NYC24: Central Park Resources

1853

A Timeline of Central Park History

2005

New York Legislature authorizes purchase of strip of land from 59th Street to 106th Street.
1853

Park’s first privately funded concert.
1862

Tweed Administration adds the carousel to the park.
1870

The city allows the first car to drive through Central Park.
1899

Hecksher Playground, the first part of the park to be funded privately, opens.
1926

Robert Moses becomes citywide parks commissioner. Tavern on the Green opens.
1934

Central Park is declared a national historic landmark.
1965

The first Earth Day celebration and the first New York City Marathon are held in the park.
1970

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel perform in front of an audience of 600,000.
1981

Strawberry Fields is dedicated after $1 million donation from Yoko Ono in John Lennon’s memory.
1985

Pope John Paul II celebrates a Mass on the Great Lawn in front of 130,000 people.
1995

The Dalai Lama makes the second of his three spiritual addresses in Central Park.
1999

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates: Central Park” drapes the park in saffron.
2005

1858
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux collaborate on the park’s winning design. The park opens in December.

1863
Park is extended to 110th Street.

1880
Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.

1908
“Romeo and Juliet” is the first motion picture shot in the park.

1931
The lower Croton Reservoir, which would become the Great Lawn, is drained.

1960
Robert Moses resigns as parks commissioner.

1967
Park drives are closed to traffic on weekends and holidays year-round.

1979
The park’s conditions are badly deteriorated: Sheep Meadow is bare dirt, beer cans fill the pond and graffiti is rampant.

1982
An anti-nuclear demonstration draws 750,000 to Central Park.

1993
Luciano Pavarotti gives a concert to an audience of 250,000.

1997-2003
Restorations are completed on the Great Lawn, Merchants’ Gate at Columbus Circle, the reservoir's running track, North Meadow, Conservatory Water, the pond and the pool.

2003
150th anniversary of Central Park

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