REPRINTED FROM 6-16-2011
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR FEBRUARY 28-MARCH 5, 2020 55
BRONX SCENE
Niles Triangle
on Bronx River
Nick DiBrino took this photograph of Niles Triangle in Shoelace Park on May 27, 2011. It is
located at Bronx Boulevard and 226th Street.
Back in 1897 the North Bronx
Board of Trade came out with a great
book called “The Great North Side of
the City of New York.”
The chapter on parks and parkways
begins on page 189 and runs
through page 204. Each chapter is by
a recognized expert in that specifi c
subject and the parks chapter is by
William White. Niles, Jr. (1861-1935)
from Bedford Park.
He was a former assemblyman
who fought so hard for the acquisition
of land for park and parkway
use. It lauds the passage of legislation
on April 19, 1883 appointing commissioners
to select and locate land
for public parks. This led to the New
Parks Act of 1884 and the subsequent
purchase of all the major parks and
parkways in the borough.
William W. Niles was born in Waterford,
New York and graduated
from Dartmouth College and Albany
Law School. He practiced law in New
York City and was involved with a
number of worthwhile organizations
including the Bronx Society of Arts
and Letters, the Botanical Garden
and the New York Zoological Society;
it was the latter two that received the
focus of his attention as both were
being despoiled by the malodorous
Bronx River.
His major quest became the
cleanup of this 23-mile waterway.
This led to the creation of the Bronx
Parkway Commission in 1907.
He served as vice president of the
Commission from 1907 to 1925 when
the Bronx River Parkway opened. It
was the fi rst public parkway in the
country created specifi cally for automobile
traffi c. Niles then focused his
attention on the Taconic State Parkway
to further maintain the cleanliness
of the Bronx River knowing that
whatever was emitted into the river
upstream would eventually work its
way south.
Niles passed away at age 74 on January
12, 1935 and several years later
on October 15, 1938 he was honored
with a monument and triangle dedicated
in his name. His widow was
on hand for the unveiling and the
guest speaker was NYC Parks Commissioner
Robert Moses who praised
Niles for many accomplishments in
creating the Bronx River Parkway.
The bronze plaque on the monument,
located at 226th Street and the Bronx
River Parkway north, read: “To record
the fact William White Niles
was the founder of the Bronx River
Parkway this memorial has been
erected by his friends.”
It’s too bad that this couldn’t have
been done during his lifetime as far
too many honors come after the persons
honored have passed away without
knowing how much their work
was appreciated.
This plaque, by the way, was put
into storage years ago and was reattached
to the memorial during the
last week of April in 2010. It also
holds a 45 foot fl agpole and can be
seen from quite a distance away.
I stopped by the triangle on May
27th with Nick DiBrino and Hank
Stroobants to view the newly attached
plaque. Hank, who grew up
in the community, maintains that
it was always referred to as a horseshoe
rather than a triangle due to
its shape. He has a number of family
photographs of the horseshoe as it
was a site in Shoelace Park that his
family often visited.
The next time you’re in the neighborhood,
stop by the little park which
is adorned with benches that appear
to be in constant use by locals.
Niles accomplished much more
than creating the Bronx River Parkway
and helping to clean up the river,
he also had a hand in saving the
statue of the soldier that stood in the
Bronx River just north of Tremont
Avenue for many years.
His accomplishments would take
far more space than I’m allotted in
my column. Suffi ce it to say that he
was a great man. He was interred
in the Lake View Plot of Woodlawn
Cemetery here in the borough he
loved so well.
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