English: A view of Townsend Park in Albany, New York, as seen from its west end on a May 2022 afternoon. A small (roughly one-half acre in area) triangular park bounded by Central Avenue, Henry Johnson Boulevard, and Washington Avenue, the park's history traces back to 1833, when the owners of the surrounding properties fenced the space off and petitioned the city for the creation of a park, which was to be called Washington Park. The park was soon renamed for former mayor John Townsend, and the name Washington Park was reused for the former State Street Parade Grounds a few blocks to the southwest. Today, the park is surrounded by pleasant three-story brick rowhouses dating from the mid-19th century most of which have been converted for commercial uses (the area is known today as a hotspot for ethnic restaurants, with Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines represented) and features a statue sculpted in 1929 by local artist Dave Lithgow as a monument to Spanish-American War veterans, and specifically to the four companies of the First Provisional Regiment of the 10th Battalion which was headquartered at the nearby Washington Avenue Armory. 20 feet in height, it depicts a military serviceman with rifle in hand and stands on a pedestal with a bronze cross on the front reading "UNITED SPANISH WAR VETERANS, 1898-1902" and inscribed on each side with the names of the four most prominent theaters of that war: respectively "CUBA", "PORTO RICO" (sic), "HAWAII", and "PHILIPPINES". The Art Deco-style Alfred E. Smith State Office Building rises in the background.