Construction of Central Park

Central Park is a large public park in the middle of Manhattan, about four kilometres long and not quite one kilometre wide. The city began to plan it in the 1850s, after leading citizens argued that growing New York needed open space, and the land was bought and cleared, which led to the removal of several communities, including Seneca Village, a settlement of mostly Black landowners. In 1858 the design of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the Greensward Plan, was chosen in a competition. It combined meadows, woods, lakes and winding paths with roads sunk below ground level for crossing traffic. The park opened in stages from 1858, and became a model for urban parks in the United States and abroad. It is a National Historic Landmark.

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