Harlem Meer is a man-made lake at the northeast corner of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

. It lies west of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

, south of 110th Street, and north of the

Conservatory Garden The Conservatory Garden is a formal garden near the northeastern corner of Central Park in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Comprising , it is the only formal garden in Central Park. Conservatory Garden takes its name from a conservatory that ...

, near the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

and

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

neighborhoods of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The lake, as originally constructed, was , but after the completion in 1966 of the Lasker skating rink and swimming pool, it was reduced to approximately in area and approximately in circumference.

History

Before Central Park

Harlem Meer was constructed at the confluence of three streams: first, Harlem Creek flowing from the north, just west of Fifth Avenue; second, an unnamed stream flowing from the west along what would become 110th Street; and third, Montayne's Rivulet, a stream flowing down a ravine from the southwest (the only one of the three still in existence). At this confluence with its two tributaries, Harlem Creek became a semi-brackish, partly tidal wetland, flowing in an easterly direction, slowly draining into the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...

. Prior to the park's creation, the wetland separated the suburb of

to the north from the lower part of

island. To avoid the marsh, the

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

diverged to the northwest, entering the future park (near what is now Fifth Avenue and 97th Street), crossing

McGowan's Pass McGowan's Pass (sometimes spelled "McGown's") is a topographical feature of Central Park in New York City, just west of Fifth Avenue and north of 102nd Street. It has been incorporated into the park's East Drive since the early 1860s. A steep ...

to the future site of the lake, exiting the future park (near what is now 110th Street and Lenox Avenue) before continuing on to King's Bridge and points north. The hills to the south and west of Harlem Meer were once the site of a series of connected military fortifications, erected during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

in anticipation of a British invasion from the north, including (from west to east) the

Blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

Fort Fish Fort Fish was an earthworks fortification within what is now Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. The fort was located on East Drive near 105th Street, directly across from the Central Park Conservancy's composting area, which was once a gi ...

Nutter's Battery Nutter's Battery is a scenic overlook in the North Woods (Central Park), North Woods of Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, overlooking the Harlem Meer to the north. The battery was built during the War of 1812 as a small part of an extensi ...

, a second blockhouse at McGowan's Pass, and

Fort Clinton Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776. Protecting the chain It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, st ...

Name

Harlem Meer (also called "Harlem Lake" in its early days) took the first part of its name from the adjacent neighborhood of

, and the second from the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

word for "lake". For example,

Haarlemmermeer Haarlemmermeer () is a municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The name Haarlemmermeer means ' Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of w ...

, the name of a municipality in the Netherlands, loosely translates to English as "the land reclaimed from Harlem Lake."

Creation

Harlem Meer was built within the "Extension," the section of Central Park from 106th to 110th streets that was added to the original park acreage in 1863. Thus, the lake's creation required that the park commissioners approve amendments to the original park plan. Most of the work was carried out by park comptroller

Andrew Haswell Green Andrew Haswell Green (October 6, 1820 – November 13, 1903) was a lawyer, New York City planner, and civic leader. He is considered "the Father of Greater New York," and is responsible for Central Park, the New York Public Library, the Bronx ...

and his superintending engineer William H. Grant, after the park's principal designers,

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

and

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

, had resigned (Olmsted in 1862; Vaux in 1863), and before they were rehired in mid-1865. In his report of January 1, 1866, Grant wrote:

During the last two years the portion of the Park north of 102d street, and including what is known as the "Extension," has chiefly engaged urattention, being the district that was last entered upon in the general work of improvement. This is now mainly completed. Having been entrusted with the exercise of a liberal discretion in the execution of this part of the work, since the retirement of Mr. F.L. Olmsted from its general direction, I trust the work is not inharmonious with the work at large.

In the course of the transformation of Montayne's Rivulet from 1862 to 1866, the part of the stream that stood outside the park was diverted into the sewer system and buried beneath land development, whereas the part inside the park was connected (as was the rest of the park) to the Croton water system. Some of the water for the new stream came from the drainage system of the North Meadow, but most came from the overflow of the newly completed Croton Reservoir (now the Onassis Reservoir) which was diverted from the reservoir's north gatehouse via a 48" underground conduit to a small grotto at the western park boundary near 102nd street, and made to look like a natural spring. The reconstructed stream was embellished with several new features: * The Pool, a small body of water at the west side of the park (excavated in 1862 and watered in the summer of 1863). * Glen Span Arch, a 63 foot long bridge spanning the stream just east of the Pool (completed in 1865). * The Loch, a small body of water east of the Pool (completed and watered in December 1865). Over time, the Loch has disappeared; nowadays, park administrators apply the name to the entire length of the stream connecting the Pool to the Harlem Meer, a misnomer, but easier to pronounce than the stream's previous, Francophonic name. * Huddlestone Arch, a bridge "of a massive rustic description" built at a curve of the park's East Drive, spanning the stream at the bottom of the ravine (completed in 1865). * Harlem Meer (completed in 1866). Creation of the new lake required not only the excavation of 109,500 cubic yards of "earth, sand, and gravel," but also the introduction of 98,600 cubic yards of fill to raise the shore level to the newly established grades of Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, and to level the eastern portion of the lake bed. Engineer Grant formed the lake bed with a 12" thick clay liner protected by a 6" layer of sand. At the lake's outlet, Grant installed a weir to regulate the water level: 5 feet deep in summer to discourage weeds from growing, but lowered to 3-1/2 feet in winter for the safety of ice-skaters. In its Ninth Annual Report, published in 1866, the park's Board of Commissioners included the following in the list of work completed during the year 1865: "...the excavation of the basin for the larger sheet of water, known as the Harlem Lake, the construction of its banks and dam, and the preparation of the ground to retain the water." In its Tenth Annual Report, published in 1867, the commissioners recorded the completion of the lake during the summer of 1866, noting that, "the surface of the Park at the northeast corner being completed, the water was confined in the Harlem Lake in August last."

Reconstruction (1941–1947)

On September 21, 1941, the Parks Department announced thirteen new construction projects, the largest of which was the reconstruction of the northeastern corner of Central Park, to include a new boathouse designed by architect

Aymar Embury II Aymar Embury II (June 15, 1880 – November 15, 1966) was an American architect. He is best known for commissions from the City of New York from the 1930s through to the 1950s. In this period, Embury frequently worked with Robert Moses in t ...

. According to the department's press release:

...The existing facilities are inadequate to meet the heavy demands of the large adjacent population and the result has been destructive to the natural features. The present layout, a product of the outmoded theory that parks are passive recreation areas designed solely for visual pleasure, must be revamped to fulfill the many recreational needs of all the people of this section of Harlem...A masonry wall about one foot high and a fifteen foot promenade will form the new shore line completely encircling the lake...Benches will be spaced along the lake promenade, the general path system including the trails, and the overlook areas. The main features of the north shore adjacent to 110 Street will be a U-shaped combination brick boat house, comfort station and refreshment concession with a three hundred and sixty foot boat landing platform thirty feet wide. Two new entrances will be cut through the north wall of the park with stone stairways leading to the boat house plaza...Appropriate trees including willows, oaks and dogwoods and various flowering shrubs will be added to the existing planting.

In March 1943, after approximately half of the project had been completed by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

, the Parks Department solicited bids to complete enough of the work to reopen the area to the public. By December, the department had reopened Harlem Meer, deferring unessential work on account of the war effort, promising that, "at the end of the war the 360-foot boat landing platform will be completed, and the combination brick boathouse, comfort station, and refreshment concession will be constructed on the north shore of the Meer." Construction work resumed in 1946, and on August 6, 1947, the Parks Department announced that row boating would resume, the concession to be run out of the new boathouse, "designed in modified victorian style in harmony with the architecture of other structures in the park."

Lasker Rink

In 1962, Mayor Robert Wagner announced that the Parks Department would build the Loula D. Lasker Memorial Swimming Pool and Skating Rink, designed by the architects Fordyce & Hamby Associates. The structure, built over the mouth of the Loch at the Meer's southwest corner, required that the Meer be temporarily drained. From its completion in 1966 until its removal in 2021, Lasker served as an ice skating rink in winter and as Central Park's only swimming pool in summer.

Reconstruction (1984–1993)

In 1973, the 1940s era boathouse was converted into a restaurant known as Across 110th Street, a short-lived enterprise. In 1984, ''The New York Times'' described the building as a "burned-out boathouse." In October that year, Warner LeRoy (operator of

Tavern on the Green Tavern on the Green is an American cuisine restaurant in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, near the intersection of Central Park West and West 66th Street on the Upper West Side. The restaurant, housed in a former sheepfold, has been op ...

) and

Percy Sutton Percy Ellis Sutton (November 24, 1920 – December 26, 2009) was an American political and business leader. An activist in the Civil Rights Movement and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was ...

(a former Manhattan borough president) began negotiating with the Parks Department to install a restaurant in the boathouse. The intent, according to Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, was to attract more people to the Meer. However, the deal fell through and by 1986, the ''Times'' reported that the Parks Department and Harlem community leaders agreed that "the old building should be demolished and a new one put up." During the years 1988–1993, the

Central Park Conservancy The Central Park Conservancy is a private, nonprofit park conservancy that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York and NYC Parks. The conservancy employs most maintenance and operations staff in the park. It effectively ...

restored Harlem Meer. They removed the concrete perimeter curb, replacing it with a more natural shoreline, and dredged of sediment and debris. On the north shore, the Conservancy built the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, the first information center at the north end of Central Park. The building was designed by the architects Buttrick White & Burtis in a style intended to “reinforce the romantic landscape design.” A proposed new restaurant building, three times the size of the Discovery Center and planned to sit just to the east of it, was never built. Harlem_Meer_(19684366623)

Harlem Meer Center

In 2018, the Central Park Conservancy announced a $150 million project to remove the Lasker Rink and replace it with a new facility to be named Harlem Meer Center. The new facility is scheduled to be completed in 2024. As part of the plan, the existing facility at the southwest end of the rink was demolished to be replaced by a new structure at the southeast side, between the rink and East Drive, built partly underground. A new rink and pool will be built on the site of the old one, but will be smaller on its southeast–northwest axis, allowing the stream feeding into the Meer to flow visibly above ground for the first time since it was buried in a conduit when the Lasker Rink was built.

Wildlife

Catch-and-release Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned ...

fishing along the Meer's banks is a favorite activity for some park visitors. Besides the usual

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

, anglers have reported catches of the predatory Asian northern snakehead, ''

Channa argus The northern snakehead (''Channa argus'') is a species of snakehead fish native to China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea, ranging from the Amur River to Hainan. It has been introduced to other regions, where it is considered invasive. In ...

'', a notoriously invasive species. An island in the southwest corner of the Meer provides a retreat for waterfowl, particularly

black-crowned night heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax''), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and N ...

s. The Meer has a resident population of

muskrats The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and hab ...

Harlem Meer in art, film, and literature

Literature

* Clarence Cook's ''A Description of the New York Central Park'', published in 1869, contains early illustrations of the Harlem Meer by

Albert Fitch Bellows Albert Fitch Bellows (November 20, 1829November 24, 1883), was an American landscape painter of the Hudson River School. Early years Bellows was born at Milford, Massachusetts. He first studied architecture and, in 1849, became the partner of Bo ...

. *

Ron P. Swegman Ron P. Swegman (born August 12, 1967) is an American angler, artist, and author. His work includes the illustrated essay collections ''Philadelphia on the Fly: Tales of an Urban Angler'' (Frank Amato Publications, 2005) and ''Small Fry: The Lure o ...

's collection of fly-fishing essays, ''Small Fry: The Lure of the Little'', includes details of the Meer's history, and chronicles Swegman's experiences while fly-fishing there in the early years of the 21st century.

Film

*The film ''Across 110th Street'' (1972) contains scenes filmed at Harlem Meer. *The film ''Big Daddy'' (1999) contains scenes filmed at Harlem Meer.

Art

* The Duke Ellington Memorial, sculpted by Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997. * Christo's ''

The Gates ''The Gates'' were a group of gates comprising a site-specific work of art by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude, known jointly as Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The artists installed 7,503 vinyl "gates" along of ...

'' installed in Central Park in 2005, from February 12 to the 27th, extended to the Harlem Meer.

Gallery

Maps

File:January 1859 Central Park nypl.digitalcollections.jpg, A Detail of the 1859 Central Park Map, Before the design of the Harlem Meer was completed. File:1868 Vaux ^ Olmstead Map of Central Park, New York City - Geographicus - CentralPark-1869 (Showing Harlem Meer).jpg, A Detail of an 1868 Map of Central Park including the Harlem Meer (aka Harlem Lake). File:1873 Central Park Map nypl.digitalcollections.jpg, A detail of an 1873 Central Park Map, including the Harlem Meer. File:Manhattan, V. 7, Plate No. 66 (Map bounded by W. 110th St., 5th Ave., Central Park West) NYPL1993825.tiff, 1884 Sanborn Insurance Map including the Harlem Meer (aka Harlem Lake). File:Central Park 1902 Insurance Map.jpg, 1902 Sanborn Insurance Map including the Harlem Meer (aka Harlem Lake). File:1904 IRT NYC Subwaymap.jpg, The 1904 subway map shows the IRT subway tunnel just west of Harlem Meer. File:McGown's pass and vicinity - a sketch of the most interesting scenic and historic section of Central Park in the city of New York (1905) (14761627746).jpg, A 1905 map showing the location of fortifications from the War of 1812, built near Harlem Meer. File:Central Park NYC Sanborn Map 1912-1951.jpg, The 1951 Sanborn Map shows the Meer after the boathouse was built in 1947 on the north shore, but before construction of the Lasker Rink in 1966.

Historical drawings and photographs

File:NYC-CentralPark (1869) p182 Museum and Restaurant from Harlemer Meer.jpg, An 1869 View of the Harlem Meer Looking South File:NYC-CentralPark (1869) p184 The Harlemer Meer.jpg, An 1869 View from the Northwest Corner of the Meer File:NYC-CentralPark (1869) p185 Harlem Meer and Old Fortifications with Restaurant.jpg, An 1869 View from the Northeast Corner of the Meer File:Harlem Meer Comfort Station.jpg, The Comfort Station at Harlem Meer, near the Sixth Avenue entrance, appears on park maps as early as 1866, and as late as 1944.https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-5ba3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 File:Harlem Meer Ice Skating.jpeg, Ice-skating on Harlem Meer in 1906.

Contemporary photographs

File:Dana Discovery Center Entrance.JPG, Fish and Fowl medallion over the Dana Discovery Center entrance (2005). File:Central Park New York October 2016 001.jpg, A view from the northwest corner of Harlem Meer (2016). File:Central Park New York October 2016 007.jpg, A view from the south shore of Harlem Meer (2016). File:Dana Center Detail.jpg, Detail of North Facade of the Dana Discovery Center (2017). File:Central Park May 2019 129.jpg, A view from the southwest corner of Harlem Meer (2019). File:Central Park May 2019 116.jpg, Huddlestone Arch on the East Drive, just south of Harlem Meer (2019). File:Central Park May 2019 73.jpg, Man-made spring that feeds water into Harlem Meer from the North Meadow drainage system (2019). File:Canada geese fly over Central Park footpath to Harlem Meer 05.jpg, Canada goose flying into the Meer, looking east toward the Dana Discovery Center (2020). File:Charles A. Dana Discovery Center at Harlem Meer in Central Park 05.jpg, A view of the Dana Discovery Center from the northwest (2020). File:Across Harlem Meer March 2021 05.jpg, Dana Discovery Center seen from the southwest (2021).

References

Notes

Citations

External links

Central Park Conservancy: Harlem Meer
{{authority control Central Park Lakes of New York (state) Lakes of Manhattan