Petition Started To Rename Inwood Street For Indigenous History

INWOOD, NY — A petition recently got started to rename a street next to the Inwood Hill Park entrance to a traditional Lenape tribe name to honor the indigenous people who used to live in Upper Manhattan.

The petition specifically calls on the City Council to rename the street by Seaman Avenue and Isham Street next to the park's entrance.

City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

"It is also the area where for 15,000 years, the Indigenous peoples of the Algonquin tradition have called home," authors of the petition wrote. "It is time that the Park entrance at Seaman Avenue be renamed to an Indigenous name."

According to MyInwood.net, Inwood Hill Park is home to "Indian Caves" that were once used as seasonal shelters by the Lenape People who lived in the area before the arrival of Henry Hudson in the early 1600s.

As of Thursday evening, 135 people have signed the petition.

The petition was created by the NYC Indigenous Mobile Library and Traveling Urban Cultural Center in NYC.

The organization's goal is to "educate the public about indigenous history and values one neighborhood at a time," according to its Facebook page.

You can find out more about what the NYC Indigenous Mobile Library does on its website.