107th United States Infantry
The 107th United States Infantry memorializes soldiers who died in World War I. Located along the Park’s perimeter wall at the East 67th Street entrance, the monument realistically depicts soldiers in the throes of battle.
In the years following the American Civil War and World War I, parks and public plazas across the City became popular sites for sculptural memorials. This is one of two monuments in Central Park to the soldiers of the New York’s Seventh Regiment. The Seventh Regiment Memorial, on the west side of the Park near 67th Street, honors soldiers lost in the Civil War.
Dedicated on September 29, 1927, the monument’s location was chosen because of its proximity to the Regiment’s Armory just to the east on Park Avenue. The soldiers of the Seventh Regiment’s 107th Infantry helped to break Germany’s Hindenburg Line of defense at the conclusion of World War I. The sculptor, Karl Illava, was a sergeant with the infantry. His realistic representation of soldiers in battle contrasts with the formal and stoic solider depicted in the Civil War monument across the Park.