Once Upon a Time, People Lived Where Central Park Stands

Before Central Park became the park as we know it?and before people had other bizarre ideas for what to do with some of the park land?people lived there. Ephemeral New York investigates that era of the park's history, during which about 1,600 people inhabited the land that became the park. They lived in small villages?Pigtown, at what is now the southeastern end of the park, was mostly home to Irish immigrants; Seneca Village was located in the 80s on the western side of the park. Even though some of them owned their land, they were told to pay rent to the city beginning in 1856, and some of them were evicted that same year. All of them were evicted by October of 1857.
· The "squatters" who called Central Park home [ENY]
· Central Park coverage [Curbed]