Central Park

This article is about the public park in New York City. For other uses, see Central Park (disambiguation).

Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the sixth-largest park in the city, covering 843 acres (341 ha). It is also the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors a year as of 2016. The park is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, but since 1998 it has been managed by the Central Park Conservancy under a contract with the government of New York City in a public–private partnership. The conservancy is a non-profit organization. It sets the park's yearly operating budget and takes care of the park.

The idea of a large park in Manhattan was first proposed in the 1840s, and a 778-acre (315 ha) park was approved in 1853. In 1858, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition for the park with their "Greensward Plan." Construction began in 1857. Existing buildings and settlements, including a majority-Black settlement named Seneca Village, were taken through eminent domain and torn down. The park's first areas opened to the public in late 1858. More land at the northern end was bought in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876. After a period of decline in the early 20th century, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park in the 1930s. The Central Park Conservancy was created in 1980 to stop further decline in the late 20th century, and it began fixing up many parts of the park in the 1980s.

The park's main attractions include the Ramble and Lake, Hallett Nature Sanctuary, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Sheep Meadow, Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, Central Park Zoo, Central Park Mall, Bethesda Terrace, and the Delacorte Theater. Its biologically diverse ecosystem has several hundred species of plants and animals. Visitors can enjoy carriage-horse and bicycle tours, bicycling, sports facilities, and concerts and events such as Shakespeare in the Park. A system of roads and walkways runs through the park, and public transportation serves it.

Central Park is one of the most filmed locations in the world, and its design has inspired other parks. It was designated a National Historic Landmark district in 1963 and a New York City scenic landmark in 1974.

Description

Central Park is bordered by Central Park North at 110th Street, Central Park South at 59th Street, Central Park West at Eighth Avenue, and Fifth Avenue on the east. It is next to Harlem to the north, Midtown Manhattan to the south, the Upper West Side to the west, and the Upper East Side to the east. The park is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long from north to south and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide from west to east. It is split into three sections: the North End, above the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir; Mid-Park, between the reservoir and the Lake and Conservatory Water; and the South End. Five visitor centers are Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, Belvedere Castle, Chess & Checkers House, the Dairy, and Columbus Circle. The park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 42 million visitors in 2016, though the number of unique visitors is much lower.

Central Park has been described as the first landscaped park in the United States, with natural-looking plantings and landforms. It was almost entirely landscaped when it was built in the 1850s and 1860s. Eight lakes and ponds were made by damming natural seeps and flows. The park also has wooded areas, lawns, meadows, 21 children's playgrounds, and 6.1 miles (9.8 km) of drives. It is the sixth-largest park in New York City, behind Pelham Bay Park, the Staten Island Greenbelt, Freshkills Park, Van Cortlandt Park, and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, covering 843 acres (341 ha). The park is its own census tract, numbered 143. According to American Community Survey estimates, four females with a median age of 19.8 lived there, though park officials reject the idea that anyone lives there permanently. The 2010 United States census recorded 25 residents in the tract.

Panoramic view of Central Park from Rockefeller Center in 2008

Central Park in 2004

Governance

The park is managed and maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization, under contract with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks). The president of the Conservancy is the ex officio administrator of Central Park and oversees the work of both private and public staff. The Conservancy was founded in 1980 to help the city clean up and rebuild the park, and it took over management duties from NYC Parks in 1998, though NYC Parks still owns the park. The Conservancy also supports other New York City parks with maintenance and staff training, and it has helped develop new parks such as the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Central Park has its own New York City Police Department precinct, the 22nd (Central Park) Precinct. The area has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, and crimes in all categories fell by 81.2% between 1990 and 2023. The citywide New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol also patrols the park, and the Conservancy sometimes hires seasonal officers to protect areas such as the Conservatory Garden. In 2025, the Conservancy created the Central Park Conservancy Ranger Corps to handle quality-of-life issues and help homeless individuals. A free volunteer medical emergency service, the Central Park Medical Unit, also works in the park. It uses bicycles, ambulances, and an all-terrain vehicle for quick responses. Before the unit was started in 1975, city emergency medical services often took over 30 minutes to reach incidents in the park.

History

Between 1821 and 1855, New York City's population nearly quadrupled, and people wanted places to relax away from the noise of the city, which was mostly centered on Lower Manhattan. In 1853, the New York State Legislature passed the Central Park Act, which allowed the city to buy the land for the park. About 1,600 residents were forced to leave their homes through eminent domain. The park's cost ended up being much higher than supporters had promised. In 1858, the park commissioners chose the "Greensward Plan" by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as the winning design. Construction was difficult because the land was rocky and swampy, and over 20,000 people helped build the park. Parts of the park opened to the public in 1858 and 1859, and the park was not officially completed until 1876.

The park was often managed by the city's political groups, and it faced periods of decline. The Tammany Hall political group controlled the park for a short time, and after the scandal involving William M. Tweed was revealed, Olmsted and Vaux were brought back. By the late 1800s, the park needed repairs, and the New York City Subway drew people away. In the 1930s, after Fiorello La Guardia became mayor, Robert Moses cleaned up the park and rebuilt much of it with help from the New Deal. The park later became a place for many events, and in 1980 the Central Park Conservancy was founded to help restore it. The Conservancy took over much of the park's operations in 1998. Changes continued over the next decades, including closing the park's drives to cars in 2015 and 2018. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, temporary field hospitals were set up in the park. In 2025, the new Davis Center was completed.

Landscape features

Central Park sits on rock that formed over hundreds of millions of years. Four types of bedrock are found in Manhattan, and two of them, Manhattan schist and Hartland schist, appear in the park's outcroppings. Both were changed from sedimentary rock. Long ago, Iapetus Ocean formed Manhattan schist and Hartland schist about 450 million years ago, during the Taconic orogeny. Glaciers also shaped the park. The most recent, the Wisconsin glacier, melted away about 12,000 years ago and left large boulders called glacial erratics. One of the best-known rocks is Rat Rock, where boulderers sometimes gather. Subway lines and New York City Water Tunnel No. 3 have also changed the rock deep underground.

Central Park has three wooded areas: North Woods, the Ramble, and Hallett Nature Sanctuary. These woods provide shade and keep the air cooler than in the surrounding city. The Ramble has many winding paths, and at least 250 species of birds have been spotted there. The Hallett Nature Sanctuary was renamed after George Hervey Hallett Jr. in 1986. Its restoration has focused on removing invasive plants and replanting native trees such as oaks and hickories. The park's open green spaces are called lawns. The busiest, such as Sheep Meadow, the Great Lawn, the Conservatory Garden, and the Heckscher Ballfields, are fenced and carefully maintained. The park's largest lake, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, was built between 1858 and 1862. The Harlem Meer lies in the north, among oak, cypress, and beech trees, and allows catch and release fishing. It is fed by the Pool and the Loch, which both come from a stream called Montayne's Rivulet. Lasker Rink sits above where the Loch drains into the Meer. Other waters include the Turtle Pond, the Lake, which once was part of the Sawkill Creek, Conservatory Water, and the Pond. The Pond was once part of a stream that flowed into the East River at Turtle Bay.

Wildlife

Central Park is biologically diverse. A 2013 survey of park species by William E. Macaulay Honors College found 571 total species, including 173 that were not known to live there before. A 2007 survey found 583 species of plants.

Many migratory birds pass through the park during their spring and fall migration on the Atlantic Flyway. The first official list of birds seen in the park, with 235 species, was published in Forest and Stream in 1886 by Augustus G. Paine Jr. and Lewis B. Woodruff. Since then, 303 bird species have been seen there, and about 200 are spotted each season. A male red-tailed hawk called Pale Male lived on an apartment building overlooking the park starting in 1991. A mandarin duck nicknamed Mandarin Patinkin drew international attention in late 2018 and early 2019 for its colorful look and for being found outside its native range in East Asia. In 2023, a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco escaped from the Central Park Zoo after his enclosure was vandalized. In 1890–1891, Eugene Schieffelin released 100 imported European starlings in the park, and they became an invasive species across North America. About ten mammal species live in the park. Bats have been found in dark crevices, and because raccoons are common, the Parks Department posts rabies warnings. Eastern gray squirrels, eastern chipmunks, and Virginia opossums also live there, and a 2019 squirrel count found 2,373 Eastern gray squirrels. Coyotes have also lived in the park. There are 223 invertebrate species, including Nannarrup hoffmani, a centipede found in 2002 that is one of the smallest in the world at about 0.4 inches (10 mm) long. The Asian long-horned beetle, an invasive species, has infected trees in Long Island and Manhattan, including in Central Park. Many butterflies and moths live in the park, often on local plants. The pink-shaded fern moth (Callopistria mollissima), a moth native to New York, is found among New York ferns. Five turtle species live in the park: red-eared sliders, snapping turtles, painted turtles, musk turtles, and box turtles. Most live in Turtle Pond, and many were once pets released there. Fish include several freshwater species, such as the snakehead, an invasive species, and catch and release fishing is allowed in the Lake, Pond, and Harlem Meer. Two frog species live in the park: the American bullfrog and the green frog. Snakes lived in the park in the late 19th century, but Marie Winn, who wrote about the park's wildlife, said in a 2008 interview that they had died off.

Trees and plants

A 2011 survey counted more than 20,000 trees in Central Park, fewer than the 26,000 recorded in 1993. More than 170 kinds of trees grow in the park, including long-established native species and decorative ones. NYC Parks recognizes ten special "great tree" groups, including four American elms and one American elm grove, 600 pine trees in the Arthur Ross Pinetum, and a black tupelo in the Ramble. The park's American elms are the largest remaining stands in the Northeastern United States, because they were kept apart from the Dutch elm disease that badly harmed the tree across its native range. In the park's early years, two plant nurseries were kept inside its borders. Later, the Central Park Conservancy took over the park's plant care, assigning gardeners to one of 49 "zones."

Each autumn, many of the park's trees change to bright colors. Sugar maples and red maples turn oranges and reds, while sweetgums, larches, and tupelos turn deep purple, attracting migrating birds and city wildlife. The park also has several oak species, including red oak, willow oak, swamp white oak, chestnut oak, and the non-native Turkey oak. The trees' shade cools paved areas and the air during summer heat, and their leaves and branches are recycled into compost that enriches the soil. Some trees once found in the park, such as white spruce, tamarack, white oak, and black cherry, have declined or are no longer present, as soil disturbance, landscape changes, and invasive plants took their toll.

Landmarks and structures

A 29,025-foot-long stone wall surrounds Central Park. The park began with 18 unnamed gates, and by the late 20th century it had 20 named gates, four of which are reached from plazas at the corners. In 2022, the Gate of the Exonerated was dedicated in honor of the Central Park Five. Columbus Circle at the southwest corner, built in the 1860s, holds the Merchant's Gate and the 1892 Columbus Monument, which was the subject of controversies in the 2010s. Grand Army Plaza, on the southeast corner, has the Pulitzer Fountain, completed in 1916, and the William Tecumseh Sherman statue, dedicated in 1903. Duke Ellington Circle, at the northeast corner, contains the Duke Ellington Memorial, dedicated in 1997. Frederick Douglass Circle, at the northwest corner, has a memorial to Frederick Douglass, dedicated in 2011.

The Dana Discovery Center was built in 1993 on the north shore of the Harlem Meer. Blockhouse No. 1, the oldest structure in the park, was built before the park was created. It was part of Fort Clinton during the War of 1812. The Conservatory Garden, the park's only formal garden, is entered through the Vanderbilt Gate. The North Woods covers much of the northern part of the park, which was meant to be a "natural section" in contrast to the landscaped "pastoral section" to the south. The Onassis Reservoir and the Great Lawn lie in the middle of the park, next to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Fifth Avenue building. Summit Rock is the park's highest point, at 137.5 feet (41.9 m). In the south, the Central Park Mall leads to Bethesda Terrace, and Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon, who was murdered nearby, sits near the Lake. The "Children's District" includes the Central Park Carousel and the Ballplayers House. The park has 21 children's playgrounds and 36 ornamental bridges, each with a different design. The Arsenal, a red-brick building designed by Martin E. Thompson in 1851, has been NYC Parks' headquarters since 1934.

Main article: Public art in Central Park

Twenty-nine sculptures stand in Central Park. Most were not part of the original Greensward Plan. They were added to please wealthy donors as interest in art grew in the late 19th century. Several busts of authors and poets stand on Literary Walk. The "Angel of the Waters" (1873) by Emma Stebbins is the centerpiece of Bethesda Fountain. The statue of Balto, the sled dog who became famous during the 1925 serum run to Nome, stands near East Drive. The "Women's Rights Pioneers Monument" (2020), which shows Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was the city's first statue of a female historical figure. Cleopatra's Needle, a red granite obelisk that is the oldest human-made structure in the park, was first erected in Heliopolis in Ancient Egypt and arrived in Central Park in late 1880. The Strawberry Fields memorial was dedicated in April 1981 and rebuilt in 1985. For 16 days in 2005, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installation The Gates was displayed in the park and drew over a million people. The park has two indoor restaurants: Tavern on the Green, built in 1870 as a sheepfold, and the Loeb Boathouse restaurant, which opened in 1983.

Activities

Carriage rides in the park were popular in the late 1800s, though only five percent of the city could afford a carriage. The "Carriage Parade," a daily display of horse-drawn carriages, was one of the park's main attractions in its early years. Cars caused the carriage industry to die out by World War I, but the carriage-horse tradition was revived in 1935. After the September 11 attacks, Mayor Rudy Giuliani went to the stables to ask drivers to return to work and help bring back a sense of normality. Activists, celebrities, and politicians have questioned the ethics of the carriage-horse industry, and supporters say it needs reform rather than closure. In October 2026, the New York City Council passed legislation to ban carriages from June 2028 onward. Pedicabs also operate mostly in the southern part of the park, and they have been criticized for charging very high fares.

The park's drives are used heavily by runners, joggers, walkers, bicyclists, and inline skaters. They include protected bike lanes and serve as the home course for the racing series of the Century Road Club Association. The New York Road Runners have designated a 5-mile (8.0 km) running loop in the park, and the New York City Marathon uses several miles of drives within it. The park has 26 baseball fields, tennis courts, soccer fields, basketball courts, and volleyball courts. It also has two ice skating rinks, and in summer one hosts the Victorian Gardens amusement park while the other becomes a swimming pool.

Concerts have been held in the park almost since it opened. Since 1923, many have taken place in the Naumburg Bandshell, a bandshell made of Indiana limestone on the Mall. It is named after banker Elkan Naumburg, who paid for its construction. Other well-known events include The Concert in Central Park, a benefit performance by Simon & Garfunkel in 1981, and Garth: Live from Central Park, a free concert by Garth Brooks in 1997. Each summer, groups such as Central Park Brass and the New York Classical Theatre perform, and free shows like Shakespeare in the Park and Summerstage take place. The New York Philharmonic also gives a yearly open-air concert on the Great Lawn.

Transportation

Central Park has walkways, scenic drives, bridle paths, and roads that cross the park to help traffic move. It is easy to reach by subway and bus. The IND Eighth Avenue Line runs along the western edge of the park, and the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station is served by several trains, including the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. The IRT Lenox Avenue Line has a station at Malcolm X Plaza. On the southeastern corner, the BMT Broadway Line has a station at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. Many bus routes pass through the park or stop along its edges, including the M4, M66, M72, M86 SBS, M96, and M106. Some of these buses replaced older streetcar routes that formerly traveled across Manhattan.

Four transverse roads carry cross-town traffic through the park at 66th Street, 79th Street, 86th Street, and 97th Street. Three scenic drives run through the park from north to south. Some arches and bridges let walkers and cars cross without meeting. Over time, the drives were closed to cars. In 2015, the city announced that West and East Drives north of 72nd Street would be closed, and in 2018 the loop drives were closed permanently, which became effective in June 2018. Cyclists now have a speed limit of 15 miles per hour, which was set in early 2026, and the paths were repaved in 2025 after repeated collisions between pedestrians and cyclists. Commercial vehicles were banned from the park in its early years.

Issues

In the mid-20th century, Central Park had a reputation for being very dangerous, especially after dark. A 1941 incident, in which 12-year-old Jerome Dore fatally stabbed 15-year-old James O'Connell in the northern section of the park, strengthened this view. Local tabloids used it and several other crimes as evidence of a highly exaggerated "crime wave." Recorded crime had increased since the park opened in the late 1850s, but this matched trends across the rest of the city. The park's worldwide name recognition and heavy news coverage of its crimes also made its reputation worse. In 1973, The New York Times wrote about three of the four murders in the park that year, but it wrote about only 20% of murders citywide. In the 1970s and 1980s, police precincts north of the park had 18 times as many murders as the park itself. Two high-profile cases of the late 20th century shaped public opinion strongly. In 1986, Robert Chambers murdered Jennifer Levin in what was later called the "preppy murder." Three years later, an investment banker was attacked and badly beaten in what became known as the Central Park jogger case. Other problems in the 1970s and 1980s included a drug epidemic, a large homeless population, vandalism, and neglect.

As crime has declined in New York City, many of these negative perceptions have faded. Safety measures keep crimes in the park to fewer than 100 per year as of 2019, down from about 1,000 in the early 1980s. Some well-publicized crimes have still occurred, such as the events on June 11, 2000, following the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Rallies on issues, like the be-ins of the 1960s, have faced increasingly strong resistance from the city. During 2004 protests, the city denied a permit for United for Peace and Justice to hold a rally on the Great Lawn during the Republican National Convention, saying the crowd would harm the grass and make it harder to collect private donations for park upkeep. A judge of the New York Supreme Court's New York County branch upheld the refusal. In the 2000s and 2010s, tall supertall skyscrapers were built along the southern end of the park in an area known as Billionaires' Row. A Municipal Art Society report said these buildings cast long shadows over the park's southern end, and a 2016 analysis by The New York Times found that some of them, including One57, Central Park Tower, and 220 Central Park South, could cast shadows up to 1 mile (1.6 km) long in winter. In 2018, the New York City Council proposed a task force to study the effects of skyscrapers near city parks.

Impact

Central Park has served as a model for many urban parks. Olmsted believed landscape design could improve the feeling of community. The Greensward Plan changed park designs and urban planning. Because it is a New York City icon, Central Park is one of the most filmed places in the world. A December 2017 report found that 231 movies had used it for filming, more than the 160 that filmed in Greenwich Village or the 99 that filmed in Times Square. Some films, such as The Age of Innocence (1993), reflect ideals of the past. Others, like The Fisher King (1991), Marathon Man (1976), The Out of Towners (1970), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), use the park for dramatic scenes. Central Park is also featured in romance films like Maid in Manhattan (2002), 13 Going on 30 (2004), and Hitch (2005), and in fantasy films like Enchanted (2007). Because of its importance, the park has been a National Historic Landmark district since 1962 and a New York City scenic landmark since 1974. In 2017, it was placed on UNESCO's list of tentative World Heritage Sites. For a list of films and shows that feature the park, see Central Park in popular culture.

Land around the park became much more valuable while it was being built in the mid-1860s. Between 1858 and 1870, real estate prices in the area rose by up to 700 percent in some cases. The park also led to the creation of a zoning plan for Upper Manhattan. Wealthy neighborhoods grew on both sides of the park. On the Upper East Side, part of Fifth Avenue became known as "Millionaires' Row" by the 1890s. The Upper West Side developed more slowly, but row houses and luxury apartments became common, and some are part of the Central Park West Historic District. Near the end of the 20th century, living near the park did not greatly raise property values, but after the park was restored in the 1990s, some of the city's most expensive properties were sold or rented nearby. Today, Central Park is estimated to bring in billions of dollars in economic impact each year.