Proctor-Hopson Circle

In 1924 Merrick Boulevard was widened and its former route became 169th Place, creating a small parcel of land that was assigned to NYC Parks. In 1932 the semicircular traffic island was named after two local residents who were killed in the First World War.

John Proctor and Arthur Hopson were members of the 369th Infantry of the National Guard, known informally as the Harlem Hellfighters. Formed in 1913, this unit was comprised of African-American servicemen at a time when the country’s armed forces were segregated along racial lines. The U.S. Army mustered the unit into Federal service in 1917, and the 369th Infantry Regiment went to France that December, among the first 100,000 troops of the American Expeditionary Forces.

Exhibiting extraordinary valor, the 369th, an integral part of the Fourth French Army, fought on the front until the Armistice. During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive the 369th showed exceptional bravery, especially on September 29, 1918, during the liberation of Sechault, when a third of the regiment suffered casualties. Among the first in the unit from Queens to die in this war were Proctor and Hopson. In their memory, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter is named the Procter-Hopson Post No. 1896.

The veterans’ organization lobbied to have this traffic mall renamed as well, and in 1932 the City’s Board of Aldermen approved the renaming. At the park’s dedication ceremony on October 23, 1932, a parade of veterans proceeded along Merrick Boulevard from King Park, and were greeted by local community leaders and more than 1,500 residents.

The dedication of Proctor-Hopson Circle illustrated the complex race relations at the time. While New York honored the Harlem Hellfighters with a ticker-tape parade on Fifth Avenue in 1924 and renamed this park eight years later, black veterans in other states were not as fortunate and were subjected to voting restrictions, violence, and discrimination.