1868 Shannon and Rogers View of the Lake, Central Park, New York City

This is a beautiful 1868 view of the Lake in Central Park as seen from the east, by Shannon and Rogers. The view features a boat in the water with the Bow Bridge visible in the distance. The Lake, Central Park’s largest naturalistic body of water, was created from a former swamp. Vaux and Olmstead envisioned this 20 acre lake would be used for boating in the summer and ice-skating in the winter.

Central Park

Vaux and Olmstead were awarded the task of designing Central Park in 1853 by the City Common Council. Olmstead's vision drove the overall design while Vaux concentrated on bridges, buildings, and other structures. The creation of Central Park, which was to consist of some 800 acres of public forest, pathways, promenades, lakes, bridges, and meadows, was a seminal moment in civic urban design. The park itself was designed as a whole with every tree, pond, and bench meticulously planned. Olmstead wrote: 'Every foot of the park's surface, every tree and bush, as well as every arch, roadway, and walk has been placed where it is for a purpose.'

Historian Gloria Deak writes,

'There was a staggering amount of work to be done to transform the area into a blend of pastoral and woodland scenery. This involved the design and construction of roadways, tunnels, bridges, arches, stairways, fountains, benches, lamp posts, gates, fences and innumerable other artifacts. It also involved the supervision of an army of about five thousand laborers…Olmsted, to whom most of the credit goes, insisted on seeing the multidimensional project as a single work of art, which he was mandated to create. For this purpose, he ventured to assume to himself the title of 'artist'

Today, because of Vaux and Olmstead's efforts, New Yorkers, ourselves included, have the privilege of enjoying what is, perhaps, the finest example of a planned urban public recreation area in the world.

Publication History

Prepared for inclusion in the 1868 edition of Joseph Shannon's Manual of The Corporation of the City of New York.