Central Park, spread across 850 acres, is an oasis of green in prime Manhattan. It is a US National Historic Landmark and the most visited urban park in the United States.
As the population of New York increases significantly in the early years of the 19th century, a need was felt to creates open public places to the give the inhabitants some respite from the noise and chaos of the city. This cause was further championed by eminent personalities like William Cullen Bryant and Andrew Jackson Downing and in 1853, the New York legislature designated a 700 acre area between the 59th and 106th streets for the park. In 1857, the Greensward Plan drawn by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux was accepted. The residents living in the area were evicted and work began on the park. More than four million trees, shrubs and plants representing approximately 1,500 species were transplanted to the park and it was officially opened in 1873. Today it receives approximately 35 million visitors annually and is the most visited urban park in the United States.
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