Did you know that Leonard Morange Square in Bronxville was named after a Bronxville resident in 1938?
Pictured: Leonard Morange Square in Bronxville
By Ray Geselbracht, Bronxville Village Historian
May 14, 2025: Did you know that Leonard Morange Square in Bronxville was named after a Bronxville resident in 1938?
Leonard Morange Square is the small wooded park near the Bronxville train station on the west side (pictured above).
In May 1938 the Bronxville Board of Trustees voted to rename what had been called Station Plaza or West Station Plaza after Leonard S. Morange, the first Bronxville resident to be killed during military service in World War I. He was killed in England on August 10, 1918 while training as a pilot in the British Royal Flying Corps.
The plaza’s rededication as Leonard Morange Square occurred during Bronxville’s Memorial Day ceremony in 1938. A marker honoring Morange’s service, which had been commissioned by the Leonard S. Morange American Legion Post, was put up in the square. A plaque on the marker reads in part: “1896-1918, Leonard Sowersby Morange, first Bronxville son to make the supreme sacrifice in the World War.”
Pictured: Leonard Morange (far right) with his brother and sister. Photo courtesy Bronxville Historical Conservancy
In 1954, a flagpole with a memorial base that honored all wartime service by the people of Bronxville was erected in Morange Square near the Leonard Morange marker. At later times, small markers honoring service in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War were put up near the Morange marker.
Today Morange Square has winding walkways and places to sit and enjoy the day, or perhaps think about Leonard Morange and the sacrifice that he and many others have made in the country’s wars.
