Bowling Green

[brianac]

Thanks Rapunzel.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/BowlingGreen01.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/BowlingGreen02.jpg

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/BowlingGreen03.jpg

[ZippyTheChimp]

That cop is all spit-and-polish.

[brianac]

Yes, probably one of the old school.

[The Benniest]

What is the bowling green? :) Sorry....

<-- noob :P

[brianac]

What is the bowling green? :) Sorry....

<-- noob :P

Rapunzel says it all.

[The Benniest]

OH. Thanks guys for clearing that up. :)

[Radiohead]

Benniest, welcome aboard. You look eerily similar to Lofter. Are you his half brother?

[brianac]

Some nice 2004 Bowling Green photo's from Zippy HERE (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=27507&postcount=16)

[brianac]

March 12, 2009, 12:20 pm

Celebrating 276 Years of Bowling Green

By Sewell Chan (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/sewell-chan/)

INTERACTIVE 360 Panorama HERE (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/celebraing-276-years-of-bowling-green/)

Raymond McCrea Jones/The New York Times

Bowling Green, the uneven gated ellipse at the foot of Broadway, evokes history more than most spots in New York City. Legend has it — though historians give the legend almost no credence — that Indian tribal leaders used the land for meetings and to negotiate the sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit (http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/minuit.html) in 1626. What is known is that the site was a parade ground and cattle market in the Dutch era, which essentially ended with the British conquest of 1664.

In 1686, the British declared the land public property, and on March 12, 1733, it was leased for one peppercorn a year to John Chambers, Peter Bayard and Peter Jay, who were responsible for improving the site with grass, trees and a wood fence “for the beauty and ornament of the said street as well as for the recreation and delight of the inhabitants of this city.”

The anniversary of that designation of Bowling Green (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/lmr/html/bowling_green.html) — the city’s oldest public park — was celebrated Thursday morning in a ceremony attended by Adrian Benepe (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/adrian_benepe/index.html), the parks commissioner, and local residents. (Why is the 276th anniversary being celebrated? Evidently, plans to mark the 275th anniversary in 2008 did no go off so well, so a new commemoration was scheduled.)

Notwithstanding a name that connotes tranquil recreation, the green has not always been free of conflict. On July 9, 1776, after the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, angry residents pulled down a gilded statue of King George III that had been erected in 1770. (The iron fence surrounding the green (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2977192835/), which was installed in 1771 and is now itself a city landmark, survived.) The equestrian statue was dragged up Broadway, taken to Connecticut, melted down and recast as ammunition, though portions survive at the Museum of the City of New York (http://www.mcny.org/) and the New-York Historical Society (http://www.nyhistory.org/web/).

By the late 18th century, the green sat in a fashionable residential district of now-vanished Federal row houses, as the city slowly began its northward expansion. In 1819, the Common Council allowed neighbors to tend the land in return for the exclusive use of the park by their families.

Not until about 1850, according to The Encyclopedia of New York City, did the public gain full access to the park, when the town houses were converted to shipping offices.

The park was disrupted by the construction of the I.R.T. subway (http://www.nycsubway.org/irtsubway.html), which opened in 1904, but was repaired for the 1939 World’s Fair. Even so, Bowling Green was mostly neglected until a renovation, completed in 1977 despite the city’s fiscal crisis, restored the park to its 18th-century appearance, with a central fountain donated by George T. Delacorte (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/monuments/monument_info.php?monId=1799).

Since 1989, the green has been documented — in countless tourist photographs — as a backdrop for “Charging Bull (http://www.chargingbull.net/nyc.html),” the three-and-a-half-ton bronze sculpture by Arturo DiModica (http://www.chargingbull.net/main.html) at its northern end. Meant to represent the strength and virility of Wall Street, the bull has since been reinterpreted (http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom) in light of the economic collapse.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/12/nyregion/kinggeorge-480.jpgJohn C. McRae
An engraving depicted a group of angry citizens pulling down a gilded equestrian statue of King George III on July 9, 1776.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/celebraing-276-years-of-bowling-green/

Copyright 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[Alonzo-ny]

So was it actually bowled on?

[brianac]

Why make a bowling green if it was not to be bowled on?

In 1686, the British declared the land public property, and on March 12, 1733, it was leased for one peppercorn a year to John Chambers, Peter Bayard and Peter Jay, who improved the site with a bowling green, trees and a wood fence — “for the beauty and ornament of the said street as well as for the recreation and delight of the inhabitants of this city.”

It appears that the highlighted section has been added to the NY Times article since I posted the original.

[Boss_Boy]

March 12, 2009, 12:20 pm

Celebrating 276 Years of Bowling Green

By Sewell Chan (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/author/sewell-chan/)

INTERACTIVE 360 Panorama HERE (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/celebraing-276-years-of-bowling-green/)

Raymond McCrea Jones/The New York Times

Bowling Green, the uneven gated ellipse at the foot of Broadway, evokes history more than most spots in New York City. Legend has it — though historians give the legend almost no credence — that Indian tribal leaders used the land for meetings and to negotiate the sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit (http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/minuit.html) in 1626. What is known is that the site was a parade ground and cattle market in the Dutch era, which essentially ended with the British conquest of 1664.

In 1686, the British declared the land public property, and on March 12, 1733, it was leased for one peppercorn a year to John Chambers, Peter Bayard and Peter Jay, who were responsible for improving the site with grass, trees and a wood fence “for the beauty and ornament of the said street as well as for the recreation and delight of the inhabitants of this city.”

The anniversary of that designation of Bowling Green (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/lmr/html/bowling_green.html) — the city’s oldest public park — was celebrated Thursday morning in a ceremony attended by Adrian Benepe (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/adrian_benepe/index.html), the parks commissioner, and local residents. (Why is the 276th anniversary being celebrated? Evidently, plans to mark the 275th anniversary in 2008 did no go off so well, so a new commemoration was scheduled.)

Notwithstanding a name that connotes tranquil recreation, the green has not always been free of conflict. On July 9, 1776, after the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, angry residents pulled down a gilded statue of King George III that had been erected in 1770. (The iron fence surrounding the green (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2977192835/), which was installed in 1771 and is now itself a city landmark, survived.) The equestrian statue was dragged up Broadway, taken to Connecticut, melted down and recast as ammunition, though portions survive at the Museum of the City of New York (http://www.mcny.org/) and the New-York Historical Society (http://www.nyhistory.org/web/).

By the late 18th century, the green sat in a fashionable residential district of now-vanished Federal row houses, as the city slowly began its northward expansion. In 1819, the Common Council allowed neighbors to tend the land in return for the exclusive use of the park by their families.

Not until about 1850, according to The Encyclopedia of New York City, did the public gain full access to the park, when the town houses were converted to shipping offices.

The park was disrupted by the construction of the I.R.T. subway (http://www.nycsubway.org/irtsubway.html), which opened in 1904, but was repaired for the 1939 World’s Fair. Even so, Bowling Green was mostly neglected until a renovation, completed in 1977 despite the city’s fiscal crisis, restored the park to its 18th-century appearance, with a central fountain donated by George T. Delacorte (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/monuments/monument_info.php?monId=1799).

Since 1989, the green has been documented — in countless tourist photographs — as a backdrop for “Charging Bull (http://www.chargingbull.net/nyc.html),” the three-and-a-half-ton bronze sculpture by Arturo DiModica (http://www.chargingbull.net/main.html) at its northern end. Meant to represent the strength and virility of Wall Street, the bull has since been reinterpreted (http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom) in light of the economic collapse.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/12/nyregion/kinggeorge-480.jpgJohn C. McRae
An engraving depicted a group of angry citizens pulling down a gilded equestrian statue of King George III on July 9, 1776.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/celebraing-276-years-of-bowling-green/

Copyright 2009 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)


Thanks for this info bro.