Hutton Triangle

This square honors local Bronxite and World War I veteran Cecil F. Hutton. Hutton served as a private in the 105th Infantry and died on July 28, 1918. The tiny triangle of land, bounded by Quarry Road, East 182nd Street and Arthur Avenue, was acquired by condemnation in 1897 and named in Hutton’s memory on May 22, 1940.

Quarry Road takes its name from the rock quarry that was once located on the thoroughfare, and according to local lore, became the cellar of the Lorillard Mansion. The Lorillards were a wealthy Bronx family who made their fortune in tobacco. Legend has it that upon the death of Pierre Lorillard in 1837, an obituary writer coined the term “millionaire” to describe his vast wealth.

The origin of Arthur Avenue’s name is an issue of some dispute. Allegedly, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, a late 19th century Belmont property owner and a great admirer of President Chester A. Arthur (1830-1886), proposed the street name in honor of the twenty-first president. Arthur was famed for prosecuting grafters in the Post Office and vetoing a bill that would have limited Chinese immigration. Other evidence points to the street’s namesake being Arthur Hoffman, an apocryphal surveyor who may have whimsically left his name on both Arthur Avenue and parallel Hoffman Avenue. Today, Arthur Avenue is known as “the Little Italy of the Bronx” and is famous for its restaurants and bakeries.

Hutton Square is located in the Bronx neighborhood known as East Tremont. This area was known as Upper Morrisania until the 1850s, when local postmaster Hiram Tarbox realized his mail was getting mixed up with that of nearby Morrisania. As legend has it, he renamed the town “Tremont” for the three nearby hills—Fairmount, Mount Eden, and Mount Hope.

Originally just a triangular parcel of dirt surrounded by bluestone curbing, Hutton Square has been developed into a small park containing hexblock paving, concrete planters, and several trees, including Norway maple (Acer platanoides), Pin oak (Quercus palustris), Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), and Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata). These trees were planted as part of a Greenstreets renovation. Initiated in 1986 and revived in 1994, Greenstreets is a joint program of the Department of Transportation and Parks that plants trees and shrubs in some of the City’s cement and asphalt triangles and squares.