Sheridan Square 1: The Village's "Mousetrap"
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Because of its confusing, maze-like streets and corners, guidebooks in the 1920’s called the area “the Mousetrap” where several streets come together -- West 4th, Washington Place, Grove Street and Barrow.
The little triangle in the midst of all this chaos is Sheridan Square, and the geometrical confusion is not its only odd incongruity. The triangular square, only 4200 square feet, is named after New York native & Civil War hero General Philip Sheridan, whose statue you can find not here in his triangle, but nearby in Christopher Park. Why would you look for a statue of Sheridan in a triangle named Sheridan Square? This is New York City! We do things our own way here.
Until 1982 the square/triangle was a paved traffic island. Then the Sheridan Square Triangle Association convinced the city to turn the eyesore into the (hopefully) verdant garden you can visit today. Twenty-first century New Yorkers know Sheridan Square primarily as a subway stop, but the area’s history is far more "goofy" and intoxicating. More on that later . . . .