Christopher Gray asks, in his June 23rd New York Times Cityscapes Column, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/realestate/23SCAP.html what the Collyer Brothers ever did for Harlem that the park at 128th Street and Fifth Avenue should remain named for them. Mr. Gray doesn't ask the question himself, just passes it along to potray one side of a current local debate. The side that wonders why two recluses should give their names to the park when it could have some wonderfully meaningless p.c. name like Learning Tree Park. Maybe they should give at a nice corporate name like Ipana Toothpaste Learning Tree Park. (Don't want to offend current corporations. Well, maybe some; but that's another story). To provide a possible answer to the question - "Oh, maybe because the name might actually mean something, might reflect the unsanitized, not always "nice", past that helped the neighborhhod become, for better or worse, what it is today. Or perhaps what it meant to those who experienced life there. Perhaps so some young student might see the name and be interested enough crack open a book or search out an archive to find out who the Collyers were. That student won't care about the past of a 'learning tree'. Or, best of all, just to keep alive the wonderful stories recounted in the column. Okay, dismounting soapbox now David Minor David Minor Eagles Byte Historical Research Pittsford, New York 585 264-0423 [log in to unmask] co-Webmaster for Canal Society of New York State page at http://www.canalsnys.org/ To be put on the mailing list for the weekly TimeMaster radio scripts (WXXI-FM 91.5), as well as news of updates to my homepage and a URL of the week, e-mail me at the address above. http://home.eznet.net/~dminor includes NYNY, a series of timelines covering New York City and State, from approximately 1,100,000,000 BC to 1990 AD. "I would undertake to supply your demands if your generosity is equal to them." -John Bartram, U. S. naturalist