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87-549: Heckscher Playground is a play area located in New York City 's Central Park , located close to Central Park South between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue . It is the oldest and largest of Central Park's 22 playgrounds. Opened in 1926, Heckscher Playground is named for philanthropist August Heckscher . Initially, it faced opposition from groups who did not want a playground within the Central Park landscape, but

174-502: A sandbox , and an open space made of artificial turf and rubber playground surfacing . In addition, it includes a large climbing structure with a water feature at the top, from which water flows downward into the climbing structure through a series of crevices. Spray jets for younger kids are located nearby. On the northern side of the playground, adjacent to the 65th Street transverse, there are six softball fields. Rat Rock , an outcrop of Manhattan schist popular among boulderers ,

261-564: A 160-acre (65 ha) tract of land on the Upper East Side , was nullified in 1851, and a subsequent bill to approve the purchase of Jones's Wood was also defeated in 1854. The second possible site for a large public park was a 750-acre (300 ha) area labeled Central Park , which was bounded by 59th and 106th Streets between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. In July 1853, the New York State Legislature passed

348-631: A decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground. At least 120 people were killed. Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance. It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history . In 1886,

435-428: A grove of trees. The plans immediately drew opposition from several parties, including those who wanted to preserve the passive landscape of Central Park, and several other opponents who called Heckscher's gift "a private memorial". Yet others said that the mere presence of a children's play area would cause the condition of Central Park to deteriorate. In response, Heckscher said that the Central Park playground would show

522-525: A play area called the Children's District in the southern part of Central Park. This area included the original Ballplayers House and the Dairy , both built in the 1860s. However, the early design of Central Park encouraged exercise and "individual recreation" over team sports and games, and as such, playgrounds and recreational fields were not originally included within the park. By 1914, only nine percent of

609-531: A result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $ 19 billion. The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with $ 15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts. In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed. With its population density and its extensive exposure to global travelers,

696-485: A speech denying the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD." The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight authority over the city's finances. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into

783-469: Is located just west of the play area and south of the softball fields. A set of brick-and-limestone restrooms is located east of Heckscher Playground. They were built with the original playground in the 1920s, expanded in the 1930s, and restored in the 2000s. New York City New York , often called New York City or NYC , is the most populous city in the United States , located at

870-405: Is one of the world's most populous megacities . The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States . As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in

957-403: Is the same as the length of the arch. Bridges are designed by Calvert Vaux unless otherwise indicated. The arches and bridges are referred to by their names first, then the numbers originally assigned to them. The following listing excludes transverse arches and bridges, which do not count as ornamental spans. 33 feet 6 inches (10.21 m) east arch The length of the span refers to

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1044-614: The American South . During construction in Foley Square in the 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000 to 20,000 graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free. The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger , who had been accused of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby , helped to establish freedom of

1131-866: The Atlantic port to the agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and the Great Lakes . Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall , a political machine supported by Irish and German immigrants . In 1831, New York University was founded. Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s, including William Cullen Bryant , Washington Irving , Herman Melville , Rufus Wilmot Griswold , John Keese , Nathaniel Parker Willis , and Edgar Allan Poe . Members of

1218-668: The Bill of Rights there. The Supreme Court held its first organizational sessions in New York in 1790. In 1790, for the first time, New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At the end of 1790, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia . During the 19th century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million. Under New York State's gradual emancipation act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties. Together with slaves freed by their masters after

1305-726: The Caribbean . The attempt at a peaceful solution to the war took place at the Conference House on Staten Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin , and British general Lord Howe on September 11, 1776. Shortly after the British occupation began, the Great Fire of New York destroyed nearly 500 buildings, about a quarter of the structures in the city, including Trinity Church . In January 1785,

1392-905: The Hudson River , which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River'). In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for the Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company . He sailed up what the Dutch called North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange . Hudson claimed

1479-721: The Lower Hudson Valley . The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano . He claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême (New Angoulême ). A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V , arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of

1566-742: The New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers. The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center , the National September 11 Memorial and Museum , and other new buildings and infrastructure, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub , the city's third-largest hub. The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the seventh-tallest building in

1653-511: The Statue of Liberty , a gift from France , was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue welcomed 14 million immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace. In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city),

1740-709: The Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village . They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights . Wayne R. Dynes , author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality , wrote that drag queens were

1827-612: The steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River , killing 1,021 people. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards. New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890. New York City

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1914-589: The waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan. List of arches and bridges in Central Park#Former structures Download coordinates as: Central Park in New York City has thirty-six ornamental spans, most of which were built in

2001-434: The " Greensward Plan ", which was eventually decided as the winner of the contest. The Greensward Plan distinguished itself from many of the other designs in the contest by including four sunken "transverse" roadways, which carried crosstown traffic through Central Park and were not intended to be seen or heard from the rest of the park. The transverse roadways were the most difficult to construct, as they were to run below

2088-405: The $ 3.5 million project, the adjacent restroom building was also restored, reopening to the public in 2007. The Heckscher play area is located in the southern portion of Central Park, close to Central Park South between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue . The playground proper covers 1.8 acres (0.73 ha), excluding the adjacent ballfields. It is bounded by the 65th Street transverse road to

2175-407: The 1860s as part of the park's construction. No two bridges in the park are alike. There were three types of bridges and arches constructed in Central Park. The spans across the sunken "transverse" roads that carry crosstown traffic below the park were made of natural-looking schist , and are generally not counted as arches or bridges. "Ornamental Bridges or Archways" were larger spans integrated into

2262-556: The 1860s. By 1872, there were thirty-three spans; six more spans were built before the end of the 19th century. Three of the original 39 bridges were removed in the 1930s. By the 1840s, members of the city's elite were publicly calling for the construction of a new large park in Manhattan . At the time, Manhattan's seventeen squares comprised a combined 165 acres (67 ha) of land, constituting less than one percent of Manhattan's total area. An initial bill to acquire Jones's Wood ,

2349-591: The 1930s: the Marble Arch, the Spur Rock Arch, and the Outset Arch. The width of the arch refers to the distance between abutments that form the walls of the vault underneath, and the length of the arch is the distance between the openings at either end of the vault. The length of the span refers to the distance between the two ends of the deck running overhead, and the width of the span

2436-538: The 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a national and international trading center , as well as by European immigration, respectively. The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected

2523-595: The Central Park Act, authorizing the purchase of the present-day site of Central Park. The initial plans for Central Park were devised by Egbert Ludovicus Viele , who had devised unofficial plans for the park in 1853. Viele's plan was disregarded by the Central Park commission, who started a landscape design contest in April 1857 to find a suitable design for the park. Central Park superintendent Frederick Law Olmsted worked with Calvert Vaux to create

2610-705: The Continental Army at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776 eliminated the last American stronghold in Manhattan, causing George Washington and his forces to retreat across the Hudson River to New Jersey , pursued by British forces. After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made the city their military and political base of operations in North America. The city

2697-575: The County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens. The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. In 1904,

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2784-640: The Duke of York (the future King James II and VII). The duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley . On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized New York at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange" after William III , the Prince of Orange . The Dutch soon returned

2871-717: The Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General . In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies ). In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as

2958-405: The New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world , with a gross metropolitan product of over US$ 2.16 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country , it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world . Despite having a 24/7 rapid transit system , New York also leads the world in urban automobile traffic congestion . The city is home to

3045-716: The Revolutionary War and escaped slaves, a significant free-Black population gradually developed in Manhattan. The New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established the African Free School to educate Black children. It was not until 1827 that slavery was completely abolished in the state . Free Blacks struggled with discrimination and interracial abolitionist activism continued. New York City's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820 (10,886 of whom were Black and of which 518 were enslaved) to 312,710 by 1840 (16,358 of whom were Black). Also in

3132-622: The arts and fashion , and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations , international diplomacy . With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km ), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles , the nation's second-most populous city. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City

3219-659: The assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital. New York was the last capital of the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation and the first capital under the Constitution of the United States . As the U.S. capital, New York City hosted the inauguration of the first President, George Washington , and the first Congress , at Federal Hall on Wall Street . Congress drafted

3306-548: The beginning of the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification , and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 United States census ; further records were set in 2010 , and 2020 U.S. censuses. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley , emerged in

3393-558: The brand-new playground would have to be destroyed to make way for the excavation of the 63rd Street lines, located directly below the playground site. In early 1971, the subway system's operator New York City Transit Authority agreed to reduce construction time from three years to two years and construct a secondary play area just west of the existing playground. When demolition of the playground commenced in August 1971, just fourteen months after its renovation, several people protested against

3480-461: The bridges would be designed by Vaux. There were three types of bridges and arches constructed in Central Park. The spans across the sunken transverse roads were made of natural-looking schist , with vaults of brick underneath; these were not included in the final bridge count. The other two types of bridges concerned crossings between the different types of paths in Central Park. "Ornamental Bridges or Archways" were larger spans integrated into

3567-587: The business elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park , which in 1857 became the first landscaped park in an American city. The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000 were living in New York by 1860, representing over a quarter of the city's population. Extensive immigration from the German provinces meant that Germans comprised another 25% of New York's population by 1860. Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing

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3654-613: The city from New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait —flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River , another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River , which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County , is the only entirely freshwater river in the city. The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along

3741-439: The city rapidly replaced Wuhan , China as the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare infrastructure. Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications. New York City is situated in the northeastern United States , in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston . Its location at

3828-632: The city's economy. The advent of Y2K was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square . New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks . Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from

3915-794: The city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on. Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the Draft Riots of 1863 , whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class. The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers after fierce competition for

4002-423: The construction of the subway lines directly under the brand-new playground. Even so, work continued on the subway project. Richard Dattner designed the secondary play space, a $ 250,000 "water playground", which opened in 1973. The restored Heckscher Playground was reopened by 1977, and Richard Dattner's water playground became part of Heckscher Playground. The playground was renovated yet again in 2005. As part of

4089-417: The development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County , with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world. In 1969,

4176-519: The distance between the two ends of the deck running overhead, and the width of the span is the distance between the sidewalls or handrails on either side of the deck. Where applicable, the width of the arch refers to the distance between abutments that form the walls of the vault underneath, while the length of the arch is the distance between the openings at either end of the vault. Bridges are designed by Calvert Vaux unless otherwise indicated. The arches and bridges are referred to by their names first, then

4263-418: The early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as a part of the colony of New York . It became a center of slavery , with 42% of households enslaving Africans by 1730. Most were domestic slaves ; others were hired out as labor. Slavery became integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the banking and shipping industries trading with

4350-491: The extension of one of the park's bridle paths through the middle of Heckscher Playground. However, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses ordered that the bridle path's construction be halted that May. By 1935, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that the playground would be renovated. Among the proposed improvements were the construction of additional athletic fields;

4437-567: The former territory of New Netherland , including the city of New Amsterdam , when the Kingdom of England seized it from Dutch control. In the pre-Columbian era , the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquians , including the Lenape . Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking , included the present-day areas of Staten Island , Manhattan , the Bronx , the western portion of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens ), and

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4524-463: The greater landscape and were made of brick , stone , or cast iron . The final category, "rustic" bridges, were smaller stone or log bridges and usually spanned small walkways or streams. Central Park had 39 bridges at its peak. The bridges were devised as part of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux 's proposal for Central Park, the Greensward Plan . Most of the spans were built in

4611-536: The greater landscape and were made of brick, stone, or iron. Seven of the "ornamental" spans were made of iron; all except one of these bridges spanned bridle paths, the exception being the Bow Bridge , which spanned the Lake . "Rustic" bridges were smaller and usually spanned small walkways or streams. There were six "rustic" wooden spans, as well as two stone spans (the Ramble and Riftstone Arches) that were sometimes considered to be rustic spans. Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould made decisions on which materials to use in

4698-410: The ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay . Between New York City and Troy, New York , the river is an estuary . The Hudson River separates

4785-448: The island to England under the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674. Several intertribal wars among the Native Americans and epidemics brought on by contact with the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between 1660 and 1670. By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200. New York experienced several yellow fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone. In

4872-403: The landscaping of the wading pool; planting of additional trees; and installation of extra play structures. A proposal to remove the Heckscher Ballfields and relocate all baseball games to the North Meadow was overturned. Additionally, August Heckscher paid for a $ 15,000 memorial to social reformer Sophie Irene Loeb , one of the earliest supporters for a playground in Central Park. The renovation

4959-599: The last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000. Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order; however, he earned a reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church , and blocked other religious groups from establishing houses of worship. In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls , without bloodshed. The terms of

5046-545: The local population as a representative of the Dutch colonists. A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States , with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island . In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam , later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island. The colony of New Amsterdam extended from

5133-419: The most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London . The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity . The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance. Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and

5220-437: The mouth of the Hudson River , which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean , has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of the city is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. During the Wisconsin glaciation , 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet . The erosive forward movement of

5307-460: The north, West Drive to the west and south, and Center Drive to the east. Nearby park features include Sheep Meadow to the north, across the 65th Street transverse; Central Park Carousel and the Chess & Checkers House to the northeast; and the Dairy and Wollman Rink to the east, across Center Drive. Columbus Circle is located to the southwest, across West Drive. Heckscher Playground consists of 14 swings , several slides , seesaws ,

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5394-445: The only " transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality. In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave

5481-404: The parkland was devoted to sports uses. In April 1925, New York City park commissioner Francis D. Gallatin announced that 16 acres (6.5 ha) on the west side of Central Park would be set aside for a play area funded by the philanthropist August Heckscher , who was providing the money through the Heckscher Foundation for Children . The play area would contain a wading pool, six ballfields, and

5568-570: The playground grew popular with middle- and working-class families after its opening. Its success soon led to the construction of additional playgrounds in Central Park. Heckscher Playground has been rebuilt several times, including in the 1930s and twice in the 1970s. A design competition was held for Central Park in 1857; applicants were required to conform to several specifications, including at least three playgrounds of between 3 and 10 acres (1.2 and 4.0 ha). The winning plan, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux 's Greensward Plan , included

5655-429: The press in North America . In 1754, Columbia University was founded. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there. The Battle of Long Island , the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War , was fought in August 1776 within modern-day Brooklyn. A British rout of

5742-402: The region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland (' New Netherland '). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what became New York City was Juan Rodriguez , a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with

5829-496: The rest of the park, but engineer J. H. Pieper devised several designs for bridges and retaining walls for each roadway. Along with the transverse roads, the plan envisioned three categories of park paths: "carriage" roadways for pleasure vehicles; bridle paths for horses; and pedestrian walkways. These paths would cross each other, necessitating bridges and arches interspersed through the park, each with unique designs ranging from rugged rock spans to Neo-Gothic cast iron. Many of

5916-482: The southern end of Central Park on June 22, 1926. At the opening of his namesake playground, Heckscher announced that he would start a program to raise $ 3 million for Central Park improvements. His namesake playground quickly became popular with poor immigrant families. Most of the playground's users were lower- and middle-class families who came from further away. By 1933, Heckscher suggested the construction of additional playgrounds in Central Park. In 1934, work started on

6003-521: The southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors . The city comprises five boroughs , each coextensive with a respective county . The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area , the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area . New York is a global center of finance and commerce , culture , technology , entertainment and media , academics and scientific output ,

6090-480: The southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street , where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids. In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit , as charged by the Dutch West India Company , purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie , a small Lenape band, for "the value of 60 guilders " (about $ 900 in 2018). A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan

6177-510: The spans. Vaux preferred to use bluestone , or brick mixed with granite and brownstone . Initially, the bridges were all given numbers, mostly in the order that they were to be constructed. Most of the spans, except for the Bow Bridge, were designed to blend in with the surrounding environment, because Olmsted and Vaux wanted to maintain a pastoral ambiance within the park. The initial plans called for seven bridges and two tunnels, as well as one masonry bridge and one footbridge. This number

6264-416: The suggestion of Olmsted and Vaux's landscape firm, which was no longer associated with Central Park at the time. Claremont and Mountcliff Arches, as well as Eagledale Bridge, were finished in 1890. The wooden Gapstow Bridge was replaced with a stone span in 1896. Of the thirty-nine arches and bridges that were ultimately built, thirty-five were designed by Vaux and Mould. Three spans were demolished in

6351-559: The surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in the colony and allowed for religious freedom. In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War , the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname , which they had gained from the English, and in return the English kept New Amsterdam. The settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after

6438-450: The various facilities for exercise. Heckscher Playground was rebuilt again and reopened to the public in June 1970. At the time, the New York City Subway 's 63rd Street lines were being built, with their planned routes running directly under the south side of Central Park. The city's parks commissioner, August Heckscher II (the grandson of the playground's namesake) expressed concern that

6525-499: The wealthy "an idea of what a modern playground should be", while another playground that he funded near Mulberry Bend in Chinatown, Manhattan , would serve the poorer communities there. That May, mayor John Francis Hylan ordered the construction of the playground, and the city's Board of Aldermen rejected an aldermanic resolution that opposed the playground and other Central Park "encroachments". Heckscher Playground opened near

6612-597: The world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference to the year of U.S. independence . The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. New York City

6699-493: The world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq . New York City is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023 , New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates and has by a wide margin the highest U.S. city residential rents; and Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in

6786-525: The world. New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists around 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York , before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674. New York City

6873-402: The world. New York City is home by a significant margin to the highest number of billionaires , individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$ 30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world. In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England ). James's elder brother, King Charles II , appointed the Duke as proprietor of

6960-566: Was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included flooding that led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system and flooding of all East River subway tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel . The New York Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of 1888 . At least 43 people died in New York City as

7047-535: Was a haven for Loyalist refugees and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom promised by the Crown , with as many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation, the largest such community on the continent. When the British forces evacuated New York at the close of the war in 1783, they transported thousands of freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia , England, and

7134-539: Was a prime destination in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition . The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height. New York City became

7221-486: Was completed in 1936. To make way for the playground's expansion, a bridge called the Oval/Spur Rock Arch was destroyed in 1934, and the bridle path through the playground was cut off. In addition, under Moses's tenure as parks commissioner, twenty-one additional playgrounds were built in Central Park by the late 1930s. Heckscher Playground became popular not only among children, but also among adults who used

7308-466: Was found that the construction of Central Park had significant cost overrun, and the commissioners expressed concerns about the cost of the bridges' stone. This led to the approval of the "rustic" bridges in the northern section of Central Park. By 1872, there were thirty-three spans. Inscope Arch, along with the original Gapstow Bridge and the now-demolished Outset Arch, were built in 1873 to alleviate traffic congestion. The three spans were built as per

7395-427: Was later expanded to nineteen bridges, then to thirty-four and finally to thirty-nine. Most of the bridges were erected in the 1860s, during the initial construction of Central Park. The first spans were completed in 1859 and were mostly concentrated in the southern section of Central Park. Twenty-three bridges were completed before 1861, and eleven were completed from 1862 to 1865. Controversy arose in 1859 after it

7482-415: Was purchased for $ 24 worth of glass beads. Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly. To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen ( patroons , or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded land, local political autonomy, and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success. Since 1621,

7569-417: Was the U.S. capital from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs : Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens , the Bronx , and Staten Island . Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan , New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022 ,

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