On the 5th of April, 1851, Mayor Kingsland, in a special message to the
Common Council, called attention to the importance of a public park,
sufficiently ample to meet the growing wants of the city population.
The message was referred to a select committee, who reported in favor
of purchasing a tract of one hundred and fifty acres, known as Jones'
Wood, lying between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-fifth streets, and Third
Avenue and East River. This location came near being decided upon and
purchased, but a quarrel with reference to it, between two members of
the Legislature from New York City, called the attention of the public
and the State authorities to it, and happily defeated the whole scheme.
On the 5th of August, 1851, a Committee was appointed to examine
whether another more suitable site for a park could not be found, and
the result of the inquiry was the selection of the site known as
Central Park.
A WONDERFUL WORK.
The Central Park, so called because it is situated almost in the centre
of the island, is a parallelogram, and lies between Fifth and Eighth
Avenues, and Fifty-ninth and One-hundred-and-tenth streets. It covers
an area of eight hundred and forty three acres, and is about two and a
half miles long by half a mile in width.
When the site was selected and the work commenced, the whole area, with
the exception of the Croton Reservoirs in the upper part, was a barren
waste.
Pages:
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241