History of Central Park, New York
New York Central Park is the first urban park in the United States. Founded in the New York City salon of the early 1850, the park lasted for more than a decade and cost the city ten million dollars. The intention was to refute the European view that the American people did not have a sense of social responsibility and appreciation of cultural purity, and instead had unhealthy materialism and selfishness that hindered their interest in the common good. The degraded pride of the New York elite society was the idea of a sweeping pastoral world, where the rich could show off their carts, share, and “be seen,” and the poor could benefit from the fresh air and constructive entertainment without lifting a bottle.
Construction of "Central Park"
After many years of local debates, construction of the park finally began in 1857, based on the winner of the park design competition, "Greensward Plan," by Frederick Law Olmsted, the park's director, and Calvert Aux, architect. Using the power of a prominent site, the city acquired 840 hectares located in central Manhattan, covering two and a half kilometers from 59th Street to 106th Street (in 1863 the park was expanded north to 110th Street) and half a mile from Fifth Avenue. On Eighth Avenue. In the program, an estimated 1,600 people living in rocky, swampy areas — some as legitimate tenants and some as squatters — were evicted; Included in the sweep were the palace and the school, the ornamental plants, and the inhabitants of Seneca Village, an African-American settlement of about 270 who was proud of their school and three weeks. Members of AME Zion, the most prominent church in Seneca Village, were scattered throughout the city, and their community was devastated. Although the city compensated the landowners for an estimated $700 per area, most residents estimated this far below the value of their buildings, which, despite (until then) unpopular land, contained their own homes, history, and livelihoods.
Vision
Chosen by the city and the organizers of the park because its location was unsuitable for commercial construction, the site of the new park provided stone blocks, swamps to be converted into lakes, and an old city dam. These various elements will be refined, upgraded, diminished, and eliminated to create a park in the style of a European public stadium, with its distorted rural appearance. To date, Olmsted and Aux plan included four crossroads to transport cars across cities below park level. Building structures had to be kept low - only four buildings were present in the original plans for the park - and the design and building materials of the bridges were chosen to ensure that they were as integrated as possible in the surrounding areas.
Building Central Park
Thousands of workers in Ireland, Germany, and New England worked hard for ten days under the supervision of the chief designer and superintendent Olmsted for between $50 and $50 a day. In the winter of 1858, the first floor of the park was opened to the public; December of that year saw New Yorkers skiing through a 20-acre [20 ha] lake south of the Ramble. The final stages of construction of the park began in 1863, with land reform and the newly acquired landscape from 106th to 110th Streets. Due to budget constraints and tight controls Andrew Green, the new administrator, used, the area was not designed to be carefully and carefully, which makes it look good.
Wealthy Park
In the first decade of the park's demise, it became clear who it was. Located at a great distance north of the city to be within walking distance of the city's working class, the park was a remote resting place for them. The trains represented a higher cost than most workers could afford, and by the 1860 the park remained a playground for the wealthy; in the afternoons they saw the paths of the park full of luxurious carts that were a symbol of the mood of the day. Women participated in the afternoons and on weekends their husbands joined them in concerts or carts. Saturday afternoon concerts also attracted a moderate audience, but a six-day work week restricted the presence of city-class staff. As a result, the staff formed a small group of tourists visiting the park until the end of the nineteenth century, when they launched a successful campaign to have concerts on Sunday as well.
People's Park
As the town and park entered the twentieth century, a reservoir was dug out and converted into the Great Lawn. The first playground, filled with a jungle and slide gymnasium, was erected in the park in 1926, despite opposition from conservationists, who argued that the park was intended to be an urban refuge for urban dwellers. The playground, widely used by children of middle and working parents, was a great success; In the 1940, under the direction of park commissioner Robert Moses, Central Park had more than two dozen stadiums. As the park was slowly depleting the elite oasis and escape, and was largely documented by the needs of the growing population of New York City, its use emerged and expanded; by the middle of the century, football clubs had been allowed to play in the park, and the “Please Keep the Grass” signs that covered the green meadows of the park were a thing of the past.
Central Park Today
In the sixties and seventies the care of the park dropped dramatically; despite its growing use of concerts and rallies, cleaning, planting, and general maintenance fell by the wayside. A 1976 study by Columbia University found many parts of the park in a state of disrepair, from the surrounding stone wall to the drainage ditch that prevents flooding.
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