Mitchel Square Park

Mitchel Square Park is a triangular park at the intersection of Broadway, St. Nicholas Avenue, and West 167th Street in Washington Heights. The square is named for John Purroy Mitchel, who served as Mayor of New York City from 1914 to 1917 and was known as the 'Boy Mayor' because he took office at just 34 years old.

Mitchel was a reform-minded mayor who fought Tammany Hall corruption and modernized city services. After losing his re-election bid, he enlisted in the Army Air Service during World War I and died in 1918 when he fell from a training aircraft in Louisiana at the age of 38. The airfield where he died was renamed Mitchel Field in his honor.

The square features benches, mature trees, and plantings that provide a green focal point at one of Washington Heights' busiest intersections. The convergence of Broadway and St. Nicholas Avenue creates a wide, open space that is characteristic of the triangles formed along Broadway's diagonal path through Manhattan.

Washington Heights is one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in upper Manhattan, home to a large Dominican-American community and a growing number of young professionals drawn by the area's relative affordability and excellent parks. Mitchel Square serves as a neighborhood gathering spot along the busy commercial corridor.

The square connects to the broader network of small parks, triangles, and plazas that line Broadway through Washington Heights and Inwood, creating a chain of green spaces that punctuate the commercial streetscape and provide benches and shade for pedestrians navigating one of Manhattan's longest boulevards.