“VIEW OF YHE DAKOTA FROM CENTRAL PARK” ca. 1890

Medium: Photograph - Photography

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Photograph by J.S. Johnston. (Photo by The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)

“A colored flag would signal that the ice was thick enough.”

“Dutch and English New Yorkers glided on the frozen ponds and streams of Lower Manhattan in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the history of organized ice skating in New York City (and the nation) begins in Central Park in 1858. That year, before the Park itself was entirely finished, The Lake welcomed skaters. In fact, ice skating was integral to Olmstead and Vaux’s vision for Central Park: On their Greensward Plan, the design that won them the commission to design Central Park, they labeled The Lake “The Skating Pond.” To make sure The Lake was the perfect site to skate, it was specially drained to the optimal level for freezing every year.”

6sqft