Duane Park

What was here before?

The park is the last remnant the Annetje Jans’ farm, granted in 1636 by Governor Wouter Van Twiller to Roelfoff and Annetje Jans. After the death of Roeloff Jans, his widow married the Reverend Everardus Bogardus, second minister of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, and the farm became known as the Dominie’s Bouwery, (“minister’s farm”).

The farm was sold in 1671 to the English Governor, Sir Francis Lovelace, but was later confiscated by the Duke of York and deeded in 1705 to Trinity Church. In 1797 the City purchased the triangle from Trinity Church for five dollars. It was the first public space acquired by the City specifically for use as a public park. The transfer of land in 1671 has been contested multiple times since 1833 by heirs of Cornelius Bogardus (d.1666), son of Annetie Jans, who died before he could sign over his part of the land.

How did this site become a park?

Parks Department Chief Engineer M.A. Kellogg and Chief Gardener I.A. Pilat, who designed both City Hall and Washington Square Parks, enlarged and enclosed the once-open commons with trees, lawn, and shrubs. The 1870 design featured bluestone curbing, iron fencing on a granite base, grading and planting of the enclosed green space, and twelve new street trees. The sidewalk along the south side of the park was widened from two to ten feet, and the sidewalk along Hudson was narrowed from sixteen to ten feet.

As part of a citywide effort to improve public access to enclosed parklands, Parks Superintendent Samuel Parsons Jr., and landscape architect Calvert Vaux introduced a new plan for the space in 1887 that added curving paths while retaining the plantings. Integrating “definite artistic principles” and considering the unfavorable native soil in this part of Manhattan, the Vaux-Parsons plan for Duane Park featured paths curving in from each surrounding street. “At Duane Street a diagonal walk has been introduced swelling out to a considerable width at one point between the three entrances,” Parsons explained. “Beyond this there are only three small bits of green grass on either side, a few shrubs along the fence and a small flower-bed, but even this is a boon to the crowded neighborhood.”

In 1940, a design by Chief Consultant Landscape Architect Gilmore D. Clarke and Parks Department Landscape Architect Janet Patt gave the park a formal Beaux-Arts design. The planted area was reduced, and a central flagpole was added which was typical of Works Progress Administration projects and featured a geometric style.

In 1999, a plan by landscape architect Signe Nielsen sponsored by the Friends of Duane Park replaced much of the paved area with planting to evoke the 1887 design. Bronze plaques detailing the park’s history and design were installed at the Hudson Street entrance in 2000.

Who is this park named for?

This park and the adjacent street take the name of James Duane (1733-1797), New York’s first mayor after the Revolutionary War.

Born in New York City and admitted to the bar in 1754, Duane went on to serve as New York attorney general in 1767 and in the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1784. Despite having initial reservations about his country’s independence, he later supported the Declaration of Independence and helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the first New York State Constitution. He was a member of the New York State Senate, the first mayor of New York City (1784-1789), and served as a U.S. District judge in New York.