Designated April 16, 1974
Central Park is one of the largest urban parks in the country, and it inaugurated the urban park movement in the United States. The plan for the park required an exceptional work of engineering in order to utilize the existing topography while at the same time creating a new and beautiful environment. The designers of Central Park, Frederick L. Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, saw the southern section as more heterogeneous in its character requiring “much more varied treatment.”