'Only God Can Make a Tree': Brooklyn's Tribute to Joyce Kilmer
by Lawrence Kadish • February 20, 2023 at 4:00 am
Amidst the unrelenting stories of carnage, corruption and incompetence comes a reminder there is good news if you look long enough to find it.
And it should come as no surprise that this reminder comes from Brooklyn.
Generations ago, the New York City Department of Parks took a triangular piece of park property along Kings Highway in Midwood and renamed it "Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Square." It lies along a historic Indian trail that became a major thoroughfare for European settlers traveling between rural communities called Flatbush, Gravesend, and New Utrecht.
In time, New York City would acquire the parcel as the arrival of the automobile required the realignment of many Brooklyn streets, resulting in this modest triangle. It was dedicated as parkland in 1934, and named "Sergeant Joyce Kilmer Square" in 1935.
