How did Central Park come to be?
Central Park—arguably the most famous park in the world—wasn't even supposed to exist? It wasn't in the original plan for New York City. At first, the entire city was a small settlement in the lower reaches of Manhattan. And almost no one lived on that part of the island. It was called "common land." And practically no one needed it—it was mostly swampland. Then New York City started growing. They decided to cover the entire island with a grid of streets (I've already written about this in Reels; you can take a look). Here's the plan for how New York City was supposed to be developed. And there's no Central Park there. But living in such dense development was difficult. Tons of people, garbage, dirty water. And then the authorities decided people needed a little nature. They passed a whole law preventing development on that entire area. And actually, that's a lot of land. For example, this is what Central Park in Moscow would look like. And for the sake of the park, all the nature here was completely redesigned. It's all part of a larger design project. Every tree, every stone, and every bush was placed there specifically. There's a sad detail: back then, the site of Central Park was just a newly formed neighborhood, founded by the Black community. Those who had recently been enslaved built churches, schools, and homes here. But for the sake of a massive project, they were ordered to vacate the land on a very short notice. All the buildings were torn down. And now, the land, once unclaimed, has become one of the most famous spots in the world. Apartments with a view of Central Park cost tens of millions of dollars. And despite the fact that this is a huge piece of land, which could fetch a fortune, this park will never be developed.