Statue of Minerva

There are so many people now mentioning the Statue of Minerva in Greenwood Cemetery. Nobody cared, mentioned or knew about the Statue until anti-development folks found a talking point. I’ve spoken to people who’ve lived within a block from the Statue for their entire life who never knew it existed. These are people who played ball on Seventh Avenue and 22nd Street as kids 40 years ago; who got married and had their own kids play ball there. I’ve been on numerous tours through Greenwood Cemetery and have, over the years, spoken to several amateur historians interested in the cemetery and the statue was never stressed if mentioned at all. The statue was drawn out of obscurity for one reason only -- as a means of halting the development on Seventh Ave between 22nd and 23rd Street.

If you care about the symbolism of the Statue of Minerva -- that it is returning a salute to the Statue of Liberty -- what you would care about would be that people would have interest in the history of their neighborhood, in the Revolutionary War battle that took place here in the summer of 1776. We all remember Bunker Hill and the Boston Tea Party but who remembers that the first significant military conflict between the British and the Colonialists took place in Brooklyn, from Greenwood Cemetery to Brooklyn Heights.

In fact if those who evoke the Statue of Minerva so often actually cared for the symbolism and for the history that it represents they could do so without stopping new development. It would matter little if the statue was moved over 10 or 20 feet or if it was placed on a higher pedestal. The exact spot on which the Statue rests is not important, it’s the heights on which the battle raged, where Greenwood Cemetery now rests that’s important.

This battle is costing the developer hundreds of thousands of dollars. Good!, you say. Why? How does putting money in the bank’s hands instead of the developer help you or the neighborhood? The project has already been scaled down. Now the developer has to take a chunk out of the building – to let the Statue of Minerva to see the Statue of Liberty. The developer also has to build a full-scale mock up on the site for people to see that the view is not obstructed. How about a trade? Instead of taking out a chunk of the now smaller building let’s move the statue over ten feet, or twenty feet and place the statue on a pedestal. In exchange for letting the developer build; for reducing legal and finance costs the developer could put money into local organizations such as the Old Stone House that actually promotes the Battle of Brooklyn. Every year this organization and others like it promote walking tours, lectures, demonstrations and reenactments of the Battle of Brooklyn.

If you’re truly in love with the history and the symbolism of the Statue of Minerva that would be a far better tribute than having the statue return to obscurity a few months after the building has been completed.