NYC Parks Celebrates Women's History Month
NYC Parks hosted an event today to mark Women's History Month, celebrating the contributions of parks advocate Cass Gallagher. The event highlighted Gallagher's significant impact on the city's park system and her legacy of community engagement.
Florence "Cass" Gallagher (1912-1983) was a dedicated naturalist and a key founder of the original "Friends of Van Cortlandt Park." Her grassroots activism was pivotal in the preservation of the Bronx's largest park. In recognition of her environmental advocacy, a 1.4-mile nature trail in the northwest woods of Van Cortlandt Park was formally named the Cass Gallagher Nature Trail on October 17, 1984. The trail is known for its century-old oak trees and varied terrain shaped by ancient glaciers. The tribute to Gallagher is part of a wider, though recent, effort to recognize women in city parks. For decades, the Joan of Arc monument in Riverside Park was the only NYC statue of a non-fictional woman. A significant addition came in August 2020 with the unveiling of the Women's Rights Pioneers Monument in Central Park, the first in the park to depict real women: Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. To address the historical imbalance, the city launched the "She Built NYC" initiative in 2019. This program is adding new monuments to honor trailblazing women like Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress, and jazz legend Billie Holiday.
