William Cullen Bryant began to convince people that a park was needed, but where? The original proposal, which came very close to passing, called for a park in an area named Jones’ Woods, along the East River between 66th and 75thStreets.
Local property owners were highly in favor, but soon others complained that it was unfair to develop a park accessible from only one side of the island. Instead of a “one-sided park,” the city needed a “central park,” easily accessible from all of the city and its residents.
In 1857, the city commissioners defined the boundaries of the park and opened a contest for the park’s design. Dozens of plans were submitted by some of New York’s premier architects, but the one selected was the Greensward Plan, prepared by a couple of no-names: Fredrick Law Olmsted, a native New Yorker with connections, and Calvert Vaux, an English landscape architect.
It was selected because it best reflected Bryant’s and Thomas Cole’s inspiration—that the park should be a refuge of nature rather than some exercise in symmetry. So, when years later, Horace Greeley concluded that the builders had left nature alone better than he thought they would, that was exactly the perception they were aiming for.
Experience these and other stories in our Central Park tour. We offer a unique NY tour experience, told with audio narration, hundreds of pictures, video clips, gps-enabled map, trivia quizzes, local recommendations, and much more. Walk New York with Racontrs in your hand and take a walk through history.
