Central Park, an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, is the first landscaped park in the United States.
Advocates of creating the park admired the public grounds of London and Paris and urged that New York needed a comparable facility to establish its international reputation. A public park, they argued, would offer their own families an attractive setting for carriage rides and provide working-class New Yorkers with a healthy alternative to the saloon.
The park first opened for public use in the winter of 1859 when thousands of New Yorkers skated on lakes constructed on the site of former swamps.
Ice skating has a long-standing history in Central Park. The Lake was the first landscape to open to the public in winter 1858, and skating remains one of the most popular recreational activities in Central Park.
Central Park is split into three sections: the North End extending above the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Mid-Park, between the reservoir to the north and the Lake and Conservatory Water to the south, and South End below the Lake and Conservatory Water.
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The park has been described as the first landscaped park in the United States. It has natural-looking plantings and landforms, having been almost entirely landscaped when built in the 1850s and 1860s.
Central Park is the sixth-largest park in New York City, with an area of 843 acres (341 ha; 1.317 mi2; 3.41 km2).
The park's main attractions include the Ramble and Lake, Hallett Nature Sanctuary, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, Sheep Meadow, Wollman Rink, Central Park Carousel, Central Park Zoo, Central Park Mall, Bethesda Terrace, and the Delacorte Theater.
Central Park is bordered by Central Park North at 110th Street, Central Park South at 59th Street, Central Park West at Eighth Avenue, and Fifth Avenue on the east. The park is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Harlem to the north, Midtown Manhattan to the south, the Upper West Side to the west, and the Upper East Side to the east.
The park has five visitor centers: Charles A.
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The Pond and Wollman Rink
What would become The Pond used to be De Voor’s Mill Stream, which originated on the Upper West side and flowed in a southeast direction towards Turtle Bay on the East River. Its namesake is colonial settler David Duffore, who set up a farm at Turtle Bay in 1677.
Responding to the topography, Olmsted and Vaux shaped The Pond in a valley through which the stream flowed. The 1873 map of Central Park shows The Pond’s northern bay. The park’s bridle trail traveled past the northern bay, beneath the Green Gap Arch and Outset Arch (demolished around 1934) towards Grand Army Plaza.
The transformation of The Pond’s northern bay into an ice skating rink began in the Great Depression period under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. In contrast to Olmsted and Vaux, Moses believed that Central Park needed more active recreational facilities to attract the middle and working classes. By that time, winters in New York were much warmer and the lake was no longer safe for a full winter season.
Moses proposed a rink atop the northern bay to continue the skating tradition. Delayed by the Second World War and the cutoff of federal funding, Moses looked to private philanthropy to pay for the ice skating rink.
The philanthropist and namesake responsible for the rink was Kate Wollman (1870-1955), a wealthy stockbroker’s daughter.
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Being New York, this facility made the world’s record books when it opened on December 21, 1950. At 30,000 square feet and a cost of $750,000, it was the world’s largest and most expensive skating rink. Wollman paid $600,000 of the project’s cost. The cost included landscaping improvements around The Pond and a new playground adjoining the rink.
Prior to the rink’s completion, the only all-winter skating venues in Manhattan were at Rockefeller center and Madison Square Garden. Adults were charged 25 centers and children were admitted at 9 centers on opening day.
Heavy usage and deferred maintenance by the financially troubled city forced the rink’s closure in 1980.
Encountering drainage problems and rock formations beneath the original rink the construction project’s cost ballooned to $12 million wit not completion date in sight.
Two blocks to the south of the park, real estate developer Donald J. Trump looked at the site from his eponymous tower’s windows in disgust. In June 1986, he promised to fund the renovation and complete it in record time.
“I have total confidence that we will be able to do it,” Trump said at the time. “I am going on record as saying that I will not be embarrassed.”
Under Trump’s guidance, the rink was reopened on October 31 of that year, two months ahead of schedule and $750,000 under budget.
Above, he is posing with then-Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern. You can read about Trump’s reopening of the skating rink in Chapter 12 of Trump’s Art of the Deal.
If Gapstow Bridge is the point separating The Pond from its northern bay, then there is a small portion of it remaining between the bridge and the skating rink. In the middle of this waterway is a mudflat that sometimes resembles a heart shape.
Closer to the skating rink, the water emerges from two sources, the city’s aqueduct and melting ice from the rink.
On the 1994 map by George Colbert and Guenther Vollarth, Wollman Rink occupies the northern bay, tucked neatly into a valley between East Drive and Center Drive.
Lasker Rink
There is a second example of a waterway transformed into an ice skating rink in Central Park. That’s the Lasker Rink at Harlem Meer.
The transformation of the Lasker Rink and Pool site on the Harlem Meer is the most significant and complex project ever undertaken by the Conservancy. It represents the culmination of our work to re-establish the north end of the Park as a vital resource for the surrounding community.
With ongoing input from our community and interested user groups, we designed this state-of-the-art facility to reflect both our visitors’ priorities and the spirit of Central Park’s original purpose.
The design was led by the Central Park Conservancy and Susan T.
The northernmost lake, Harlem Meer, is near the northeastern corner of the park and covers nearly 11 acres (4.5 ha). Located in a wooded area of oak, cypress, and beech trees, it was named after Harlem, one of Manhattan's first suburban communities, and was built after the completion of the southern portion of the park.
In the early 1950s and early 1960s, private benefactors contributed the Wollman Skating Rink, the Lasker Rink and Pool (now Davis Center), new boathouses, and the Chess and Checkers house.
Donald Trump honored in 1986 for reopening Wollman Rink in Central Park | WABC Vault
Continue this New York City tradition with the grand unveiling of the rink at the new Davis Center! Stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter for exclusive updates on this exciting addition to the vibrant Harlem community.
Central Park Loop
Unauthorized motor vehicles were barred from the loop road north of the 72nd St.
To skate a big loop, start off as you would have a lower loop, but when you start down the downslope at East 72nd St., bear right so that you pass by the Boathouse. The straightaway is a good spot for turning your inner speed demon loose, but you must watch out for pedestrians crossing the road at the East 90th St.
Beyond the Reservoir is the North Meadow (a collection of baseball fields), and then the Lasker Hill (officially A.H.
Here you're at the lowest point on the loop at perhaps 25 feet above sea level. The loop now begins to climb steadily and as you turn south gets even steeper.
After ascending the Great Hill and zooming down the other side, you'll wind gradually south, passing over three less difficult hills, with summits at about 97th St., 91st St., and 85th St.
Be cautious after the third hill, because it's easy to pick up a lot of speed as you begin the descent at 82nd St.
The big loop is a good workout which takes even professional speedskaters around 20 minutes to complete.
Sometimes called the 102nd St. crossing or transverse, this road leads from 104th St. on the east side of the loop to 102nd St. However, as of summer 2025, the surface of the service road is rough. No potholes, but just very unpleasant rolling.
Finally, serious speedskaters doing their hill training will skate circuits of the "upper loop".
72nd St. 102nd St. markings to promote multi-user safety.
Please skate counter-clockwise when you're on the loop. Accidents have been caused by people skating or cycling the wrong direction on the loop.
If you're not sure what direction is counter-clockwise, there should be big white arrows marked in the middle of the road every few hundred yards that will give you a clue.
Even without motor vehicles on the loop, you will be sharing the road with bikers, joggers, pedestrians, and horse-drawn carriages.
The right-most lane is likely to be used by such vehicles as are allowed on the loop. The left-most lane is the pedestrian/jogger lane.
When skating after dark, it would be wise to wear blinkies or other illumination to alert fast moving cyclists to your presence.