Ahearn Park
.094 Acres
This small Lower East Side park is one of New York City’s oldest.
On August 2, 1824, the Common Council agreed to take a triangular piece of land between
Grand, Harman (now East Broadway), and Scammel Streets as a public place. The City
acquired the parcel by condemnation the following year for $3158.23. In 1870 all of New York’s public parks, from small public squares
in Lower Manhattan to the not-yet-complete Central Park, were placed under the control of
the newly created Department of Public Parks. Sweeping improvements were initiated
immediately. Between 1871 and 1872, Grand Street Place (as this park was then known) was
surveyed and received new lampposts, plantings, curbs, water and drain pipes, and an iron
railing. It was one of fourteen New York parks that featured a program of music and
fireworks on Independence Day in 1873. By the early 1910s, this site was known as Oriental Park. According to
Department of Parks Annual Reports from 1911 and 1913, several trees were removed
and replaced with four European lindens, three Norway maples, and eight Oriental plane
trees. In 1923 the Board of Aldermen named the park for John Francis Ahearn (1853-1920), a
Tammany Hall sachem who rose to power around the turn of the century. Ahearn’s
leadership style was marked by his intense political game-playing and by his devotion to
the personal needs of his constituents. Born in New York City, Ahearn was educated at public schools and worked
as a business clerk. He served one term in the State Assembly, from 1882 to 1883, and five
terms in the State Senate, from 1890 to 1902. Senator Ahearn championed the interests of
firemen, policemen, and school teachers. Elected Manhattan Borough President in 1903, he
was the subject of a damaging report made by Commissioner of Accounts John Purroy Mitchel
to Mayor George McClellan. Without accusing Ahearn of personal dishonesty, Governor
Charles Evans Hughes denounced Ahearn’s administration as flagrantly inefficient and
wasteful, and he removed Ahearn from office. The Board of Aldermen then selected Ahearn in
1907 to fill his own vacancy. After a legal struggle, Mayor McClellan removed Ahearn from
office just before the end of both of their terms in December 1909. Ahearn died in his
home at 296 East Broadway in 1920. Ahearn Park assumed its present dimensions in the early 1960’s. A
portion of the property was eliminated by the widening of Grand Street, and two parcels to
the west were transferred to Parks and incorporated into the site. The park was renovated
in 1998 under a $83,000 requirements contract funded by Mayor Giuliani. Improvements
included installing new world’s fair benches, resetting the Belgian block, repaving
the park and sidewalks, and creating a planted area enclosed by a steel picket fence. The
renewed Ahearn Park is an enduring oasis in the Lower East Side.
Saturday, Dec 12, 1998