Central Park Improvements - New York NY

City:: New York, New York City, NY
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Paths and Trails, Playgrounds, Athletic Courts and Fields, Landscaping and Tree Planting
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Started:: 1934
Completed:: 1938
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal. As Frank da Cruz explains, New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather. They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and installed drinking fountains, lighting, benches, trash containers, and fences throughout the park. (www.kermitproject.org)

Source notes

https://www.kermitproject.org Rosenzweig, Roy, and Elizabeth Blackmar, The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, Cornell University Press (1992), pp.448-451. Caro, Robert A., The Power Broker - Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Vintage Books (1974), pp.368-372. The Report of the Department of Parks to August 1934: Memorandum on 1935 Budget Request of the Department of Parks, NYC Department of Parks archive. New York City Parks Department photo archive, negative number 14257. https://www.kermitproject.org/newdeal/centralpark/bridlepath1.html https://www.kermitproject.org/newdeal/centralpark/greatlawn2.html https://www.kermitproject.org/newdeal/centralpark/northmeadow1.html

Site originally submitted by Frank da Cruz on July 23, 2015.