Givan Square

E. Gunhill Rd. and Eastchester Rd. bet. Arnow Ave. and Adee Ave..

Bronx, 10469

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

In 1795, Robert Givan, his wife Agnes Thompson, and their seven children, emigrated from Kelso, Scotland, to this area of the Bronx, which was then still part of Westchester. They settled on a tract of land purchased from the Bartow family, the last private landowners of Pelham Bay Park. The property featured a high elevation and a navigable creek that emptied into the Hutchinson River.

Givan built a mill on the banks of the creek, and established an estate just east of this square, which he called Edman after his home county in Great Britain. Givan died in 1830, and left a considerable estate to his descendants. They included members of the Palmer, LeRoy, and Morgan families, whose names are also preserved in nearby streets.