5 &6. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point


Two eagles are located on the campus of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, in front of O’Hara Hall, a gymnasium. They originally sat on the 7th Avenue facade of the original Pennsylvania station. A set of two nearby plaques state that they are “symbols of our national heritage,” that they were placed here on either side of the entrance to O’Hara Hall in 1964, and that “two of their mates now guard the main entrance to Madison Square Garden.”

The King’s Point campus was once the Henri Bendel estate (later purchased by Walter P. Chrysler of automobile fame). Another part of the Merchant Marine Academy was previously the William Slocum Barstow estate, a Gold Coast property along the Long Island north shore. Barstow was a partner of Thomas Edison and later served as the first mayor of Kings Point.