Long before Central Park became New York City’s most iconic green space, its land was home to a thriving, self-sufficient settlement known as Seneca Village. Founded in 1825 by free African Americans, the community represented one of the first significant concentrations of Black property ownership in Manhattan. At its height, it was home to about 225 residents, multiple churches, schools, and cemeteries. But by 1857, the entire village was destroyed through eminent domain to make way for Central Park. For more than a century, Seneca Village was all but erased from history.
Seneca Village was established on land purchased from John Whitehead, a white farmer who began selling off lots in 1825. The first recorded African American buyer was Andrew Williams, a 25-year-old shoeshiner who purchased three lots for $125. That same week, trustee Epiphany Davis of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church acquired twelve lots, and soon after, the church itself purchased additional land. These early acquisitions laid the foundation for a settlement where Black New Yorkers could own property, vote, and escape the intense racial hostility of downtown Manhattan.
Following the abolition of slavery in New York State in 1827, more African Americans moved to Seneca Village. By the 1830s, displaced residents from nearby areas, also joined the community. Later, waves of Irish and German immigrants, many fleeing famine and economic hardship, settled alongside Black residents, creating a rare example of a racially and ethnically mixed community in the mid-19th century.
By 1855, Seneca Village had 52 houses, with some built on stone foundations. Archaeological evidence suggests that the homes were well-built and stable, contradicting claims that the area was a “shantytown.” Many residents grew vegetables in gardens, raised livestock, and relied on natural resources like Tanner’s Spring for fresh water and the Hudson River for fishing.
The village was rich in institutions. It supported three churches and In addition, the village contained three cemeteries and served as a refuge during periods of racial unrest, such as the anti-abolitionist riots of 1834.
Census and tax records show that residents worked a range of jobs common to the time, from laborers and domestics to skilled trades. Contrary to the lies that would later appear in newspapers, many lived in two–story houses rather than shanties.
Owning property was especially significant for Black New Yorkers because state law required $250 in property ownership to qualify for voting rights. Out of 13,000 African Americans in New York City in 1845, only about 100 were eligible to vote, 10 of them lived in Seneca Village.
As New York’s population exploded in the 1840s and 1850s, civic leaders rallied around plans for a large public park in Manhattan. In 1853, the state legislature approved the creation of Central Park, designating over 700 acres for the project, including the land where Seneca Village stood.
The city invoked eminent domain, a law that allowed it to seize private land for public use. Officials argued that the residents were squatters living in “shanties,” dismissing the settlement’s residents as “squatters,” “vagabonds,”and the area as a slum unworthy of saving.
In reality, more than half of Seneca Village’s Black residents owned their property, five times the citywide rate of property ownership. Yet the narrative of a lawless “shantytown” persisted, paving the way for eviction.
Between 1855 and 1857, residents fought eviction through lawsuits and protests, but ultimately, the city prevailed. While some compensation was provided, it was often inadequate, and the uprooting of families was both traumatic and permanent. By October 1857, the last residents were forced out, and their homes were destroyed to clear space for Central Park.
Although city records documented the forced acquisitions, the story of Seneca Village faded from public memory for generations. That began to change in the 1990s, when historians and archaeologists stitched together maps, deeds, and census entries to reconstruct the community.
In 2011, a team led by the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History, with scholars from Columbia University and CUNY, excavated parts of the site, recovering thousands of artifacts, from dishes and footwear to building materials, that offered a glimpse into everyday life in the village. These findings helped restore Seneca Village to its rightful place in New York’s story.
In 2001, a plaque was installed in Central Park to commemorate the site. In 2019, the “Discover Seneca Village” outdoor exhibit placed markers across the landscape to identify where homes, churches, and gardens once stood. The same year, plans were announced for a statue honoring the Lyons family, prominent landowners in the village.
Seneca Village has also inspired cultural works, including Marilyn Nelson’s poetry collection My Seneca Village (2015), Keith Josef Adkins’s play The People Before the Park (2015), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Before Yesterday We Could Fly (2021), an Afrofuturist exhibit reimagining what life in the community might have become had it survived.
Sources:
https://www.centralparknyc.org/articles/seneca-village
https://www.mcny.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/LyonsFamily.pdf
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=216962
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/arts/lyons-seneca-village-monument.html
