Stonewall National Monument is a

U.S. national monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the Federal government of the United States, federal government by Presidential proclamation (United States), proclamation ...

in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

neighborhood of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

, New York City. The designated area includes the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to th ...

, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

, the site of the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

of June 28, 1969, widely regarded as the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the United States. Stonewall National Monument is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to

LGBTQ rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Nota ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

designated it as a national monument on June 24, 2016.

Early history

Stonewall National Monument includes and surrounds the Christopher Park (also known as Christopher Street Park), a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

originally built on a lot that

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

Director-General

Wouter van Twiller Wouter van Twiller (May 22, 1606 – buried August 29, 1654) was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch ...

settled as a tobacco farm from 1633 to 1638, when he died. The land was subsequently split up into three different farms. Trinity Church's and Elbert Herring's farms were located in the southern part of van Twiller's former farm, and

Sir Peter Warren Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Warren, KB (10 March 1703 – 29 July 1752) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the British House of Commons representing the constituency of Westminster from 1747 to 1752. Warren is best known for his care ...

's farm was located in the northern portion. Because of the unusual street grid that already existed in much of Greenwich Village, the

Commissioners' Plan of 1811 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march upto ...

would not quite fit into the pre-existing street grid. This resulted in several blocks with oblique angles, as well as many triangular street blocks. The former farms of Christopher Street were split into small lots from 1789 to 1829. After a subsequent large population increase in the early 19th century, the buildings on Christopher Street were dense with people. In 1835, the

Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyi ...

spread through the area and destroyed many city blocks. The little triangle of land bounded by Christopher, Grove, and 4th Streets, which was burned down, was condemned and turned into a park. The new Christopher Street Park, designed by architects

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape architect, landscape designer. He and his protégé Frederick Law Olmsted designed park ...

and Samuel Parsons Jr., was opened in 1837. The

, which then consisted simply of two adjacent

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s, opened across Christopher Street in 1843. The widening of 7th Avenue South, and the construction of the

IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the IRT Seventh Avenue Line or the IRT West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division, stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhatt ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

, effectively split the neighborhood into two pieces, separated by the now-widened avenue. By the 1940s, the area had deteriorated somewhat as people moved away. However, during the 1950s, the social demographics were transformed, as "

Beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

poets" moved into Greenwich Village. Meanwhile, the Stonewall Inn had changed uses; many different restaurants were housed in the inn from the 1930s through 1966.

Role in riots and aftermath

In 1966, the Stonewall Inn Restaurant—which had been located within the inn since the 1950s—closed for renovations due to a fire that devastated the space. The restaurant re-opened as a tavern on March 18, 1967, under ownership of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family (), also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and Ne ...

of the

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

. The tavern was breaking rules on the sale of

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

, as it had no

liquor license A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit for businesses to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the l ...

, but one officer of the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

(NYPD) was reportedly accepting once-monthly bribes in exchange for allowing the tavern to go unlicensed. On June 28, 1969, the NYPD conducted a raid on the inn, then operating as a

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

, under the pretense that the inn did not have a liquor license. Riots started in the ensuing days, where thousands of rioters protested against the NYPD's raid. The riots solidified the Stonewall Inn's status as a gay icon. The park also played a significant role in the riots—people had gathered at the park the morning after the first day of rioting, discussing the events of the previous day.

Later years

The park itself was in dire need of renovation, and so in the 1970s, the Friends of Christopher Park, which consisted entirely of volunteers mainly from the surrounding community, was created to oversee the park's upkeep. In 1983,

NYC Parks The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

embarked on a three-year, $130,000 project () to rebuild the park to its original condition. Architect Philip Winslow planted new greenery and replaced the park's benches, walkways, light fixtures, and gates. In 1992, the ''

Gay Liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoff ...

'' statue by

George Segal George Segal Jr. (February 13, 1934 – March 23, 2021) was an American actor. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s for playing both dramatic and comedic roles. After first rising to prominence with roles in acclaimed films such as '' Ship o ...

was placed in Christopher Park, mirroring a near-identical statue at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. The statue consists of four white figures (two standing men and two seated women) positioned in "natural, easy" poses. Non-LGBT-related monuments in the park include two 1936 works that commemorated

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

fighters: a pole that honors the Fire Zouaves, as well as a statue made of bronze that honors Union general

Philip Sheridan Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with General-i ...

. The park is surrounded by a fence that dates back to at least the late 19th century. In 2023,

Randy Wicker Randolfe Hayden "Randy" Wicker (born February 3, 1938) is an American author, activist, blogger, and archivist. Notable for his involvement in the early homophile and gay liberation movements, Wicker has documented the early years and many of th ...

launched a petition to remove the General Phil Sheridan statue from the park because of "Sheridan's massacre of Indigenous people." Meanwhile, across the street, the Stonewall Inn had changed hands many times from 1969 to the 1990s, finally resuming the role of a gay bar by the 1990s.

Landmark statuses

National and city landmark statuses

In 1999, David Carter, Andrew Dolkart, Gale Harris, and Jay Shockley researched and wrote the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP) report for Stonewall, which was officially sponsored by the

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Village Preservation (formerly the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, or GVSHP) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the architectural preservation and cultural preservation and opposes housing development in severa ...

. When the listing was designated on June 29, 1999, it included the Stonewall Inn building, Christopher Park, and nearby streets. It became the nation's first NRHP listing, out of more than 70,000 listings at the time, dedicated exclusively to LGBT accomplishments. That same area was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on February 16, 2000. On June 23, 2015, the Stonewall Inn became a

New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

,Brazee, Christopher D. et al. (June 23, 2015
Stonewall Inn Designation Report

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the Government of New York City, New York City agency charged with administering the city's Historic preservation, Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting Ne ...

making it the first city landmark to commemorate an LGBT icon.

National monument designation

After Stonewall Inn was designated as a city landmark,

residents lobbied for the bar and the adjacent park to be labeled a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

. Some members of

Manhattan Community Board 2 The Manhattan Community Board 2 is a New York City community board encompassing the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, West Village, South Village, NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy, NoLIta, and a portion of Chinatown in the borough of Manhattan. It ...

wrote a letter to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

(NPS) to request such a status for the Stonewall site. The GVSHP also supported a national monument designation for the site. In 2016,

The Trust for Public Land The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...

helped New York City prepare the property for transfer. The Trust for Public Land worked with the NPS and NYC Parks to preserve the Stonewall Inn and recast Christopher Park as the Stonewall National Monument. On June 24, 2016, President

officially designated the Stonewall National Monument, making it the United States' first national monument designated for an LGBT historic site. The dedication ceremony was attended by New York City mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

; Senator

Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York since 2009 ...

; Secretary of the Interior

Sally Jewell Sarah Margaret "Sally" Roffey Jewell (born February 21, 1956) is a British-American business executive and environmentalist who served as the 51st United States secretary of the interior in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017. Jewell was ...

; and the Stonewall Inn's owners. Some attendees saw the dedication as important because the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting, which had occurred two weeks prior to the dedication, had claimed the lives of 49 people, many of them gay Latino Americans. The national monument encompasses a area that includes the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Street Park, the block of Christopher Street bordering the park, and segments of some adjacent streets. Only the park was transferred to NPS ownership. The

National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official charity of the National Park Service (NPS) and its national park sites. The NPF was chartered by Congress in 1967 with a charge to "further the conservation of natural, scenic, historic, scientif ...

formed a new nonprofit organization to raise $2 million in funds for a ranger station, visitor center, community activities, and interpretive exhibits for the monument. In October 2017, a rainbow LGBT flag was raised on the monument, making it the first officially maintained LGBT flag at a federal monument. The LGBT+ rights organization Pride Live tried to develop a visitor center for the monument for several years after its designation. Pride Live began negotiating with the owner of the property at 51 Christopher Street in 2019; that building included a vacant storefront that had formerly been part of the inn. The building was placed for sale in June 2021, but Pride Live and the property owner ultimately came to an agreement. In June 2022, Pride Live announced that it would build the visitor center at 51 Christopher Street.

MBB Architects MBB Architects is an architectural design firm based in New York City, known for the preservation and renewal of historical and culturally significant buildings such as St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity Church ( ...

was hired to design the visitor center, while Local Projects was responsible for designing the exhibits. Pride Live raised $3.2 million for its construction and development and plans to operate the center in cooperation with the NPS. The visitor center opened on June 28, 2024, as the first official national visitors center dedicated to the LGBTQ+ experience to open anywhere in the world. Numerous politicians and celebrities participated in the inauguration ceremonies,; and the

's Christopher Street–Sheridan Square station was renamed the

Christopher Street–Stonewall station The Christopher Street–Stonewall station, formerly known as Christopher Street–Sheridan Square, is a local metro station, station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Christop ...

on the same day.

Removal of transgender and queer references from NPS website

Originally, the U.S.

(NPS) website for the monument discussed the

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

communities. After U.S. president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

signed

Executive Order 14168 Executive Order 14168, titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government", is an executive order issued by Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, the day of his second inauguration as pre ...

in 2025, mandating that the federal government and federally funded entities cease any promotion of "gender ideology", all references to transgender and queer people were removed from the website. The news was first reported on February 13, 2025.; ; The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative and The Stonewall Inn issued a joint statement the same day, saying: The statement went on to spotlight Marsha P. Johnson,

Sylvia Rivera Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender activism, transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in LGBT history in New Yo ...

, and "countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals" as "central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement." A resistance movement has begun to revert the erasure of trans and queer history from the Stonewall Monument National website, although New York State's own official LGBTQ Monument on the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

shoreline has deliberately preserved all trans and queer references.

Notes

References

External links

* at the National Park Service * archived January 20, 2025 * (official announcement from White House Press Office) * * Stonewall Forever Monument * {{Authority control 2016 establishments in New York City Articles containing video clips Christopher Street LGBTQ historiography in New York City LGBTQ monuments and memorials in the United States Monuments and memorials in Manhattan National monuments designated by Barack Obama National Park Service areas in New York City National Park Service national monuments in New York City Protected areas established in 2016 West Village