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Norman Rockwell's NYC Roots May Be Honored With Street Renaming

By Emily Frost | April 15, 2015 4:37pm
 Students successfully campaigned to get Community Board 7 members' approval to rename a section of West 103rd Street "Norman Rockwell Place."
Norman Rockwell Place
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UPPER WEST SIDE — Norman Rockwell, the iconic American artist who captured everyday life in 20th century America, should have the local street near where he grew up named after him, members of Community Board 7 said Tuesday. 

The board approved a proposal to rename the southeast corner of Broadway and West 103rd Street, near where Rockwell spent time as a young man, in his honor. The renaming still needs approval by the full board in early May and then the City Council before a street sign can officially go up. 

The idea stemmed from a class project by a group of five juniors and seniors from Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School, an alternative school on West 102nd Street for students who've had trouble finishing high school.

The teens dove into the life of the artist, known for his depictions of small town America but also for portraying the Civil Rights Movement and other important moments in history, including the moon landing. 

The students, led by English teacher Renee Mills, created pamphlets, posters, petitions and even T-shirts in support of the street renaming as part of a committee they formed called Norman Rockwell Place.

On Election Day this fall, they canvassed voters at their school and got 400 signatures in support of the idea. 

"They had some rough customers and people who were totally for it," said Mills of her students' voting day experience.

"[The project is] a civics lesson... working hard and getting some results is what kids need today," she added.

Tom Daly, curator of education at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., gave the students a tour of the museum and lent his support to the project on Tuesday.

Born in 1896 in New York City, Rockwell spent his "formative years" at the brownstone that once stood at 206 W. 103rd Street, learning to draw and observing city life around him, Daly explained. 

"This [street renaming] is a great step forward to get Norman Rockwell connected back to the city he loved," Daly said, noting that many people don't realize that the artist has local roots.

The exact day he moved out of the brownstone is unknown, but as an adult Rockwell returned to New York City and had a studio on West 67th Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West.

Back in January, the board disapproved a proposal to rename that stretch of West 67th Street after political consultant David Garth, saying far greater celebrities had also lived on the block.

"We don’t rubber stamp secondary street names. We’ve turned down a lot of them," board member Howard Yaruss told the students.

In this case, however, Yaruss and other board members said they were moved by the presentation in support of the renaming — and pointed out that there weren't any competing celebrities who lived on the block. 

The block isn't a stranger to other stars, as the stretch across 103rd Street to the west was renamed Humphrey Bogart Way in 2006.

"We'll have Norman on one side and Humphrey on the other," Mills said. 

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