When
tourists disembark from their cruise to Liberty and Ellis Islands, many walk
through Battery Park to the Bowling Green subway station. But did you know that the Bowling Green site
was originally Native American Council grounds, upon which Dutch Governor Peter
Minuit sealed the deal for the purchase of Manhattan in 1626?
For a time, the space was a busy cattle
market and parade ground but by the late 1700s, Bowling Green was redeveloped
for public entertainment, with paved walkways and the namesake space for lawn
bowls.
In 1773, the British Government
erected a lead statue of King George III in the park, and New Yorkers with
anti-British tendencies repeatedly defaced it, leading to the city’s first
anti-graffiti and anti-vandalism laws.
But tensions really boiled
over after the Declaration of Independence was read to Washington’s troops at
City Hall in 1776. Patriotic protesters
charged across to Bowling Green, heaved the epic symbol of Britain off its
stone foundations, and hacked the statue into large pieces. It was never replaced.
In the years that followed, lavish residences
were built on the site, including a mansion to house President George Washington,
before the US capital moved to Philadelphia and took the First Family with
it. By 1850, as residents began moving
further uptown, the park was made public space again.
In 1989, the famous bronze Charging Bull sculpture was installed at
the northern tip of the Bowling Green, having been relocated there from its
original (and illegal) spot on Wall Street.
While lawn bowls and civil protests are a thing of the past, when the sun is shining on modern-day New York, you can find Gordon Gecko wannabes enjoying outdoor lunches in
Bowling Green park, within the confines of the original 18th Century fencing that
still surrounds it.
