The Amiable Child monument in Riverside Park at 124th overlooking the Hudson River commemorates the life and death of an “amiable child,” St. Claire Pollock, who fell to his death nearby in 1797. It is thought to be the only single-person gravesite on New York City land. 

Pollock’s father laid the foundation for the enduring monument when he asked the family to whom he sold the land to let the monument and urn remain. His wishes have been honored since. The area around it was named St. Clair Place in the child’s honor and the St. Clair Steps lead one down to 125^th and 12^th avenue. But why when the city dubbed it St. Clair’s Place did they drop the “e” at the end of Claire? Little St. Claire’s parents were wealthy Irish people and he appears to have been named for his mother’s side of the family, who were called St. Claire or Sinclaire.

It’s difficult to find a record noting the naming of St. Clair Place, but the oldest mention of it that a HNBA newsletter writer could locate is in a May 7, 1922 edition of the New York Herald. The New York City Parks website asserts that the Place was named for St. Claire Pollock, but it just might be possible that it has something to do with the famed Harlem numbers runner of the era, Stephanie St. Clair.

A powerful woman who immigrated from the Caribbean and set up shop in Harlem, at least one newspaper referred to Stephanie St. Clair as Harlem’s “policy queen.” At the time when St. Clair Place was named she was at the height of her power. Calling herself Madame St. Clair, she was also a black and women’s rights activist. St. Clair even fought the powerful white gangster Dutch Schultz’s encroaches on Harlem territory and outlived him to tell about it.

Thus, the mystery: Where and why did little St. Claire’s “e” go in the naming of St. Clair Place? Maybe, just maybe, it was a winking nod to Harlem gangster, feminist and activist of the time, Stephanie St. Clair; perhaps even orchestrated by the madame herself.

Soil Erosion and Harlem’s Parks