Central Park Loving
Today it was sunny and to make the best of the beautiful day, we went for a jog in Central Park. Please enjoy the following pictures along with some history, stats, and fun facts about the park!
The View from 79th Street with Central Park at the end of the road, NYC 2014
The Park of the Wealthy
Many beautiful buildings surround Central Park. This one is the Ukrainian Institute, NYC 2014
In the first decade of the park’s completion, it became clear for whom it was built. Located too far uptown to be within walking distance for the city’s working class population, the park was a distant oasis to them. Trainfare represented a greater expenditure than most of the workers could afford, and in the 1860s the park remained the playground of the wealthy; the afternoons saw the park’s paths crowded with the luxurious carriages that were the status symbol of the day. Women socialized there in the afternoons and on weekends their husbands would join them for concerts or carriage rides. Saturday afternoon concerts attracted middle-class audiences as well, but the six-day work week precluded attendance by the working class population of the city. As a result, workers comprised but a fraction of the visitors to the park until the late nineteenth century, when they launched a successful campaign to hold concerts on Sundays as well.
The Park of the People
As the city and the park moved into the twentieth century, the lower reservoir was drained and turned into the Great Lawn. The first playground, complete with jungle gyms and slides, was installed in the park in 1926, despite opposition by conservationists, who argued that the park was intended as a countryside escape for urban dwellers. The playground, used mostly by the children of middle and working class parents, was a great success; by the 1940s, under the direction of parks commissioner Robert Moses, Central Park was home to more than twenty playgrounds. As the park became less and less an elite oasis and escape, and was shaped more and more by the needs of the growing population of New York City, its uses evolved and expanded; by the middle of the century, ball clubs were allowed to play in the park, and the “Please Keep of the Grass” signs which had dotted the lush meadows of the park were a thing of the past. (Thanks NY.com)
What the Doost?!
Here are some interesting Central Park facts:
• The Park is larger than the principality of Monaco.
• Since 1908, Central Park has appeared in over 240 feature films, thereby making it the most filmed public park in the world!
• In order to create four transverse roads which cut through the park, the construction team used gun powder to blast through 30 feet of solid bedrock. It is said that more gun powder was used in this blasting project than was used in all of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War.
• The Park takes up roughly 843 acres of land, which is roughly 16 billion New York apartments.
Any season here is a wonderful experience.
Central Park covered in snow, NYC 2014
Just two weeks ago the park was covered in snow with every kid and adult in town out to play. But today the sun shines bright and the snow is all melted away. The lakes are still frozen but the sun can fool anyone today.
One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.
― Tom Wolfe
Here are some more fun facts about the park:
Perimeter: 6 miles (2.5 miles up and down the avenues and 0.5 miles across Central Park North and South).
Pathways: 58 miles of walking paths; 4.25 miles of bridle paths.
Trees and benches: More than 26,000 trees and nearly 9,000 benches.
Bridges and arches: 36.
Sculptures: 29, including statues of Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Andersen.
Recreation: 26 ballfields; 30 tennis courts; 21 playgrounds; one carousel; two ice-skating rinks, one of which is converted into a swimming pool in the summer.
Visitors: 25 million annually.
Horse Drawn Carriages may soon disappear from Central Park, NYC 2014
