General Worth Square

General Worth Square is a tiny triangular traffic island at the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and West 25th Street in the Flatiron District. The square contains a cast-iron obelisk monument honoring Major General William Jenkins Worth, a decorated officer of the Mexican-American War and the Seminole Wars.

The Worth Monument, erected in 1857, is one of only two monuments in Manhattan that also serve as a burial site: General Worth's remains are interred beneath the obelisk. The other such monument is Grant's Tomb on the Upper West Side. The cast-iron obelisk rises from a granite base and is surrounded by a small fence.

Worth had a distinguished military career, commanding troops at the Battle of Monterrey and the storming of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War. Fort Worth, Texas, is also named in his honor. He died of cholera in 1849, and his remains were moved to this site from a Brooklyn cemetery when the monument was erected.

The square's location at the busy convergence of Broadway and Fifth Avenue places it in the heart of the Flatiron District, near Madison Square Park and the iconic Flatiron Building. Thousands of pedestrians pass the monument daily, most without knowing that a general's remains lie beneath the pavement.

General Worth Square is a quintessential Manhattan curiosity: a burial site disguised as a traffic island, honoring a largely forgotten war hero at one of Midtown's busiest intersections. It captures the city's habit of layering the present directly on top of the past, with little ceremony and less explanation.