From the earliest days of European settlement to the present, New York City’s public parks have witnessed the growth of the city, been part of its development and provided vital green spaces for its inhabitants. Today, New York City has – by far – the largest urban park system in the United States, occupying nearly 29,000 acres and comprising more than 1,500 parks and playgrounds and over 700 community gardens, as well as recreation centers, golf courses, ballfields, zoological and botanical gardens, monuments, historic houses, beaches, forests, meadows and wetlands.
The concept of the village green was common in Europe for centuries, and New York City’s colonial settlers built their new communities around similar open spaces. The 1686 charter of Governor Thomas Dongan provided for municipal stewardship of all “vacant, unpatented and unappropriated lands,” when urban settlement was still largely confined to the southern tip of Manhattan. These included outdoor marketplaces and public commons that later became the first city parks.
As the city grew, it became important to reserve open space for the city's citizenry. Beginning in the early part of the 18th Century, parcels within more settled areas of the city were also acquired and set aside by foresighted officials who recognized – early on – that such spaces were beneficial “for the beauty and ornament of” streets, as well as “for the recreation and delight” of New York’s inhabitants.
Throughout the 19th Century, similar acquisitions continued as the city’s population moved northward – including the appropriation of land that would eventually become Central Park. Created by renowned landscape designer and father of American landscape architecture Frederick Law Olmsted between 1857 and 1873, the park became an embodiment of Olmsted’s belief that common green space must always be equally accessible to all citizens. Olmsted’s sons inherited their father’s business in the late 1890s and went on to design a number of well-known parks and college campuses, including New York City’s Fort Tryon Park.
In 1870, New York City formed its first department of public parks at a time when its citizens were becoming increasingly interested and involved in public open spaces that not only improved the quality of life in the city, but also raised the value of adjacent property.
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