Central Park: Rebirth

Central Park’s decline continued well into the 1930s until a new “champion” arrived on the political scene: the election in 1934 of the “The Little Flower”, Fiorello LaGuardia, as Mayor of New York City.  LaGuardia, a man of the people who was much attuned to the popular culture of his fellow New Yorkers, quickly consolidated the city’s five separate and autonomous park units into one city-wide unit under the direction of Robert Moses.

Moses, who would achieve legendary status for his ability to secure funding for infrastructure projects city-wide during his 30-year reign as Parks Superintendent, quickly set about reversing the adverse impacts of neglect in the park.  Workers were quickly assigned to the tasks of replacing lawns, dead trees and shrubs, making other repairs brought on by years of indifference by the city’s leaders.  Those workers also began to make the first of many significant changes to the original park that Olmsted, Vaux and Green had started back in 1858.

If New Yorkers wanted recreational and sporting facilities, then Moses would see to it that the Parks Department built facilities to meet their desires.  Using public works funds that Moses obtained through the Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal, the Parks Department began a wholesale renovation of the park.  Baseball fields, tennis courts and other facilities for spectator and participant sports enthusiasts alike were constructed with New Deal funds.  Moses was equally adept at procuring funds from wealthy residents of the city; funding for projects such as the sculptures of Hans Christian Anderson and Alice in Wonderland, and the famous Carousel was made possible by the philanthropy of such donors.

By the dawn of the 1960s the rebirth of Central Park was almost complete.  The addition of major theatrical and musical events each summer, e.g. the Shakespeare in the Park series and the Metropolitan Opera performances on Sheep Meadow, added to the Park’s appeal for all New Yorkers.  When Central Park was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, the work LaGuardia and Moses had begun in 1934 was complete.