Tragic true story about neighborhood that used to exist underneath New York's Central Park
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: MoMA/Aerial Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
Anyone who's ever visited New York will no doubt have spent time in Central Park, but beneath the grass, paths and lake lies a whole lot of history.
The park was built all the way back in 1858, and has since become the city's green centre around which the skyscrapers tower.
Before it became the iconic attraction it is today, though, the land was hilly and open, forming the countryside of New York.
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The area became home to about 1,600 people, including a predominantly Black community which bought plots on the land to develop into homes, churches and a school.
Thanks to the development, the area between New York's 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues became known in 1825 as Seneca Village, and drew in Irish and German immigrants who lived alongside the land's existing residents.
According to the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History, Seneca Village had become 'a multi-ethnic community [including] African Americans, Irish, and German immigrants, and perhaps a few Native Americans' by the 1840s, and in 1855 the New York State Census reported approximately 264 individuals living in the village.
However, in spite of all of the work that had been done, New York City was able to take control of the land on 21 July, 1853 thanks to eminent domain - a power which allows the federal government to acquire property for public use.
The US' Department of Justice explains the eminent domain 'appertains to every independent government' and 'requires no constitutional recognition'.
Once they had control of the land, New York City dubbed it 'the Central Park'.
In a bid to learn more about the history of the land beneath the park, archaeologists conducted excavations at Seneca Village in the summer of 2011 following research on the site which began years prior.
Today, Central Park covers a space of 843 acres and welcomes more than 42 million visitors annually. The City of New York has enlisted the help of the Central Park Conservancy to help care for the park, with more than 300 Conservancy employees working to tend to the park's 'maintenance, restoration, and architectural needs'.
The conservancy spends as much as nearly $78 million each year into 'protecting and improving' the park, with the money coming 'primarily by individual donations'.
As well as grasses for visitors to sunbathe on, the park includes a boating lake, a zoo and sports courts.