Uploaded November 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Home to over 8.3 million people, New York City is the city that never sleeps, where life never stops, and people are always on the move. In the 1840s, a proposal was put forward to create a large park in central Manhattan to serve the surrounding area with an adequate green oasis in an otherwise concrete jungle.

Spanning 840 acres in Manhattan and visited by over 42 million people annually, the creation of Central Park was not without sacrifice. As planning and construction began, numerous existing structures were seized using eminent domain, displacing thousands in the hopes of creating the park. The most famous example of this was Seneca Village, a majority-black settlement.

Central Park and Seneca Village represent a tale of two New York’s: one of the United States’ most diverse cities and a city that grappled with the racial divide in post-slavery 19th and 20th century America.

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Further Reading:
newyork-demographics.com/cities_by_population
centralparknyc.org/about#:~:text=The%20mission%20of%20the%20Central,over%2042%20million%20visitors%20annually.
britannica.com/place/Central-Park-New-York-City
demographia.com/db-nyuza1800.htm
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/23/mode/1up?q=seneca
@Woodarchive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/18/mode/2up
@Woodarchive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/40/mode/2up?q=Jones+Wood
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/45/mode/2up?q=Jones+Wood
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/47/mode/1up?q=democrats
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/53/mode/1up?q=seneca
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/54/mode/1up?q=seneca
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/56/mode/1up?q=seneca
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/57/mode/1up?q=seneca
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/60/mode/1up?q=seneca
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/60/mode/1up
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/61/mode/1up
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/81/mode/1up
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/65/mode/1up?q=seneca
centralparknyc.org/articles/seneca-village
nypl.org/blog/2015/06/29/slave-market#:~:text=After%20the%20abolition%20of%20slavery,South%2C%20Brazil%2C%20and%20Cuba.
crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-26-2-the-potato-famine-and-irish-immigration-to-america.html#:~:text=Most%20stayed%20in%20slum%20tenements,liked%20and%20often%20treated%20badly.
centralparknyc.org/articles/seneca-village#:~:text=By%201855%2C%20the%20village%20consisted,of%20individuals%20of%20German%20descent.
centralparknyc.org/seneca-village
kids.britannica.com/students/article/Seneca-Village/632879#:~:text=After%20years%20of%20debate%2C%20the,the%20site%20of%20Seneca%20Village.
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/96/mode/1up?q=1856
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/100/mode/1up?q=Egbert
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/50/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/57/mode/1up
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/150/mode/1up?q=twenty@UC2bXwp7ucfUanRWsegjHtYw
in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1858?amount=14000000
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/190/mode/1up?q=resign
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/69/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/64/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/46/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/71/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/74/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/76/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/77/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/78/mode/1up
archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink/page/79/mode/1up
archive.org/details/parkpeoplehistor00rose/page/386/mode/1up?q=Vaux
nytimes.com/1912/06/01/archives/to-oppose-library-in-central-park-we-object-even-to-art-museum.html