Bowling Green
.517 Acre
Bowling Green is New York City’s oldest park. According to
tradition, this spot served as the council ground for Native American tribes and was the
site of the legendary sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626. The Dutch called the area
"the Plain" and used it for several purposes. It was the beginning of Heere
Staat (High Street, now Broadway)—a trade route which extended north through
Manhattan and the Bronx. It was also the site of a parade ground, meeting place, and
cattle market. In 1686 the site became public property, when the City Charter put all
"waste, vacant, unpatented and unappropriated lands" under municipal domain. Bowling Green was first designated as a park in 1733, when it was
offered for rent at the cost of one peppercorn per year. Lessees John Chambers, Peter
Bayard, and Peter Jay were responsible for improving the site with grass, trees, and a
wood fence "for the Beauty & Ornament of the Said Street as well as for the
Recreation & delight of the Inhabitants of this City." A gilded lead statue of
King George III was erected here in 1770, and the iron fence (now a New York City
landmark) was installed in 1771. On July 9, 1776, after the first public reading in New
York State of the Declaration of Independence, this monument was toppled by angry
citizens, dragged up Broadway, sent to Connecticut, melted down, and recast as ammunition.
Portions of the statue are held by the Museum of the City of New York and the New-York
Historical Society (which also possesses musket balls made from the statue’s lead). By the late 18th century, Bowling Green marked the center of New
York’s most fashionable residential area, surrounded by rows of Federal-style
townhouses. In 1819 the Common Council voted that neighbors could plant and tend the area
in return for the exclusive use of the park by their families. By mid-century, shipping
offices inhabited the old townhouses, and the park was returned to more public use.
Monuments installed in the park in the 19th century include two fountains (now gone) and a
statue of New York’s first mayor, Abraham De Peyster (1896, by George Bissell). De
Peyster was moved to nearby Hanover Square in 1976. In the first decade of the 20th century, Bowling Green was disrupted by
the construction of the IRT subway. The park was rebuilt as part of citywide improvements
made in preparation for visitors to the 1939 World’s Fair. Renovations to Bowling
Green included removing the fountain basin, relocating the interior walkways, installing
new benches, and providing new plantings. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Parks Commissioner
Robert Moses, members of the Board of Estimate, and local businessmen participated in the
rededication ceremony, held April 6, 1939. Despite unseasonably late snow, the ceremony
included a demonstration of colonial-era lawn bowling. A 1976-77 capital renovation restored Bowling Green to its 18th-century
appearance. Improvements included the redistribution of subway entrances, the installation
of new lampposts and benches, and landscaping. Publisher and philanthropist George
Delacorte donated the park’s central fountain. Since December 1989 the statue of Charging Bull (1987-89) has
been on display at the north end of the park. Its sculptor, Arturo DiModica, says the
three-and-a-half-ton bronze figure represents "the strength, power and hope of the
American people for the future." It has also been linked to the prosperity enjoyed by
Wall Street in the past decade.
Tuesday, Feb 02, 1999