Seneca Village Public Domain Clip Art Photos and Images

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Seneca Village

As the campaign to create Central Park moved forward park advocates and the media began to describe Seneca Village and other communities in this area as "shantytowns" and the residents there as "squatters" and "vagabonds and soundrels"

All of the inhabitants of the village were evicted by 1857, and the village was razed. Residents were offered $2,335 for their property.

Members of the community fought to retain their land. For two years, residents resisted the police as they petitioned the courts to save their homes, churches, and schools. Some Villagers were violently evicted in 1855. However, in the summer of 1856, Mayor Fernando Wood(D) prevailed, and residents of Seneca Village were given final notice.

In 1857, the city government acquired all private property within Seneca Village through eminent domain. On October 1, 1857, city officials in New York reported that the last holdouts living on land that was to become Central Park had been removed.

A map of Seneca Village fomerly located in today's Central Park in Manhattan. Date: 1857. Source: http://projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/frame.html Author: Egbert Viele.

Eighth Avenue is on the top and Seventh Avenue and the Receiving Reservoir are on the bottom; 82nd Street is on the left and 86th Street is on the right.

"If the weather is nice, you might want to cross Central Park West when you leave the society. You can walk north eight blocks and enter Central Park at 85th Street. You will see a playground with benches on your right.

At the ginkgo tree, cross the road and go up the hill. Spector Playground is on your left. Walk farther and look down. You can see what appears to be a stone outcropping. It appears to be the corner of a foundation. This is believed to be what is left of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church." - The New York Times By Douglas Martin. January 31, 1997.

All Angel's Church, which was founded in the 1830s, also served as a community center in Seneca Village. When the community was razed, the Church relocated to the corner of 81st Street and Eleventh Avenue (West End Avenue).

(+sookie tex) the creator of this All Angels Church Clip Art image, hereby release them into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible, I grant any entity the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

If This All Angels Church Clip Art image is subject to copyright in your jurisdiction, i (+sookie tex) the copyright holder have irrevocably released all rights to it, allowing it to be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, built upon, or otherwise exploited in any way by anyone for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, with or without attribution of the author, as if in the public domain.