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Seneca Village
40°47′02″N 73°58′08″W / 40.784002°N 73.968892°W
Seneca Village was a 19th-century settlement of mostly African American landowners in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, within what would become present-day Central Park. The settlement was located near the current Upper West Side neighborhood, approximately bounded by Central Park West and the axes of 82nd Street, 89th Street, and Seventh Avenue, had they been constructed through the park.
Seneca Village was founded in 1825 by free Black Americans, the first such community in the city, although under Dutch rule there was a "half-free" community of African-owned farms north of New Amsterdam. At its peak, the community had approximately 225 residents, three churches, two schools, and three cemeteries. The settlement was later also inhabited by Irish and German immigrants. Seneca Village existed until 1857, when, through eminent domain, the villagers and other settlers in the area were forced to leave and their houses were torn down for the construction of Central Park. The entirety of the village was dispersed.
Several vestiges of Seneca Village's existence have been found over the years, including two graves and a burial plot. The settlement was largely forgotten until the publication of Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar's book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park in 1992. After a 1997 New-York Historical Society exhibition, the Seneca Village Project was formed in 1998 to raise awareness of the village, and several archaeological digs have been conducted. In 2001, a historical sign was unveiled, commemorating the site where Seneca Village once stood. In 2019, the Central Park Conservancy installed a temporary exhibit of signage in the park, marking the sites of the Village's churches, some houses, gardens, and natural features.
The origin of Seneca Village's name is obscure, and was only recorded by Thomas McClure Peters, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church; however, a number of theories have been advanced.
Natural features on the Seneca Village landscape which still survive today are Summit Rock, then known as Goat Hill, the highest natural elevation in modern Central Park, and Tanner's Spring near its southern base. The settlement's main street was "Spring Street" as marked on an 1838 map, or as "old Lane" on an 1856 map, and it connected to "Stillwells Lane".
The previous landowner before African American settlement was a white farmer named John Whitehead, who purchased his property in 1824. One year later, Whitehead began selling off smaller lots from his property. At the time, the area was far from the core of New York City, which was centered south of 23rd Street in what is now Lower Manhattan. On September 27, 1825, a 25-year-old African American man named Andrew Williams, employed as a bootblack and later as a cartman, purchased three lots from the Whiteheads for $125. On the same day, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church) trustee Epiphany Davis, employed as a feed store clerk, bought twelve lots for $578. Both men were part of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, an organization whose members supported each other financially. The AME Zion Church bought six additional lots the same week, and by 1832, at least 24 lots had been sold to African Americans. Additional nearby development was centered around "York Hill", a plot bounded by where Sixth and Seventh Avenues would have been built, between 79th and 86th Streets. York Hill was mostly owned by the city, but 5 acres (2.0 ha) were purchased by William Matthews, a young African American, in the late 1830s. Matthews's African Union Church also bought land in Seneca Village around that time.
More African Americans began moving to Seneca Village after slavery in New York state was outlawed in 1827. In the 1830s, people from York Hill were forced to move so that a basin for the Croton Distributing Reservoir could be built, so many of York Hill's residents migrated to Seneca Village. The reservoir's massive granite walls formed a prominent landmark, bordering Seneca Village on the east. Seneca Village provided a safe haven during the anti-abolitionist riot of 1834.
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Seneca Village
40°47′02″N 73°58′08″W / 40.784002°N 73.968892°W
Seneca Village was a 19th-century settlement of mostly African American landowners in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, within what would become present-day Central Park. The settlement was located near the current Upper West Side neighborhood, approximately bounded by Central Park West and the axes of 82nd Street, 89th Street, and Seventh Avenue, had they been constructed through the park.
Seneca Village was founded in 1825 by free Black Americans, the first such community in the city, although under Dutch rule there was a "half-free" community of African-owned farms north of New Amsterdam. At its peak, the community had approximately 225 residents, three churches, two schools, and three cemeteries. The settlement was later also inhabited by Irish and German immigrants. Seneca Village existed until 1857, when, through eminent domain, the villagers and other settlers in the area were forced to leave and their houses were torn down for the construction of Central Park. The entirety of the village was dispersed.
Several vestiges of Seneca Village's existence have been found over the years, including two graves and a burial plot. The settlement was largely forgotten until the publication of Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar's book The Park and the People: A History of Central Park in 1992. After a 1997 New-York Historical Society exhibition, the Seneca Village Project was formed in 1998 to raise awareness of the village, and several archaeological digs have been conducted. In 2001, a historical sign was unveiled, commemorating the site where Seneca Village once stood. In 2019, the Central Park Conservancy installed a temporary exhibit of signage in the park, marking the sites of the Village's churches, some houses, gardens, and natural features.
The origin of Seneca Village's name is obscure, and was only recorded by Thomas McClure Peters, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church; however, a number of theories have been advanced.
Natural features on the Seneca Village landscape which still survive today are Summit Rock, then known as Goat Hill, the highest natural elevation in modern Central Park, and Tanner's Spring near its southern base. The settlement's main street was "Spring Street" as marked on an 1838 map, or as "old Lane" on an 1856 map, and it connected to "Stillwells Lane".
The previous landowner before African American settlement was a white farmer named John Whitehead, who purchased his property in 1824. One year later, Whitehead began selling off smaller lots from his property. At the time, the area was far from the core of New York City, which was centered south of 23rd Street in what is now Lower Manhattan. On September 27, 1825, a 25-year-old African American man named Andrew Williams, employed as a bootblack and later as a cartman, purchased three lots from the Whiteheads for $125. On the same day, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church) trustee Epiphany Davis, employed as a feed store clerk, bought twelve lots for $578. Both men were part of the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, an organization whose members supported each other financially. The AME Zion Church bought six additional lots the same week, and by 1832, at least 24 lots had been sold to African Americans. Additional nearby development was centered around "York Hill", a plot bounded by where Sixth and Seventh Avenues would have been built, between 79th and 86th Streets. York Hill was mostly owned by the city, but 5 acres (2.0 ha) were purchased by William Matthews, a young African American, in the late 1830s. Matthews's African Union Church also bought land in Seneca Village around that time.
More African Americans began moving to Seneca Village after slavery in New York state was outlawed in 1827. In the 1830s, people from York Hill were forced to move so that a basin for the Croton Distributing Reservoir could be built, so many of York Hill's residents migrated to Seneca Village. The reservoir's massive granite walls formed a prominent landmark, bordering Seneca Village on the east. Seneca Village provided a safe haven during the anti-abolitionist riot of 1834.