Building Central Park
The trees are budding, the blossoms are blooming, and Central Park is a walk away. This iconic park is one of the most widely-known landscapes in the U.S. It was also one of the first public parks for New Yorkers. If you’re a city-goer, chances are you visit often, but do you know how it all began?
Planning Central Park
Central Park plans began in 1857, based off of the winner of a park design contest, the “Greensward Plan”, of the park superintendent as well as an architect. The city acquired 840 acres located smack in the middle of Manhattan, extending over two and a half miles (from 59th St. to 106th St.). Today, that’s equivalent to roughly 16 billion New York City apartments. It took nearly a year before the first area of the park became open to the public. And then the final stages of the project continued, beginning in 1863.
Bringing People to the Park
As time shifted into the twentieth century, the park became complete with a playground for families. This became a way for residents to escape from city living, and dive into a taste of the countryside. By the 1940s, it was home to more than twenty playgrounds and became an urban oasis for many New Yorkers.
Today, Central Park offers many outdoor events for all art and music lovers – making it the perfect place to relax on a beautiful spring day!
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