This monument stands in a triangular plot named for Nathan Straus, whose family once were partners in the Abraham & Straus department stores and owners of R.H. Macy & Co. A pioneer of milk pasteurization in New York, in 1893 Straus established a milk-processing station on East 3rd St.; by the turn of the century, he had a dozen such stations in the city. He also supplied a number of milk stands — in some accounts, called milk bars — where people who had never tasted pasteurized milk could try it inexpensively.
This bas relief is one of four that encircle the columnar monument, which was dedicated in 1953 to honor Lower East Side veterans of WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. A dairy farmer, sitting cowside, would have been undignified for such a memorial; the bounty provided by American farmers is depicted instead by a sheaf of wheat and a basket of fruit.
Straus Square Veterans' Monument
At the intersection of Canal St., Rutgers St., and East Broadway, Manhattan
