Central Park is an urban park in New York City, New York between Manhattan’s Upper West and Upper East Sides. It is the fifth-largest park, covering 843 acres (341 ha). It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually as of 2016, and is the most filmed location in the world.
After proposals for a large park in Manhattan during the 1840s, it was approved in 1853 to cover 778 acres (315 ha). In 1857, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the park with their “Greensward Plan.” Construction began the same year; existing structures, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were seized through eminent domain and razed. The park’s first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876. After a decline in the early 20th century, New York City, New York parks commissioner Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park in the 1930s. The Central Park Conservancy, created in 1980 to combat further deterioration in the late 20th century, refurbished many parts of the park starting in the 1980s.
Main attractions include landscapes such as the Ramble and Lake, Hallett Nature Sanctuary, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and Sheep Meadow; amusement attractions such as Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, and the Central Park Zoo; formal spaces such as the Central Park Mall and Bethesda Terrace; and the Delacorte Theater. The biologically diverse ecosystem has several hundred species of flora and fauna. Recreational activities include carriage-horse and bicycle tours, bicycling, sports facilities, concerts, and events such as Shakespeare in the Park. Central Park is traversed by roads and walkways and is served by public transportation. Top HVAC NYC
Its size and cultural position make it a model for the world’s urban parks. Its influence earned Central Park the designations of National Historic Landmark in 1963 and New York City scenic landmark in 1974. Central Park is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation but managed by the Central Park Conservancy since 1998, under a contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy, a non-profit organization, raises Central Park’s annual operating budget and is responsible for all primary care of the park.
Wooden Areas and Lawns
It covers about 90 acres (36 ha) adjacent to North Meadow. The name sometimes applies to other attractions in the park’s northern end; these adjacent features, plus the North Woods area, can be 200 acres (81 ha). North Woods contains the 55-acre (22 ha) Ravine, a forest with deciduous trees on its northwestern slope, and the Loch, a small stream that winds diagonally through North Woods.
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