to the right of the monument, which is in a windswept and deserted plaza during the cold months, (The internet is silent on the identity of Bernard Weinberg, so help me out if you can.)
Update: Sergey Kadinsky has the answer to Bernard Weinberg’s identity; see Comments
Unfortunately limestone and marble have not demonstrated staying power as far as chiseled names are concerned, as rain and pollution take their toll on obliterating the names after some decades, and this WWI memorial needs careful inspection to make out the names of the fallen warriors; the names may disappear outright within a century.
Tillary Street was named for Dr. James Tillary, a colonial-era area physician. In the 1950s it had several extra lanes added when the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was constructed nearby.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop. As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
8/7/25
4 comments
A little-known fact is that among all the participants World War I had more military deaths than World War II, though the latter had far more civilian deaths.
A document available here https://propertyinformationportal.nyc.gov/pdf/home/index/hab/318195019580705033 (NYC Department of Finance) suggests that the triangle was named under Local Law #5 of 1952. (Unfortunately, NYC local laws older than around 1973 seem not to be available online, so someone more determined than I would have to go find the text Local Law #5 of 1952 said. Perhaps it might indicate who Bernard Weinberg was.)
“…(The internet is silent on the identity of Bernard Weinberg, so help me out if you can.)…”
My rather puckish guess is that he was a cartographer?
The namesake was killed in action in France on July 13, 1944.
He was 19 years old.
In 1947, the Jewish War Veterans post in Fort Greene was renamed for Weinberg.