With the upcoming creation of the Stonewall National Monument, the National Park Service (NPS) will soon oversee its first unit celebrating both the contributions of LGBTQ Americans to U. S. society and the spark of the Gay Rights Movement, the Stonewall Riots of 1969.  The Monument will include the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park, a small park across the street from the Stonewall Inn.  There is no planned museum, interpretive space, or visitors' center, which will greatly curtail the capacity of the NPS to curate and present the site's significance.

However, across the street from the Stonewall Inn is a four-story, triangular brick building, the 1831 Northern Dispensary (165 Waverly Place, NY, NY, 10014).  Its deed requires it to be in the service of the poor and infirm.  The building has been vacant since the 1980s and is in need of an adaptive reuse for its preservation.  It is an ideal space for the Stonewall National Monument visitors' center and interpretive museum.  Most NPS headquarters have clinics, but the NPS could also meet the deed requirements by sharing the building with a clinic or a non-profit aiding the poor.

Please urge President Obama, the Congress, and the National Park Service to negotiate the purchase of the Northern Dispensary from William Gottlieb Real Estate so that the building can be restored and serve as the visitors' center and interpretive museum for the Stonewall National Monument.