Studley Triangle

Elmer E. Studley Triangle

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

Elmer Ebenezer Studley (1869-1942) led a distinguished career in public life in which, as soldier or as congressman, he served his country dutifully. A descendant of Henry Dunster, first president of Harvard College, Studley was born on a farm near East Ashford, New York. He was educated at Springville (N.Y.) High School, and received his undergraduate degree (1892) and law degree (1894) from Cornell University. After working as a lawyer and journalist in Buffalo, he served as a first lieutenant in Cuba in the 202nd Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War (1898-99). Studley then moved to New Mexico. He embarked upon a career in territorial and state politics and was a candidate for Presidential elector on the Progressive ticket of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. He practiced law for eighteen years.

After returning to New York in 1917, Studley held a series of positions including: Deputy Attorney General of New York, United States Commissioner for the Eastern District of New York, commander of the New York State Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was elected to Congress in 1932 and served one term (1933-1935). He was appointed to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, granted by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935, until he died in 1942 at his home in Flushing.

This triangle, located in Queens at the intersection of Northern Boulevard, Crocheron Avenue and 162nd Street, was acquired by Parks in 1943. It was named in that year for Elmer E. Studley by a unanimous vote the City Council.

GREENSTREETS

This traffic median was planted through a joint project with the city Department of Transportation called Greenstreets. The goal of Greenstreets, started in 1986 and reintroduced in 1994, is to convert paved street properties, like triangles and malls, into green spaces. Funded through Parks & Recreation’s capital budget, Greenstreets plants trees and shrubs in the city’s barren street spaces. The assistance of volunteers keeps these areas clean and their plants healthy.