Bronstein Park is located in downtown Manchester. The small, 2.84-acre park is located within walking distance of Central High School on Hanover and Beech Streets. The scattering of trees across the park provides both shade in the hot summers and beauty in the colorful spring and autumn seasons. The walkways have benches lining the sides so visitors may sit and enjoy their surroundings.

 

Ben Richard Bronstein was born in Manchester in 1915. On February 28, 1942, German submarines attacked the ship that Bronstein was on, the U.S.S. Jacob Jones. The destroyer was hit with at least two torpedoes. It was the first ship to be sunk by the Axis Powers’ forces. One hundred eighty-nine members of the two hundred-member crew died on board that night, including Dr. Bronstein. He was the first man from New Hampshire to die in World War II.

 

He is honored with two ships that bear his name, along with the park in downtown Manchester. He attended Manchester’s Central High School and then went on to the University of New Hampshire and Tufts Medical School. Bronstein was one of five children, and one of his brothers was the former principle of Manchester Memorial High School. His other brothers were Massachusetts’s businessmen.

 

Although the park is named for Dr. Bronstein, there is another statue that stands larger in the park grounds. The Spanish-American monument is larger.