Central Park (40°46′59″N 73°58′20″W / 40.78306°N 73.97222°W) is a large public, urban park (843 acres or 3.41 km²; a rectangle 2.5 miles by one-half mile, or 4 km × 800 m) in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA. Central Park's appearance in many movies and television shows has made it one of the world's most famous city parks.
Central Park is bordered on the north by Central Park North (Cathedral Parkway west of the park and 110th Street east), on the east by Fifth Avenue, on the south by Columbus Circle and Central Park South (59th Street east of Fifth Avenue), and on the west by Central Park West (Eighth Avenue south of Columbus Circle).
The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who later created Brooklyn's Prospect Park. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped and contains several artificial lakes, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a wildlife sanctuary, and grassy areas used for various sporting pursuits, as well as playgrounds for children. The park is a popular oasis for migrating birds, and thus is popular with bird watchers. The 6 mi (10 km) road circling the park is popular with joggers, bicyclists and inline skaters, especially on weekends and in the evenings after 7:00PM, when automobile traffic is banned.
History
Early history
Between 1820 and 1850, New York City nearly quadrupled in population. As the city expanded, people were drawn to the few open spaces, mainly cemeteries, to get away from the noise and chaotic life in the city. Before long, however, New York City's need for a great public park was voiced by the poet and editor of the then-Evening Post (now the New York Post), William Cullen Bryant, and by the first American landscape architect, Andrew Jackson Downing, who began to publicize the city's need for a public park in 1844. A stylish place for open-air driving, like the Bois de Boulogne in Paris or London's Hyde Park, felt needed by many influential New Yorkers, and in 1853 the New York legislature designated a 700 acre (2.8 km²) area from 59th to 106th Streets for the creation of the park, to a cost of more than $5 million for the land alone.
The park was not part of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811.
Initial development
The State appointed a Central Park Commission to oversee the development of the park, and in 1857 the commission held a landscape design contest. Writer Frederick Law Olmsted and English architect Calvert Vaux developed the so-called "Greensward Plan", which was selected as the winning design. According to Olmsted, the park was "of great importance as the first real Park made in this century – a democratic development of the highest significance...", a view probably inspired by his stay, and various trips in Europe in 1850.[1] During that trip he visited several parks, and was in particular impressed by Birkenhead Park near Liverpool, England, which opened in 1847 as the first publicly funded park in the world.
Several influences came together in the design. Landscaped cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Green-Wood (Brooklyn, New York) had set an example of idyllic, naturalistic landscapes. The most influential innovations in the Central Park design, were the separate circulation systems for pedestrians, horseback riders and pleasure vehicles. The "crosstown" commercial traffic was entirely concealed in sunken roadways screened with densely planted shrub belts, so as not to disturb the impression of a rustic scene. The Greensward plan called for some 36 bridges, all designed by Vaux, ranging from rugged spans of Manhattan schist or granite, to lacy neo-gothic cast iron, no two alike. The ensemble of the formal line of the Mall's doubled allées of elms culminating at Bethesda Terrace, with a composed view beyond of lake and woodland was at the heart of the larger design.
Before the construction of the park could start, the area had to be cleared of its inhabitants, most of whom were quite poor and either free African-Americans or immigrants of either German or Irish origin. Most of them lived in smaller villages, such as Seneca Village, Harsenville, the Piggery District or the Convent of the Sisters of Charity. The roughly 1,600 working-class residents occupying the area at the time were evicted under the rule of eminent domain during 1857, and Seneca Village, and parts of the other communities were torn down and removed in order to make room for the park.
Around 1860, it became apparent that Olmsted, although a great designer, was a horrible manager. He had little or no oversight of the Park's expenditures, and due to his management there were lengthy delays in construction. He nevertheless refused to voluntarily step down as manager, thus basically forcing the Park Commissioners to put another person in charge of the project instead. Andrew Haswell Green, the former president of New York City's Board of Education took over as the chairman of the commission. Despite the fact that he had relatively little experience, he still managed to accelerate the construction, as well as to finalize the negotiations for the purchase of an additional 65 acres (26 ha) at the north end of the park between 106th and 110th Streets, which would be used as the 'rugged' part of the park.
Between 1860 and 1873, the construction of the park had come a long way, and most of the major hurdles had been overcome. During this period, more than 500,000 cubic feet(14,158 m³) of topsoil had been transported in from New Jersey, as the original soil wasn't good enough to sustain the various trees, shrubs and the plants the Greensward Plan called for. When the park was officially completed in 1873, more than 10 million cartloads of material, including soil and rocks which were to be removed from the area had been manually dug up, and transported out of the park. Also included were the more than 4 million trees, shrubs and plants representing the approximately 1500 species which were to lay the foundation for today's park.
20th century
Following the completion of the park, it quickly slipped into decline. One of the major reasons for this was the infamous New York political machine known as Tammany Hall, then the largest political force in New York.
Around the turn of the century, the park faced several new challenges. Cars had been invented and were becoming commonplace, bringing with them their burden of pollution. Also, the general mental view of the people was beginning to change. No longer were parks to be used only for walks and picnics in an idyllic environment, but now also for sports, and similar recreation. Following the dissolution of the Central Park Commission in 1870 and Andrew Green's departure from the project and the death of Vaux in 1895, the maintenance effort gradually declined, and there were few or no attempts to replace dead trees, bushes and plants or worn-out lawn. For several decades, authorities did little or nothing to prevent vandalism and the littering of the park.
All of this changed in 1934, when Fiorello LaGuardia was elected mayor of New York and unified the five park-related departments then in existence, and gave Robert Moses the job of cleaning up. Moses, then about to become one of the mightiest men in New York City, took over what was essentially a relic, a leftover from a bygone era.
According to historian Robert Caro in his book "The Power Broker," published in 1974,
Lawns, unseeded, were expanses of bare earth, decorated with scraggly patches of grass and weeds, that became dust holes in dry weather and mud holes in wet … The once beautiful Mall looked like a scene of a wild party the morning after. Benches lay on their backs, their legs jabbing at the sky (...)
In a single year, Moses managed to clean up not only Central Park, but also other parks in New York City; lawns and flowers were replanted, dead trees and bushes replaced, walls were sandblasted and bridges repaired. Major redesigning and construction was also carried out; the existing Croton Reservoir was filled-in so the Great Lawn could be created, and the Greensward Plan's intention of creating an idyllic landscape was combined with Moses' vision of a park to be used for recreational purposes. 19 playgrounds, 12 ballfields and handball courts were constructed, and he also managed to secure funds from the New Deal program, as well as donations from the public, thus ensuring that the park got a new lease of life, prospering under the wings of a powerful and new defender.
1960-1980
When Robert Moses stepped down as Park Commissioner in 1960, nobody could replace him and the power and influence he had. During his 26 years as a commissioner, he had not only maintained the parks in New York City, but he had also started numerous other projects. When he left, the park gradually began to deteriorate, due to vandalism, littering and graffiti, and varied events scheduled to take place in the park. New Year's Eve celebrations, summer concerts, peace rallies and protest marches, and numerous other arrangements during the sixties resulted in a park similar to what it looked like before Moses took over. The number of crimes committed in the park increased, the funding decreased, and the park looked like it was out of control until the Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980.
Despite all the negative issues, not everything was bad during this twenty-year period. The Public Theater debuted with its annual Shakespeare in the Park in 1962, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera began with their annual summer concerts on the Great Lawn.
By 1975 several advocacy groups joined forces to come up with new ideas for how to take care of the park. In order to gain influence over the direct care of the Park, they approached New York City mayor Edward Koch, and Gordon Davis, the then-park commissioner. Under their leadership, the Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980, led by Bill Beinecke (chairman) and Betsy Barlow Rogers (Central Park Administrator).
1980-present
When the Central Park Conservancy started, the founders didn't want to create a new organization, with formally employed caretakers as this would also mean higher operating costs. Instead, they decided to focus on attracting volunteers for most of the work, as this also would facilitate a campaign to make the people of New York more aware of the park, as well as trying to create a feeling that the park was a major part of the identity of New York.
The conservancy cooperated with the Park Commissioner, and took over all responsibility for the restoration and maintenance of the park, and published a paper called ""Rebuilding Central Park for the 1980s and Beyond" in 1981. The document was devised as an early masterplan for the continued development of the park, and described the actions needed to restore the park to its former glory.
The paper described three key tasks, deemed essential for the park's future survival. The architectural heritage had to be restored, not only the landscape and environment, but also the bridges, buildings and other structures that had fallen victim to 20 years of neglect. In addition to this, the paper also called for an extensive reseeding of grass, and that constant care for every area of the park had to be provided. Also, programmes that would increase the security around the park, especially at night, thus attracting more visitors were also outlined.
Over the years, many structures have been restored, and numerous hours have been spent restoring the park. In 2004 alone, volunteers spent more than 32,000 hours working in the park, restoring amongst others the Heckscher playground; a 30-acre area including a building, several meadows and rock outcroppings.
Sculptures
Though Olmsted disapproved of the clutter of sculptures in the park, a total of 29 sculptures have crept in over the years, most of which have been donated by individuals or organizations (and not the city itself). Much of the first statuary to appear in the park was of authors and poets, clustered along a section of the Mall that became known as Literary Walk. The better-known sculptors represented in Central Park include Augustus Saint-Gaudens and John Quincy Adams Ward.. The "Angel of the Waters" at Bethesda Terrace by Emma Stebbins (1873), was the first large public sculpture commission for an American woman. The 1926 statue of the sled dog Balto who became famous during the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska is very popular among tourists, reflecting in the near polished appearance as the result of being patted by countless visitors. The oldest sculpture is "Cleopatra's Needle," actually an Egyptian obelisk of Tutmose III much older than Cleopatra, which was donated to New York by the Khedive of Egypt. North of Conservatory Water, the sailboat pond, there is a larger-than-life statue of Alice, sitting on a huge mushroom, playing with her cat, while the Hatter and the March Hare look on. A large memorial to Duke Ellington created by sculptor Robert Graham was dedicated in 1997 near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, in the Duke Ellington Circle.
Crime
Although often regarded as a kind of oasis of tranquility inside a "city that never sleeps," Central Park once had a reputation over the years as a dangerous place, especially after dark. Although the park is quite safe as of today, there have been periods when the park was popularly believed to be unsafe, and over the years the park developed a reputation of crime, not unlike New York itself. Well-publicized incidents of violence and rape, such as the infamous 1989 "Central Park Jogger" case, have contributed to this perception.
However, as crime has declined in the Park and in the rest of New York City, many of these perceptions have become exaggerated or outdated, and the use of common sense is enough to protect visitors from harm. The park has its own New York City Police Department precinct (Central Park Precinct), which employs both regular police and volunteer citizens. In 2005, such safety measures held the number of crimes in the park—which has more than 25 million visitors annually—to less than one hundred; this very low crime rate has made Central Park one of the safest urban parks in the world. In addition, a large percentage of these crimes, particularly assaults, occur between people who know each other, rather than being random attacks.
Activity in the park
Each summer, the Public Theatre presents free open-air theatre productions, often starring well-known stage and screen actors, in the Delacorte Theatre. Most, though not all, of the plays presented are by William Shakespeare, and the performances are generally regarded as being of high quality since the start in 1962.
The New York Philharmonic gives an open-air concert every summer on the Great Lawn and the Metropolitan Opera presents two operas. Many concerts have been given in the park including the Simon and Garfunkel reunion; Diana Ross, 1983; Dave Matthews Band, 2003.
A long tradition of horseback riding in the park is kept alive by the one remaining stable nearby, Claremont Riding Academy.
Central Park Conservancy
The Central Park Conservancy's mission is to restore, manage, and preserve Central Park, in partnership with the public, for the enjoyment of present and future generations. It is a private, not-for-profit organization founded in 1980 that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation. Thanks to the generosity of many individuals, corporations, and foundations, the Conservancy has raised more than $300 million to date and has transformed Central Park into a model for urban parks nationwide. The Conservancy provides more than 85% of Central Park's annual $23 million operating budget and is responsible for all basic care of the Park.
With 25 million visitors each year to its 843 acres, Central Park is the most frequently visited urban park in the United States. To manage the Park, Conservancy crews aerate and seed lawns; rake leaves; prune and fertilize trees; plant shrubs and flowers; maintain ballfields and playgrounds; remove graffiti; conserve monuments, bridges, and buildings; and care for waterbodies and woodlands, controlling erosion, maintaining the drainage system, and protecting over 150 acres of lakes and streams from pollution, siltation, and algae.
For complete information on the Central Park Conservancy, please click on http://www.centralparknyc.org/aboutcpc
For Central Park's official website, brought to you by the Central Park Conservancy, click on http://www.centralparknyc.org/
Other issues
Permission to hold issue-centered rallies in Central Park has been increasingly stiffly resisted by the mayors. In 2004, the organization United for Peace and Justice wanted to hold a rally on the Great Lawn in opposition to the continued occupation of Iraq. The City denied UFPJ's application for a permit, on the basis that such a mass gathering would be harmful to the grass, and that such damage would make it harder to collect private donations to maintain the Park; courts upheld the refusal.
Since the 1960s, there has been a grassroots campaign to restore the park's loop drives to their original car-free state. Over the years, the number of car-free hours has increased, though a full closure is currently resisted by the New York City Department of Transportation.
The Central Park Medical Unit is an all-volunteer ambulance service that provides completely free emergency medical service to patrons of Central Park and the surrounding streets. CPMU also operates a rapid-response bike patrol, particularly during major events such as the New York City Marathon, the 1998 Goodwill Games, and concerts in the park.
Central Park has one of the last stands of American Elms in the northeastern U.S., 1700 of them, protected by their very isolation from Dutch Elm Disease. Central Park was the site of the unfortunate unleashing of starlings in North America (cf. Invasive species). Central Park is a popular birding spot during spring and fall migration, when birds flying over Manhattan are attracted to the prominent oasis. Over a quarter of all the bird species found in the United States have been seen in Central Park.
In 2002 a new genus and species of centipede was discovered in Central Park. The centipede is about four-tenths of an inch (10 mm) long, making it one of the smallest in the world. It is named Nannarrup hoffmani (after the man who discovered it) and lives in the park's leaf litter, the crumbling organic debris that accumulates under the trees.
Since the late 1990s, the Central Park Conservancy, the United States Department of Agriculture, and several city and state agencies have been fighting an infestation of the Asian long-horned beetle, which has been reported in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, including some parts of Central Park. The beetle, which likely was accidentally shipped from its native China in an untreated shipping crate, has no natural predators in the United States and the fight to contain its infestation has been very expensive. The beetle infests trees by boring a hole in them to deposit its eggs, at which point the only way to end the infestation is to destroy the tree.
| To the west: Central Park West |
Geography of New York City: Central Park |
To the east: Fifth Avenue |
Literary References
In the second half of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield spends much time in Central Park. This includes skipping stones on the lagoon, visiting museums, ice skating and watching the carousel.
See also
- The Gates, a land art project realized by Christo and Jeanne Claude in Central Park in the first two months of 2005.
- Shakespeare Garden
- Silesian Central Park
References
- Art of the Olmsted landscape, Bruce Kelly, Gail T. Guillet, and Mary E. W. Hern, NY, City Landmarks Preservation Commission: Arts Publisher, 1981. SB470 .O5 K44
External links
Official websites
- Central Park Conservancy Central Park's official site, from the keepers of Central Park. Site includes history, virtual tours, egreetings, maps, photo galleries, and much more
- Central Park Zoo
Additional information
- CentralPark.com - The complete Guide to Central Park
- Central Park Attractions
- NYC Department of Park & Recreation: Central Park
- CentralPark.org
- Forgotten NY: "The bridges of Central Park", photographs and text
- Images of America: The Central Park Zoo, photographs and text
- Central Park Fishing, Bass fishing in Central Park
- Car-Free Central Park Campaign
Photos, maps, and other images
- Central Park Winter Photo Gallery
- Central Park Pictures - A large gallery of hi-res Central Park images.
- Graphicalic, pictures from Central Park
- Newyork-evasion gallery of photographs on Central Park
- Central Park Posters, an aerial view
- NYCfoto.com - Central Park
- A day in the life to Central Park
- A Central Park photo gallery
- Air visit of Central Park in Photographs
- Image Gallery of Central Park
- Photographs 2006