NYC BLACK HISTORY: Before Central Park There Was Seneca Village

NEW YORK CITY: Founded in 1825, Seneca Village was once home to nearly 200 residents.

Some villagers were German and Irish American.

But most of them were Black.

Nestled in a 40-acre wide strip of Central Park’s Upper West Side, Seneca Village was the largest community of free African-American landowners in pre-Civil War New York.

By 1855, nearly half of them owned their own homes. They had a school, churches, gardens and voting rights because they owned land.

But in 1857, Seneca Village was torn down when the city decided it wanted to create a park.

Villagers were essentially forced to leave.

Signs erected by the Central Park Conservancy help to commemorate the village and its vibrant community.

Seneca Village, which is not a National or New York historical landmark, but some are now proposing that it should be.