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The first urban landscaped park in the US is Central Park situated in Scenic New York. It was originally proposed by the New York wealthy in or about 1850. The cost was in excess of ten million dollars. The park was designed as a place to be noticed by the wealthy and a place for recreation for the poor.
The construction of the park was designed by architect Calvert Vaux. The city took control of 840 acres of land in Manhattan, evicted all of its residents and started construction of the park.

The choice of this area was the fact that proved unsuitable for any type of commercial building. They wanted to create features such as lakes and they also wanted to ensure that the park was a natural as possible by limiting the amount of buildings inside the park. The original design only featured 4 buildings.

After completion of the park, it clearly entertained the wealthy. It was usually crowded by women socializing and beautifully designed carriages were a regular sight in this out door paradise. Concerts and carriage rides were frequented by the upper class.

In 1926, the city added a playground to the park which brought more of the regular working class than before. However, now it was more main stream and now it was less of a place for the rich.

Soon the park began to show signs of disrepair and was no longer the beautiful oasis it had been formerly. So groups of Conservationist decided to clean it up and adding more recreational activities, fine dining at places such as the Tavern on the Green were added and more interesting cultural shows were added. Making New York's Central Park once again a great place to visit.

Learn more about this author, Katherine Johnson.
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