Audubon Park

the neighborhood Manhattan forgot...

Audubon Park (NY) Newsletter...............................................................June , 2009

UPDATE:  Proposed Audubon Park Historic District

In Memoriam: Eleanor McGrath Marra Vignola, Last Known Resident of Minnie's Land

Great News!  On May 12th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate Audubon Park as New York City's newest Historic District.  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who supported the APHD with letters, emails, and other contact.  For an update and a look at the LPC's final Designation Report (with photos, images, and maps) click HERE.

Eleanor McGrath Marra Vignola, the last person known to have lived in the Audubon house (Minnie's Land) that once stood at 155th Street on the Hudson River, died on March 2nd.  Shortly after she was born in 1916, Eleanor McGrath's mother died and she was sent to an orphanage where she lived two years before rejoining her family in the Audubon house.  Along with siblings and cousins, she then passed her childhood in the house where a dozen-plus Audubon children lived, played, and had school lessons a half-century earlier.  Read more about Mrs. Vignola  HERE.

Take Me to the River and the Audubon Park Historic District

Audubon's Home: Minnies Land

Residents of the Audubon Park Historic District may have noticed that the intersection of Edward Morgan Place and 157th Street has improved traffic patterns and signal light timings. 

The improvements to the intersection are directly related to Take Me to the River (TMTTR), an initiative that began in 2005 and aims to create "better ties to Riverside Park and the Hudson River, [so that] residents of West Harlem and Washington Heights will truly enjoy the advantages and benefits experienced by other waterfront communities." 

Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer's office adopted the Audubon Park Historic District, as an achievable element of TMTTR and gave it strong support at LPC's March hearings. 

For more information about the Take Me to the River Project, please contact project manager Paimaan Lodhi at 212-669-3223 or via e-mail at plodhi@manhattanbp.org.

Audubon Park Brief History Updated!

Celebrate the Audubon Park Historic District designation!   Read the first part of a revised and expanded Brief History of Audubon Park.  Now on one page for easier searching, the expanded history is indexed and linked so you can jump to a specific section in the history or to related pages in the Audubon Park Walking Tour.  Start reading HERE.

(The updated concluding part two will appear with the next Audubon Park Newsletter.)

Audubon Park Historic District

from the southwest

Audubon Park Historic District:

The Grinnell