PARK FACT:
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Father Duffy Square
Broadway, W 46 to W 47 Sts, 7 Ave
Manhattan
Acres: 0.08
The northern triangle of Times Square, located between 45th and 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue, Duffy Square, has been a magnet for tourists, a staging area for public rallies, the scene of victory celebrations, and since 1973, a destination point for those in search of reduced-price theater tickets. Once dominated by an eight-ton, fifty-foot statue entitled Purity, (Defeat of Slander) by Leo Lentelli in the early twentieth century, today, the square is defined by two statues on its northern and southern sides.
The northern statue honors the namesake of this parkland, Father Francis Patrick Duffy (1871-1932), a military chaplain and a priest in the Times Square area. Born in Cobourg, Canada, Father Duffy moved to New York City in 1893 to teach French at the College of St. Francis Xavier (now Xavier High School). He was later ordained as a priest and in 1898, he accepted a teaching position at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York, where he remained for the next fourteen years.
Father Duffy’s military service began in the Spanish-American War of 1898, serving as First Lieutenant and chaplain of the legendary Fighting 69th Infantry of the National Guard as well as Post Chaplain at the military hospital in Montauk Point, Long Island. In 1912, Father Duffy left St. Joseph’s Seminary and moved to New York City to establish the Parish of Our Savior in the Bronx.
In 1916, Father Duffy returned to the 69th Infantry, serving in Europe during World War I as part of the Rainbow Division and earning a number of medals. After the close of the war, Father Duffy returned to New York, and in 1920, was appointed pastor of the Holy Cross Church, located at 237 West 42nd Street. Serving the theater-district community for over a decade, Father Duffy died on June 26, 1932. In 1940 veteran character actor Pat O’Brien portrayed Duffy in the Hollywood film based on his life, The Fighting 69th, which also starred James Cagney.
This parkland was acquired by the City of New York in 1872 by condemnation for street purposes and transferred to Parks on January 31, 1934. Three years later, on what would have been Father Duffy’s sixty-sixth birthday, Parks dedicated this bronze statue of Father Duffy, standing in front of a granite Celtic cross and facing towards his old church, designed by sculptor Charles Keck (1875-1951). In 1939, a local law named this parkland in his honor.
The bronze statue at the park’s southern end depicts composer, playwright, and actor George M. Cohan (1878-1942). The statue was designed by Georg John Lober (1892-1961) and dedicated in 1959. Cohan is best known for his hit song whose opening line, “Give my regards to Broadway,/ Remember me in Herald Square./Tell all the gang at 42nd Street that I will soon be there,” captured the city’s spirit at the time. In 1942, James Cagney won an Academy Award as best actor for his portrayal of song and danceman Cohan in the film Yankee Doodle Dandy.
The vibrant theatrical district in Times Square that Cohan helped create is represented here by the TKTS booth, constructed by Mayers & Schiff in 1973. In 1997, both statues were conserved in a project funded by the Times Square Business Improvement District. Two years later, the Van Alen Design Institute of New York sponsored a redesign competition for a booth that would conform to these two statues as well as the sight lines of Times Square. In July 2000, Parks constructed a 20’ x 30’ web in Duffy Square to launch its new website, nyc.gov/parks.
