Black History Month: Central Park Displaced African-American Settlement
Note: This is the 16th installment of WCBS 880's Black History Month series. For other articles, click here.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The conventional wisdom was that when the land was set aside for Central Park in 1853, only a few squatters and hobos lived there.
"That's a myth that grew up over time," Sara Cedar Miller, the official photographer and historian for the Central Park Conservancy, told WCBS 880's Jane Tillman Irving.
Black History Month: Central Park Displaced African-American Settlement
One large settlement was the African-American community of Seneca Village, which fronted on the present Central Park West, roughly from 81st to 89th streets.
It was "a stable, long-standing community of African-American property owners," Miller said. "That makes it so unique and so important to New York City's history."
In 1853, New York state authorized the use of eminent domain -- the taking over of private land for public use -- and Seneca Village disappeared.
