50 Fun Facts About Central Park

How many acres does Central Park cover?

That makes it only the sixth-largest park in New York City, behind Pelham Bay Park, the Staten Island Greenbelt, Freshkills, Van Cortlandt and Flushing Meadows.

Which two landscape architects won the 1858 design competition for Central Park?

Their entry, one of 33 submitted, was called the Greensward Plan; Olmsted called the result 'the first real Park made in this country'.

What was the name of Olmsted and Vaux's winning design?

Unlike rival entries it separated the park from the city with sunken transverse roads and avoided symmetry for a picturesque look.

Which English green space, visited by Olmsted in 1850, inspired the design?

It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civil park in the world; landscaped cemeteries like Mount Auburn and Green-Wood were the other big influence.

What was the name of the majority-Black settlement razed to make way for Central Park?

About 1,600 residents were evicted under eminent domain from villages that had been property-owning communities since 1825.

Central Park's land cost $7.39 million, more than the United States would soon pay for what?

Supporters had promised the park would cost just $1.7 million.

Which famous author headed the park's 1856 'consulting board'?

Bryant, editor of the Evening Post, had endorsed a big park back in 1844 and pushed for the rival Jones's Wood site.

What was the first feature of Central Park to open to the public, in December 1858?

The Ramble followed in June 1859; the whole park was not finished until 1876.

How long, from north to south, is Central Park?

It runs from 59th to 110th Street and is half a mile wide between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West.

How many visitors did Central Park receive in 2016, making it the most visited urban park in the US?

Only about 14% of visits are first-timers; roughly 70% of visitors live in New York City.

According to American Community Survey estimates, who lives in Central Park's own census tract?

The 2010 census counted 25 residents in tract 143, though park officials deny anyone lives there permanently.

Which non-profit has run day-to-day management under contract with the city since 1998?

It was founded in 1980 to fight the park's decline and also helped develop the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Which parks commissioner cleared Central Park's 'Hoover valley' shantytown to create the Great Lawn?

He also turned the menagerie into the modern zoo and added 21 playgrounds with New Deal money.

Why were the sheep removed from Sheep Meadow in the 1930s?

The restaurant occupies an 1870 sheepfold at Central Park West and 67th Street, converted in 1934.

What was the restaurant at Central Park West and 67th Street originally built as in 1870?

It closed in 2009 and reopened five years later; the park's other indoor restaurant is at the Loeb Boathouse.

What is the name of the statue at the centre of Bethesda Fountain?

Emma Stebbins's 1873 work was the first large public sculpture commission for an American woman and the only statue in the original park design.

What is the oldest human-made structure in Central Park?

The red granite obelisk was erected at Heliopolis around 1450 BC by Thutmose III and arrived in the park in late 1880.

Which pharaoh added the hieroglyphs to the park's Egyptian obelisk about 200 years after it was carved?

The obelisks got their nickname after being moved to the Caesarium in Alexandria, a temple begun by Cleopatra VII for Mark Antony.

Which country donated the 'Imagine' mosaic at the centre of the Strawberry Fields memorial?

The memorial to John Lennon, murdered outside the nearby Dakota, was rededicated on what would have been his 45th birthday, October 9, 1985.

The 1925 statue near East Drive by the Zoo honours which sled dog?

He became famous during the 1925 serum run to Nome, Alaska.

Which three women are depicted in Central Park's 2020 Women's Rights Pioneers Monument?

The Alice in Wonderland sculpture at Conservatory Water dates from 1959; there are 29 sculptures in the park.

After whom was the park's largest body of water renamed in 1994?

Built between 1858 and 1862, it holds about a billion gallons and was decommissioned in 1993, the year before her death.

What is the highest point in Central Park, at 137.5 feet?

Vista Rock, the second-highest, carries Belvedere Castle and has the 79th Street transverse tunnelled beneath it.

What is the oldest surviving structure in Central Park, built before the park existed?

It was part of Fort Clinton, near McGowan's Pass in the park's northwest corner.

How many species of birds have been recorded in the Ramble over the years?

The 36-acre wooded area beside the Lake sits on the Atlantic Flyway and has been extensively restored with native plants.

Central Park's American elms are notable for what reason?

Their isolation protected them from the Dutch elm disease that devastated the species elsewhere.

How many baseball fields are there in Central Park?

Eight are on the Great Lawn, six at Heckscher Ballfields and twelve in the North Meadow.

Outside which restaurant does the New York City Marathon finish?

From 1970 to 1975 the whole race was run inside the park; the New York Road Runners maintain a 5-mile loop there.

How long are Central Park's drives in total?

They were closed to cars north of 72nd Street in 2015 and are the home course of the Century Road Club Association's races.

Which two duo or solo acts gave famous free concerts in Central Park in 1981 and 1997?

The Naumburg Bandshell on the Mall has hosted concerts since 1923, including the oldest free classical series in the US.

Where does the Public Theater stage Shakespeare in the Park?

It sits on the western shore of Turtle Pond next to the Shakespeare Garden, and reopened after renovation in July 2025.

For how many days in 2005 did Christo and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates fill Central Park?

Planned since 1979, it drew more than a million visitors despite mixed reviews.

How many movies had shot on location in Central Park according to a December 2017 report?

That beat Greenwich Village's 160 and Times Square's 99; titles range from Marathon Man to Home Alone 2 and Enchanted.

Which NYPD precinct patrols Central Park?

Crime across all categories in the precinct fell 81.2% between 1990 and 2023, with no murders recorded that year.

How many gates in Central Park's wall were named in 1862 for the city's 'vocations'?

The stone wall runs 29,025 feet and stands 3 feet 10 inches high.

Which was the first transverse road across the park to be finished, in December 1859?

The 79th Street transverse under Vista Rock needed a railroad contractor's rock-drilling experience and opened a year later.

What is the park's only formal planted area, entered through the Vanderbilt Gate?

It began life as one of two plant nurseries maintained in the park's earliest years.

Which structure, renovated first in the park's 1979 restoration, became its first visitor centre?

Sheep Meadow was the first landscape restored, the following year; the park now has five visitor centres.

What was the Lasker Rink in the northern section unusual for offering in summer?

It was replaced by the Davis Center, completed in April 2025; Wollman Rink hosts the Victorian Gardens amusement park in summer.

How many species of mammals does Central Park have, as of 2013?

Raccoons are common enough that the Parks Department posts rabies advisories, and bats roost in dark crevices.

How many turtle species live in Central Park?

Red-eared sliders, snapping, painted, musk and box turtles, most of them in Turtle Pond below the Great Lawn.

When was Central Park designated a National Historic Landmark district?

It became a New York City scenic landmark in 1974 and joined UNESCO's tentative World Heritage list in 2017.

What is the only formal, straight feature in Olmsted and Vaux's original design?

The elm-lined walkway leads to Bethesda Terrace and hosts the Literary Walk of authors' busts.

Before the Central Park Medical Unit began in 1975, how long did municipal ambulances take to reach the park?

The free volunteer service now patrols with bicycles, ambulances and an all-terrain vehicle.

Which architect designed the Central Park Esplanade and the Tavern on the Green building?

Ignaz Anton Pilat served as the park's chief landscape architect and George E. Waring Jr. as engineer.

How many visitor centers does Central Park have?

They include Belvedere Castle, the Dairy and the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center.

How large was the northernmost parcel Andrew Haswell Green bought for the park, now the Harlem Meer area?

Green was a board member known for micromanaging costs during construction.

How many major structures were completed in Central Park during the Civil War?

They were the Music Stand and the Casino restaurant, both later demolished, and Bethesda Terrace.

How much was the 10-year restoration plan announced by the Central Park Conservancy in 1981 worth?

Belvedere Castle reopened in 1983 and the zoo closed that year for a full rebuild.

Which landscape was the first to be restored by the Conservancy, reopening in 1980?

The Dairy had reopened as the park's first visitor center a year earlier.