The Disappearance of the Public Bench

“Benches, like other public amenities, are places where optimistic visions of civic life meet messier realities.” In this thoughtful essay at Places Journal, Gabrielle Bruney examines the bench as public place and reflection of society, the politics of public and privately owned spaces, the idea of hostile architecture, and how accessibility is sometimes invoked in bad faith to justify designs that ultimately punish unhoused people or anyone who simply wants to rest. At the core of Bruney’s piece is a simple but powerful idea: A bench removed is one less opportunity to interact with another person. At a time when American cities remain profoundly inaccessible and our personal bubbles have only grown, her essay is a timely read.

The idea that benches are for some people and not others isn’t new. In 1908, a St. Petersburg, Florida real estate developer sparked a trend when he installed benches at a downtown intersection. They were so well-liked that other people installed their own, in a range of colors, until the city passed an ordinance permitting only green benches. Eventually, they numbered around 3,000 and St. Petersburg earned a nickname: “The City of Green Benches.” ⁶ They became staples of the city’s marketing efforts, seen on postcards and in ads as emblems of its winterless weather, friendly community, and unhurried retiree lifestyle. ⁷

Not everyone was welcome on the green benches. Throughout the Jim Crow era, police prevented Black people from using them. ⁸ “I can remember walking down Central Avenue with my mother, lined with green benches, and knowing we could not sit on them,” Gwendolyn Reese, a Black resident, told a local news outlet in 2025. “It wasn’t the law. It was the practice.” ⁹ Another Black local recalled in an interview for the Tampa Bay Times, “What green benches meant to me was racism … It meant ‘no.’ It meant, you’re not good enough.” ¹⁰ St. Petersburg’s green benches are reminiscent of benches in 1930s Vienna that were marked “Only for Aryans.” ¹¹