Msgr. McGolrick Park in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood is a popular local greenspace and playground, but it is little known to people living outside the community’s borders. The park is near the Bushwick Inlet where the revolutionary ironclad ship the Monitor was constructed in 1861 and 1862. It is the home of the Monitor Memorial, erected in 1938. The monument is in the style of a number of sculptures of the period, depicting a common man, large muscled and semi-abstract, engaged in what would be ordinary work, pulling tight a ship’s line, but for the fact that it is being done right before a monumental naval battle.
While the man is naked and abstracted, the rope and the capstan are extremely realistic.
The muscles on the man’s hands jump out at the viewer.
The inscription says that the State of New York erected the monument to “COMMEMORATE THE BATTLE OF THE MONITOR AND MERRIMAC,” the historic name of the battle. It also remembers the “MEN OF THE MONITOR” and John Ericsson, the designer. There is also a John Ericsson statue at Battery Park in Manhattan.
There is a lot of realistic detail on the ship’s line and the capstan.
Sculptor Antonio de Filippo was an Italian immigrant who lived in nearby Woodside. The monument, little known outside of Brooklyn, has long had a connection to people living in Greenpoint both because the Monitor was built nearby and because during much of the 20th Century the Brooklyn Navy Yard drew many of its workers from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, a decade ago a vandal threw white paint on the sculpture, but Parks Department employees quickly removed the paint. From what I could see they did a good job and there was no permanent harm caused.
The monument was commissioned by the State of New York during the 75th Anniversary of the Civil War. Because Ericsson was a Swedish immigrant, he was often seen by New Yorkers as emblematic of the contributions immigrants made to the United States. After Ericsson arrived in the U.S. he lived the rest of his life in New York City.
In addition to John Ericsson himself, many of the workers who built the Monitor were immigrants, as were roughly half of the ship’s crew. The Monitor’s sterling performance at Hampton Roads was seen by New Yorkers as emblematic of the resources that the city’s newcomers offered to America.
Ericsson died in New York City on March 8, 1889, the anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads. When his body was shipped to Sweden for burial, 100,000 New Yorkers and others gathered to see his ship off.
The park is about the size of two Brooklyn blocks. The monument sits beside Monitor Street. It went through major restoration in 2000 and is well-cared for today.
The park is named for Msgr. Edward J. McGolrick a Catholic priest who was born in Ireland on May 9, 1857. He came to Brooklyn to minister to the borough’s many immigrant Catholics at St. Patrick’s Parish. He helped found a maternity hospital for poor women.
The park itself is small and well maintained. On a warm day you may want to consider bringing a picnic basket for an al fresco urban lunch.
There are attractive playgrounds here and many children were enjoying themselves on the equipment while we were visiting.
A water spray cooled off some of the kids.
Many strollers took in the flowers planted here.
There were also other monuments at the park, most notably this one to those lost during the First World War.
While the Monitor monument has the look of 20th Century “Socialist Realism,” the park’s World War I memorial is 19th Century Romantic. German immigrant Carl Augustus Heber sculpted it in 1923. It honors local residents from the Greenpoint community who fought in World War I. The statue depicts a divine woman carrying a laurel, symbolizing victory, in her left hand and in her right hand a large palm leaf representing peace.
The sides of the base have the names of battle of the war.
The monument was erected by the local community and it honors locals who served.
There is also an attractive colonnade at the park.
And lovely flowers.
At the time of the Civil War, Greenpoint was in its second decade of development as an industrial center. Besides the Monitor, seven ironclads were built here at the Continental Ironworks. At the time, working-class Irish and German immigrants made up much of the labor force. A few decades later, Polish immigrants began to arrive.
After walking so much, we were hungry and Michele suggested we lunch at a local Polish restaurant.
I had a modest lunch of pierogis, Polish sausage (Kielbasa), stuffed cabbage, and sauerkraut bedecked with ham (Bigos).
Christina’s is in the very Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint at 853 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222
there is a monument to John Ericsson in Wash.D.C.
I go past it quite often, but I never photographed it. Thanks for reminding me.
“…modest lunch…”?!
(Thanks for the recommendation.)