Seward Park is a public park and

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

neighborhood 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 ...

. Located north of East Broadway and east of

Essex Street Essex Street is a north-south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, the ...

, it is in size and is the first

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

ly built

in the United States.

History

The park is named for

William Henry Seward William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...

, a

U.S. Senator from New York Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789. The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term (Senators who were elected regularly before th ...

who served from 1849 to 1861 and later went on to be Secretary of State in the Lincoln administration. The park was built on a condemned piece of property purchased in 1897. New York City lacked the funds to do anything with it, so the Outdoor Recreation League (ORL), a playground and recreation advocacy group that built playgrounds in the undeveloped parks using temporary facilities and equipment, built it as the first permanent, municipally built playground in the country. Opened on October 17, 1903, it was built with

cinder Cinder is an alternate term for scoria. Cinder or Cinders may also refer to: In computing *Cinder (programming library), a C++ programming library for visualization *Cinder, OpenStack's block storage component * Cyber Insider Threat, CINDER, a ...

surfacing, fences, a recreation pavilion, and children's play and gymnastic equipment. A large running track encircled the play area and children's garden. The Seward Park Branch of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

was built in the southeastern part of the park, opening on November 11, 1909. In the 1930s and 1940s, the park was reconstructed, and a piece of land was returned to the city. The Schiff Fountain, donated by Jacob H. Schiff, was moved from a nearby park and placed in the park. In 1999, Seward Park was renovated again, and some of the original 1903 plans were restored. Seward Park also holds one of the few statues in the U.S. dedicated to

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

, the

sled dog A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas ...

who led the most treacherous route of the

1925 serum run to Nome The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy and The Serum Run, was a transport of diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled relay across the U.S. territory of Alaska by 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs across in days, saving ...

, Alaska.

References

Notes

External links

*
A Flickr Photography Group of the Seward Park NY area
Buildings and structures completed in 1903 Parks in Manhattan Urban public parks Lower East Side Protected areas established in 1903 1903 establishments in New York City {{Manhattan-geo-stub

History

See also

References

External links