33 Facts About Central Park

Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan.

Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, and the park was completed in 1876.

Central Park is traversed by a system of roads and walkways and is served by public transportation.

Central Park is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation but has been 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 basic care of the park.

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Central Park has natural-looking plantings and landforms, having been almost entirely landscaped when built in the 1850s and 1860s.

The Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980 as a nonprofit organization with a citizen board to assist with the city's initiatives to clean up and rehabilitate the park.

Croton Aqueduct Board president Nicholas Dean, who proposed the Central Park site, chose it because the Croton Aqueduct's 35-acre, 150-million-US-gallon collecting reservoir would be in the geographical center.

In July 1853, the New York State Legislature passed the Central Park Act, authorizing the purchase of the present-day site of Central Park.

The Central Park Commission began hosting a landscape design contest shortly after its creation.

Central Park was difficult to construct because of the generally rocky and swampy landscape.

The first major work in Central Park involved grading the driveways and draining the land in the park's southern section.

Central Park implemented a style of micromanagement, keeping records of the smallest transactions in an effort to reduce costs.

Central Park was removed in May 1911 following a lengthy dispute over whether an expense to replace the soil in the park was unnecessary.

Central Park unified the five park-related departments then in existence.

Demolition work commenced after Central Park was closed for the night and was only halted after the threat of a lawsuit.

Interest in Central Park's landscape had long since declined, and it was now mostly being used for recreation.

The Public Theater's annual Shakespeare in the Central Park festival was settled in the Delacorte Theater, and summer performances were instituted on the Sheep Meadow and the Great Lawn by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera.

Central Park Conservancy classifies its remaining green space into four types of lawns, labeled alphabetically based on usage and the amount of maintenance needed.

Central Park contains ten "great tree" clusters that are specially recognized by NYC Parks.

The American Elms in Central Park are the largest remaining stands in the Northeastern United States, protected by their isolation from the Dutch elm disease that devastated the tree throughout its native range.

Central Park contains various migratory birds during their spring and fall migration on the Atlantic Flyway.

Central Park has approximately ten species of mammals as of 2013.

Central Park is a habitat for two amphibian species: the American bullfrog and the green frog.

Blockhouse No 1, the oldest extant structure within Central Park, and built before the park's creation, sits in the northwest section of the park.

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The southern border of Central Park contains the "Children's District", an area that includes Heckscher Playground, the Central Park Carousel, the Ballplayers House, and the Chess and Checkers House.

The needle in Central Park arrived in late 1880 and was dedicated early the following year.

Central Park has two ice skating rinks: Wollman Rink in its southern portion and Lasker Rink in its northern portion.

Central Park has been the site of concerts almost since its inception.

Every August since 2003, the Central Park Conservancy has hosted the Central Park Film Festival, a series of free film screenings.

Some buses running on the edge of Central Park replaced former streetcar routes that formerly traveled across Manhattan.

Central Park contains four transverse roadways that carry crosstown traffic across the park.

Central Park has three scenic drives that travel through it vertically.