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The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who later created Brooklyn's Prospect Park. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact highly landscaped. It contains several artificial lakes, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a wildlife sanctuary, and grassy areas used for myriad sporting pursuits, as well as playgrounds for children. The park is a popular oasis for migrating birds, and thus is popular with bird watchers. The 9.7 km road circling the park is popular with joggers, bicyclists and inline skaters, especially on weekends when automobile traffic is banned. The southern horizon of Central Park is formed by the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan. Each summer, the Public Theatre presents free open-air theatre productions, often starring well-known stage and screen actors, in the Delacorte Theatre . Most, though not all, of the plays presented are by William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 ( O. May 3, 1616 ( N. has a reputation as the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Indeed, the English Renaissance has often been called "the age of Shakespe.
Other events include NYC MidsummerNYC Midsummer or Swedish Midsummer is a Swedish midsummer celebration organized since 1996 in one of New York City's parks on the Friday afternoon close to the summer solstice or St John's Day. Midsummer is one of the year's great family holidays in the S and Summerstage , and the finish line of the New York Marathon.
Central Park was the first large landscape park in an American city. The need for a great public park as New York CitThis article documents the history of New York City part of present day New York State. For the history of the State of New York, see the article History of New York. Prehistoric era About 75,000 years ago, during the last ice age, the area of present dayy expanded was voiced by the poet William Cullen BryantWilliam Cullen Bryant ( November 3, 1794 June 12, 1878) was an American poet and journalist. He was born in Cummington, Massachusetts, the second son of Peter Bryant, a prominent doctor. Educated at Williams College he went on to study law at Worthington and by the first American landcape architect, Alexander Jackson Downing . A stylish place for open-air driving, like the Bois de Boulogne in Paris or London's Hyde Park was a need felt by many influential New Yorkers. In 1853, the New York legislature designated an area from 59th to 106th Streets (a section from 106th to 110th Streets was added later) for the creation of the park, and a competition for a design was opened, and won the partnership of Olmsted and Vaux. Sculptural detail (see illustration) was provided by Jacob Wrey Mould . The park actually opened three years later, but celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003.
Several influences came together in the design, called "Greensward" which won a blind competition, 1858. Landscaped cemeteries, such as Mount Auburn (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Green-Wood (Brooklyn, New York) had set an example of idyllic naturalistic landscapes. The most influential innovations in Central Park's design were the separate circulation systems for pedestrians, horseback riders and pleasure vehicles, with "crosstown" commercial traffic (almost non-existent at the time of the design) entirely concealed in sunken roadways with densely planted shrub belts, so as not to disturb the impression of a rustic scene. There are some 36 bridges designed by Vaux, ranging from rugged spans of Manhattan schist or granite, to lacy neo-gothic cast iron, no two alike. The ensemble of the formal line of the Mall's doubled allées of elms culminating at Bethesda Terrace, with a composed view beyond of lake and woodland, is at the heart of the larger design.
The Saw Kill was dammed to make the Lake (illustration, left), and the spoil was laid as a curving earthen dam, with the carriage drive laid on it so naturally, that few today realize it is a dam. The solidly frozen Lake is a thing of the past, now that the Park is at the center of an urban heat island.
Central Park was run down and hit a low at the end of the 1970s, when the Central Park Conservancy was founded (1980). The Conservancy restores and maintains the park under contract from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, an early successful public private partnership . The city has transferred direction of ongoing restoration and maintenance to the Conservancy.
Notable features of Central Park include Strawberry Fields, Bethesda Terrace , the Belvedere Castle .
Many encroachments on the park have been fought off over the years: within the Park are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Central Park Zoo, ranged behind the pre-existing Arsenal, Manhattan's oldest.
Although often regarded as a kind of oasis of tranquility inside a "city that never sleeps," Central Park has had a reputation over the years as a dangerous place, especially after dark. Well-publicized incidents of violence and rape, such as the infamous " Central Park Jogger" case, have contributed to this perception.