Frederick Law Olmsted and Central Park

If you’re in the Ramble, you’re probably wandering aimlessly – and Frederick Law Olmsted would be pleased about that. This wooded area with its convoluted paths harks back to the…

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Calvert Vaux and Central Park’s Dairy

In the early days, Central Park had sheep, but no cows. It did, however, have a Dairy, because of a scandal that broke in the summer of 1858. The Swill…

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Egbert Ludovicus Viele, first engineer of Central Park

During the Mexican-American War, Lieutenant Egbert Ludovicus Viele watched helplessly as his men died of cholera. No one knew how to prevent or cure the disease, but it clearly spread…

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Blockhouse, Central Park

Manhattan has always been a target, first for its harbor and rivers, then as a commercial center. The British sailed in to grab it from the Dutch. The Dutch briefly…

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Lehman Gate by Paul Manship, Central Park

Lehman Zoo Gate Date: 1961 Sculptor: Paul Manship Medium & size: Bronze, on granite pedestal; 18 feet high, 26.5 feet wide, 6 feet deep. Location: Park entrance to Central Park…

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Tigress and Cubs, by Auguste Cain (Central Park)

Date: 1866 Sculptor: Auguste Cain Medium & size: Bronze, over lifesize. Location: Central Park Zoo, Intelligence Garden. To see it, you must pay admission for the Zoo. Once inside the…

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Eagles and Prey by Christophe Fratin, Central Park

Date: Cast in 1850; placed in Central Park in 1863 Sculptor: Christophe Fratin Medium & size: Bronze, lifesize. Location: Central Park, west of the Mall. If the city street grid…

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The Arsenal, Central Park

The Arsenal has a motley past. Despite its forbidding battlements, it wasn’t designed to withstand a siege - only to store gunpowder and cannonballs so that they could be hauled…

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Honoring Frederick Douglass (d. February 20, 1895)

In 2011, two life-size bronze sculptures of Frederick Douglass were dedicated in New York: one at the north end of Central Park, one at the New-York Historical Society. Douglass at…

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