McKenna Square, Urban park in Washington Heights, Upper Manhattan, United States

McKenna Square is a 0.24-acre triangular park in the median of West 165th Street between Audubon and Amsterdam Avenues in Washington Heights, Upper Manhattan. Its central raised pavilion is built of steel, stone, and glass block, and rose-colored granite pavers mark a winding path among London plane trees.

The city honored a soldier who died in World War I's Battle of Argonne Forest by naming the park after him in 1924. The location sits along the historical route of the Croton Aqueduct system, which carried water to New York City from sources to the north.

The park is named for Private William McKenna, a local man from West 173rd Street who died in 1918 at the Battle of the Argonne Forest in France; the Board of Aldermen chose the name on July 8, 1924. Before the triangle became a park, its north side was Croton Street, lined with workers' cottages lived in by Irish immigrants into the early 20th century.

The park is easily accessible and provides a quiet spot to pause along the busy West 165th Street corridor. The raised design makes it visible from the street level, and the pathways are open for visitors to walk through the space.

Before the triangle became a park, its northern edge was Croton Street, a roadway that predated Manhattan's street grid and carried workers' cottages housing Irish immigrants into the early 20th century. The name likely evoked the Croton Aqueduct, which began piping drinking water from the New Croton Reservoir in Westchester County in 1842. Croton Street disappeared as an address soon after the site was created in 1917.