General Worth: The Soldier Who Named Two Cities

This obelisk at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway marks the actual grave of Major General William Jenkins Worth, one of the few public burial monuments on the streets of Manhattan. Worth was born in Hudson, New York in seventeen ninety-four and made his career in the United States Army over nearly four decades. He served in the War of eighteen twelve, spent eight years as commandant of cadets at West Point, and fought in both the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War.

In the Mexican campaign he distinguished himself at the battles of Monterey and Veracruz. Worth died in eighteen forty-nine while commanding troops in Texas, and two cities were named in his honor: Fort Worth, Texas, and Lake Worth, Florida. His monument is one of the oldest objects on the Manhattan street grid, placed here in eighteen fifty-seven.