Marcus Garvey Park (formerly and also named Mount Morris Park) is a park on the border between 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 ...

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 ...

. The park, centered on a massive and steep outcropping of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

, interrupts the flow 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 ...

traffic, which is routed around the park via Mount Morris Park West. The park is also bounded by 120th Street to the south, 124th Street to the north, and

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

to the east. The park was created in 1840 and was originally named for Robert Morris, then the

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

. It was renamed after black activist and businessman

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

in 1973. Marcus Garvey Park contains flat lawns and playing fields surrounding the schist outcropping, as well as the

Harlem Fire Watchtower The Harlem Fire Watchtower, also known as the Mount Morris Fire Watchtower, is the only surviving one of eleven cast-iron watchtowers placed throughout New York City starting in the 1850s. Standing at tall, it was built by Julius H. Kroehl for $2 ...

, a

New York City designated landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

. It is operated and maintained by the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

Etymology

Early Dutch settlers called the hill Slang Berg, or Snake Hill. This name was commonly used before the park was created. When the park was opened to the public in 1840, the park was named after the newly elected

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

, Robert Morris, although the origin of this name is not certain. In 1970, the Community Thing and other

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

groups suggested naming the park for

, a

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, activist for

black nationalism Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves ar ...

, and founder of the

Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-African o ...

(UNIA-ACL). They also asked that a portion of the newly built recreation center contain a Garvey Museum. That August, the African Nationalist Activist Movement called for a Marcus Garvey Day celebration, and ''The New York Times'' noted that the park was already being "called Garvey Memorial Park by some persons." More than 1,000 reportedly attended the celebration in the park. City Council voted to officially rename the park to Marcus Garvey Memorial Park in 1973, during the same vote in which Welfare Island was renamed

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

. The portion of Fifth Avenue in Harlem was also proposed to be renamed Marcus Garvey Boulevard by advocates and the two surrounding Community Boards in 1988, but this effort ultimately failed amid complaints from residents who feared that the street would lose its reputation and lead to confusion.

History

Site

Before the European settlements, the rocky hill of Manhattan mica-schist was used by the Native Americans as a lookout station to see over the entire island. The nearness of the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...

made Slang Berg a militarily strategic location. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

soldiers "mounted a battery" at the hill "to command the mouth of the Harlem River". Despite the 18th-century local prominence of the

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the U ...

family, the name "Mount Morris" for the rocky formation, one of two the Dutch called the Ronde Gerbergte is of 19th-century origin:

One is an abrupt wooded eminence, by modern innovation styled Mount Morris, but which the Dutch called Slang Berg, or Snake Hill, from the reptile tribes that infested its cleft rocks and underbrush even within memory of the living. Southerly from it the
gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
rock crops out in huge, disordered masses. A little way to the right, as seen from McGown's Pass to the south, is ... a lesser height or ridge, and which to the inhabitants came to be known as the Little Hill.

Little Hill was leveled when the right-of-way of the

Park Avenue main line The Park Avenue main line, which consists of the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Park Avenue Viaduct, is a railroad line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running entirely along Park Avenue. The line carries four tracks of the Metro-North R ...

was graded for the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

, following the present route of

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

Construction

On September 4, 1839, a residential square, on land which was formerly a race track for horses, out of of a land grant farm owned by the Benson family, was set aside. The square was relocated from the

Commissioners' Plan of 1811 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan above Houston Street and below 155th Street, which put in place the rectangular grid plan of streets and lots that has defined Manhattan on its march uptown u ...

, which had planned for a square in the neighborhood, in order to take advantage of the rugged topography that stood squarely in the path of

, which was being extended north of

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 ...

. "Mount Morris Square" was officially opened December 1, 1840.

Usage

The new square that existed on paper remained unimproved for decades. It was landscaped in 1869, to a plan by the City surveyor

Ignaz Pilat Ignaz is a male given name, related to the name Ignatius. Notable people with this name include: * Franz Ignaz Beck (1734–1807), German musician * Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704), Bohemian-Austrian musician * Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907), ...

, for which the Central Park Commission allocated $15,000. Walks were graded and the sloping path to the summit was constructed; by the next spring, ''The New York Times'' predicted, "

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the Wor ...

playing, decent picnic parties, and a band of music will attract not only the inhabitants of Harlem, but those of New-York". Blocks of the original rusticated retaining walls, akin to the stonework that surrounds Central Park, can still be seen.

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

has been played in the park since its beginnings, with the Parks Department promoting performances in 1872 and 1893. By 1900 a refreshment booth had been built at the 120th Street and Madison Avenue entrance to the park. A long vehicular tunnel to send Fifth Avenue through the center of the rock was proposed by Manhattan Borough President

Samuel Levy Samuel Levy (March 17, 1876 – March 15, 1953) was an American lawyer, businessman, and public official, who served as Manhattan Borough President. Life and career Levy was born in New York City on March 17, 1876, to a Jewish family. He g ...

and approved by

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

in 1936. It was never built. In the summer of 1969, the park was the site of the

Harlem Cultural Festival The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of events, mainly music concerts, held annually in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, between 1967 and 1969 which celebrated African American music and culture and promoted Black pride. The most successful ...

, a series of concerts that came to be known as "Black Woodstock," and the subject of the 2021 documentary "

Summer of Soul ''Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'' is a 2021 American documentary film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the ...

Features

Apartment building on 124th Street facing Marcus Garvey Park

Watchtower

The

was designed by

Julius H. Kroehl Julius Hermann Kroehl (in German, ''Kröhl'') (1820 – September 9, 1867) was a German American inventor and engineer. He invented and built the first submarine able to dive and resurface on its own, the Sub Marine Explorer, technically adv ...

and erected in 1855–57 of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. The tower was fitted with a 10,000 pound bell cast by Jones & Hitchcock. The watchtower allowed observers to use the natural elevation of the park and the added height of the structure to search for fires, in an era when most buildings were made of wood. The cast-iron tower is the only one to survive of eleven that had been constructed in the city. It was designated as a city landmark in 1967 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1976. The watchtower, still bearing its bell, is located at the center of the park on an artificial plateau called The Acropolis.

Facilities

Facilities in the park include the Pelham Fritz Recreation Center and the Richard Rogers Amphitheater (both located on the west side of the park at 122nd Street), and Swimming Pool (open in summer) on the north side of the park, and two playgrounds designed for infants and disabled children, which were built in 1993. A

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization List of New York City parks This is a list of New York City parks. Three entities manage parks within New York City, each with its own responsibilities: * Federal – US National Park Service (NPS) - both open-space and historic properties * State – New York State Off ...

Charlie Parker Jazz Festival Charlie may refer to: Characters * "Charlie," the head of the Townsend Agency', from the ''Charlie's Angels'' franchise * Charlie, a character on signs for the CharlieCard, a smart card issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority * ...

City Parks Foundation The City Parks Foundation is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer programs in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The organization works in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports ...

Mount Morris Park Historic District Mount Morris Park Historic District was designated a historic district by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1971, and is part of the larger Mount Morris Park neighborhood. It is a large 16-block area in west central Harlem. The b ...

References

Notes Citations

External links

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation: Marcus Garvey Park
{{Authority control Parks in Manhattan Harlem African-American historic places Fifth Avenue 1840 establishments in New York (state)