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Early Map of Central Park
Decorative map of New York City's Central Park issued in 1860 for Valentine's Manual of the Corporation of New York.
The map shows the park as a whole and includes pathways, lakes, buildings, individual trees and rocks. The streets and avenues surrounding the park are labeled as is the 'Carriage Road' within the 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 his attentions on bridges, buildings, and other structures within the park.
The creation of the 800 acre Central Park was a landmark in the history of 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 parks surface, every tree and bush, as well as every arch, roadway, and walk and been placed where it is for a purpose.'