Located in the
Financial District in
Lower Manhattan, it lies on a
trapezoidal parcel of land that was formerly a roadway named
Coenties Slip. The slip road was used from the 17th century by Dutch sailors between journeys. The slip was filled in 1835, and it then became Jeannette Park in 1884, dedicated to the ill-fated of the
Jeannette expedition.
Horticulturist Samuel Parsons was responsible for laying out the garden in 1886. By the mid-20th century, city planner
Robert Moses had rebuilt the park with "horseshoe pitches and tennis, paddleball, handball, and shuffleboard courts all arranged around a tear-shaped asphalt plaza with a flagpole". In 1982, plans were unveiled to redevelop Jeannette Park into a memorial for veterans of the
Vietnam War. The park was officially renamed Vietnam Veterans Plaza on July 20, 1983. The next year, it was announced that the plaza would contain a memorial wall, similar to that at the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial but made of glass blocks. It was dedicated on May 6, 1985, by then-mayor
Edward I. Koch to honor the 1,741 citizens of the city who died during the Vietnam War and the 250,000 men and women who served between 1964 and 1975. Mayor
Rudy Giuliani rededicated the plaza on November 9, 2001, following the
September 11, 2001, attacks, as it underwent a $7 million restoration. A new ceremonial entrance was added providing access from
Water Street to
South Street and a
black granite fountain placed at the center. The "Walk of Honor" contains 12 polished granite
pylons with the names and ages at death of all 1,741 people who died. In the future, the park may be the site of an entrance to a
Second Avenue Subway station under
Hanover Square. == See also ==