Valentine's manual of old New York 1924

(New York :  Valentine's Manual Inc.,  1924, c1923.)

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  Page 235  



CITY HALL PARK
AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD

In view of the determined effort to remove the old Post
Office from City HaU Park, a brief history of this sec-
tion, easily the most historic on our Island, wiU be of
interest to our readers. From the day the Dutch bought
the Island from the Indians, this particular land has al-
ways been reserved for the benefit of all the people.
Thousands of New Yorkers bitterly opposed the project to
establish the Post Office there in 1868. Public interest in
matters of this kind was not so keen in those days as
now. We have grown older and realize as we never did
before the obligation we are under to preserve what our
f oref athers created and which means so much in a spiritual
sense to the patriotism and public spirit of the whole
country.

Congress has already passed the necessary legislation
for the return of this land in exchange for another suit-
able location for a new Post Office. The City has agreed
to contribute an equally good site opposite the new County
Court House, in the proposed new Civic Centre. The
Commission appointed by the late President Harding con-
sisted of three Cabinet officers, Messrs. Work, Daugherty
and Mellon. The changes caused by the death of Mr.
Harding need not necessarily delay this important work.
It would be a splendid thing if this desirable improvement
could be made so that on the Three Hundredth Anniver-
sary of the Founding of New York, 1926, the work would
be finished. It would be a fitting birthday gift from
Uncle Sam to Father Knickerbocker,
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