Murray Hill and the American Revolutionary War
On September 15, 1776, during the early and precarious months of the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army under George Washington was in full retreat following its defeat at the Battle of Brooklyn (also known as the Battle of Long Island), which had occurred less than two months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
In a daring overnight maneuver on August 29–30, Washington successfully evacuated approximately 9,000 Continental soldiers from Brooklyn Heights across the East River to Manhattan. Despite this remarkable escape, British forces soon landed at Kips Bay on Manhattan’s east side, prompting the American army to withdraw northward toward Harlem. During this retreat, American troops passed through what is now Murray Hill, then a rural estate and farmland owned by the Murray family.
As British forces advanced in pursuit, they too moved through the Murray family property. At this critical moment, Mary Lindley Murray, the matriarch of the household, is credited with playing a small but meaningful role in the American escape. According to contemporary accounts and later retellings, she invited senior British officers—including William Howe, commander of British forces in North America—to stop for refreshments at the Murray home.
This impromptu social diversion reportedly delayed the British command just long enough to slow their pursuit of the retreating American army. While the delay was brief and should not be overstated, historians widely agree that it contributed to Washington’s ability to regroup his forces farther north.
In the days that followed, the Continental Army stabilized its position and soon achieved a morale-boosting success at the Battle of Harlem Heights. Mary Lindley Murray’s quick thinking did not “win the war,” but it exemplified how individual civilian actions—particularly in places like Murray Hill—played a meaningful supporting role during a pivotal and uncertain moment in the fight for American independence.
Mary Lindley Murray and the Long Road to American Victory
The American victory in the Revolutionary War was not the result of a single event, but of a prolonged conflict that gradually shifted political, military, and public opinion—particularly in Great Britain. By extending the war and avoiding complete defeat in its early stages, the Continental Army kept the cause of independence alive long enough to secure decisive victories and critical international support.
A major turning point came with the American and French victory at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, which effectively ended large-scale fighting. That defeat accelerated the erosion of support for the war within both the British public and the British Parliament, leading to negotiations that culminated in the Treaty of Paris, formally recognizing American independence.
Helping to buy time during the war’s most vulnerable moments was essential to this outcome. One such moment occurred in September 1776, when Mary Lindley Murray delayed British officers as they pursued the retreating Continental Army through her family’s estate in what is now Murray Hill. While the delay was brief, historians acknowledge that such actions contributed to the broader strategy of preserving the army and prolonging the conflict—an outcome that ultimately favored the American cause.
Mary Lindley Murray died in 1782, one year before the Treaty of Paris was finalized. Though she did not live to see the formal conclusion of the war, her actions earned her recognition as a patriot who played a meaningful civilian role during a critical phase of the Revolution.
Today, she is commemorated by a historical plaque and historical marker located on Park Avenue at 37th Street, which honors her contribution and reflects the broader truth that America’s independence was secured not only through battlefield victories, but also through the resolve, ingenuity, and courage of individuals on the home front.
The Creation of Park Avenue
Contrary to popular belief, Park Avenue was not originally conceived as a landscaped boulevard. When New York City’s street grid was formalized under the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the thoroughfare was laid out simply as Fourth Avenue, with no intention of a central green mall.
Beginning in the 1830s, the center of this unusually wide avenue was occupied by the tracks of the New York and Harlem Railroad, one of the city’s earliest rail lines. Steam locomotives of the period struggled to climb the steep grade of Murray Hill, particularly north of 32nd Street. To address this engineering challenge, an open rock-cut trench was excavated in 1833, allowing trains to pass through Murray Hill as far north as 40th Street.
By the early 1850s, growing public concern over safety, noise, and neighborhood disruption led the railroad—under pressure from residents and city officials—to cover the open trench between 34th and 40th Streets. Once enclosed, the surface above the tracks was landscaped into oval-shaped boulevard malls, transforming the character of the avenue. In this section through Murray Hill, Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue, reflecting its newly landscaped appearance.
Public dissatisfaction continued farther north, where exposed tracks remained a hazard. In the 1870s, civic advocacy intensified, calling for the burial of rail lines above 42nd Street. These efforts culminated in the covering of the tracks north of Grand Central and the extension of landscaped malls. In 1888, Fourth Avenue north of Grand Central Terminal was officially renamed Park Avenue, completing the transformation of the corridor into the iconic boulevard recognized today.
Park Avenue’s green malls, therefore, were not part of an original urban design vision, but rather the result of railroad engineering constraints, public safety reforms, and sustained civic pressure, turning an industrial rail corridor into one of New York City’s most distinctive avenues.
The Invention of ElectricITY AND Christmas Tree Lights
On December 22, 1882, Edward H. Johnson, Vice President of the Edison Electric Light Company, created what is widely recognized as the first documented Christmas tree illuminated with electric lights. The display took place at Johnson’s home at 139 East 36th Street in Murray Hill and featured 80 hand-wired incandescent bulbs—red, white, and blue—each roughly the size of a walnut. The tree was mounted on a rotating base powered by an electric motor, making it both a technical demonstration and a holiday spectacle.
Just a few blocks away lived J. P. Morgan, whose Murray Hill mansion functioned as a private testing ground for Thomas Edison and his team. Morgan’s residence was outfitted with generators, wiring, and hundreds of incandescent lamps, making it one of the most electrically advanced homes in the world at the time. Because of such early adopters, Murray Hill became one of the first residential neighborhoods in New York City to be wired for electricity, closely associated with Edison’s Pearl Street Station and the early commercialization of electric power.
Before the introduction of electric lights, Christmas trees were traditionally illuminated with wax candles, a beautiful but hazardous practice that frequently resulted in fires. Johnson’s electrically lit tree demonstrated a safer alternative and helped popularize the use of electric holiday lighting, laying the foundation for a tradition that would spread worldwide in the decades that followed.
Here is a link to the original article via the New York Times.
The Making of the Modern Park Avenue
A 1908 photograph looking north along Park Avenue from approximately East 38th Street captures the avenue at a moment of rapid transformation. On the west side of the avenue between 40th and 41st Streets stands the Murray Hill Hotel, identifiable by its distinctive corner towers. Just beyond it, between 41st and 42nd Streets, rises the Hotel Belmont, which at the time was regarded as one of the tallest hotels in the world. In the distance is the early Grand Central Station, then serving as the city’s primary rail hub.
By the early twentieth century, Park Avenue had emerged as a prestigious corridor shaped by the covering of railroad tracks, the introduction of landscaped median malls, and the construction of large hotels and apartment buildings catering to an affluent residential and commercial population. This evolution distinguished Park Avenue from its origins as Fourth Avenue, a name that continued to apply south of 32nd Street even after landscaped planters were added to the median during the 1930s.
In 1959, the New York City Council formally extended the Park Avenue name southward from 32nd Street to 17th Street, rebranding that section as Park Avenue South in recognition of its growing commercial importance and to associate it with the established prestige of Park Avenue.
Today, the only remaining section of the original Fourth Avenue name survives between East 14th Street and Astor Place, a small but tangible reminder of the avenue’s layered evolution from a nineteenth-century rail corridor into one of New York City’s most iconic urban boulevards.
The Revival of Park Avenue’s Malls and Public Art
During the 1970s, New York City experienced a period of fiscal crisis and urban decline that was felt acutely along Park Avenue. The landscaped median malls suffered from deferred maintenance, with deteriorating iron fences, compacted soil, and largely barren planting beds that reflected the city’s broader challenges.
In the early 1980s, a coalition of civic-minded residents, community leaders, and Park Avenue building owners came together in response. This group formally organized as Patrons of Park Avenue (POPA),and became a Committee within the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, with the goal of restoring, maintaining, and enhancing the Park Avenue malls. Recognizing that the malls are public property, POPA works in close partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Working with professional landscape architects and preservation specialists, POPA helped develop a comprehensive restoration plan. This plan included the reconstruction of the cast-iron fences based on the original mid-19th-century designs (circa 1850), the reintroduction of historically appropriate landscaping, and the establishment of a year-round seasonal planting and maintenance program to ensure long-term care.
In addition to horticultural restoration, POPA expanded the vision for the malls by introducing temporary and rotating public sculptures, transforming Park Avenue into a linear outdoor gallery. These installations brought contemporary art into the public realm while preserving clear sightlines and respecting the historic character of the avenue. Over time, the sculpture program has become a defining feature of Park Avenue, reinforcing the malls’ role not only as green space, but also as a cultural corridor accessible to all New Yorkers.
Together, these efforts helped reverse decades of decline, restoring Park Avenue’s malls as well-maintained civic spaces that blend historic preservation, landscape design, and public art, and setting a model for public-private stewardship of urban open space in New York City.
The Park Avenue malls are also adjacent to numerous historical markers, including John Paul II House, Murray Hill Historic District, The Union League Club, Park Avenue Viaduct, 101 Park Avenue, Memorial Light, and Ptl. Thomas Schimenti, NYPD.