*L*E*G*A*C*Y*
Done.
Seneca Village was a small village in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded by free black people[citation needed]. Seneca Village existed from 1825 through 1857, when it was torn down for the construction of Central Park.
The village was the first significant community of African American property owners on Manhattan, and also came to be inhabited by several other minorities, including Irish and German immigrants. The village was located on about 5 acres (20,000 m2) between where 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues[1] would now intersect, an area now covered by Central Park. A stone outcropping near the 85th Street entrace to Central Park is believed to be part of a foundation of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.[2]
Blacks first came to the area in 1825, when John Whitehead, a deliveryman, began selling off parcels of his farm. Andrew Williams first bought three lots for $125. By 1832, about 25 more lots were sold to African Americans.[6] Epiphany Davis, a laborer and trustee of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, bought 12 lots for $578 the same day. The church itself then bought 6 lots. Between 1825 and 1832, real estate records show, the Whiteheads sold at least 24 land parcels to black families.[4] Seneca Village became a gathering place after one main historical event: slavery coming to an end in New York State on July 4, 1827.
In the early 19th century, Seneca village attracted many other ethnic groups for different reasons. Seneca Village grew in the 1830s when people from a community called York Hill were forced to move after a government-enforced eviction; the York Hill land was used to build a basin for the Croton Distributing Reservoir.
Later during the potato famine in Ireland many Irish residents came to live in Seneca Village[citation needed]. The village grew by 30 percent during this time.[3] Both African Americans and Irish immigrants were marginalized and faced discrimination throughout the city. Remarkably, despite their social and racial conflicts elsewhere, the Irish and African-Americans in Seneca Village chose to live in close proximity to each other.[7]
As the campaign to create Central Park moved forward park advocates and the media began to describe Seneca Village and other communities in this area as "shantytowns" and the residents there as "squatters". The village was razed for park construction. Residents were offered $2,335 for their property.[2] Members of the community fought to retain their land.[10] For two years, residents resisted the police as they petitioned the courts to save their homes, churches, and schools. Some villagers were violently evicted in 1855.[2] However, in the summer of 1856, Mayor Fernando Wood prevailed and residents of Seneca Village were given final notice. In 1857, the city government acquired all private property within Seneca Village through eminent domain. On October 1, 1857, city officials in New York reported that the last holdouts living on land that was to become Central Park had been removed.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village#cite_note-11
A newspaper account at the time suggested that Seneca Village would “not be forgotten…[as] many a brilliant and stirring fight was had during the campaign. But the supremacy of the law was upheld by the policeman’s bludgeons.”[6] There are few records of where residents went after their eviction and the community was destroyed.[7]
After its destruction, public memory of Seneca Village disappeared for over a century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village
Sad stuff.
The village was the first significant community of African American property owners on Manhattan, and also came to be inhabited by several other minorities, including Irish and German immigrants. The village was located on about 5 acres (20,000 m2) between where 82nd and 89th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues[1] would now intersect, an area now covered by Central Park. A stone outcropping near the 85th Street entrace to Central Park is believed to be part of a foundation of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.[2]
Blacks first came to the area in 1825, when John Whitehead, a deliveryman, began selling off parcels of his farm. Andrew Williams first bought three lots for $125. By 1832, about 25 more lots were sold to African Americans.[6] Epiphany Davis, a laborer and trustee of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, bought 12 lots for $578 the same day. The church itself then bought 6 lots. Between 1825 and 1832, real estate records show, the Whiteheads sold at least 24 land parcels to black families.[4] Seneca Village became a gathering place after one main historical event: slavery coming to an end in New York State on July 4, 1827.
In the early 19th century, Seneca village attracted many other ethnic groups for different reasons. Seneca Village grew in the 1830s when people from a community called York Hill were forced to move after a government-enforced eviction; the York Hill land was used to build a basin for the Croton Distributing Reservoir.
Later during the potato famine in Ireland many Irish residents came to live in Seneca Village[citation needed]. The village grew by 30 percent during this time.[3] Both African Americans and Irish immigrants were marginalized and faced discrimination throughout the city. Remarkably, despite their social and racial conflicts elsewhere, the Irish and African-Americans in Seneca Village chose to live in close proximity to each other.[7]
As the campaign to create Central Park moved forward park advocates and the media began to describe Seneca Village and other communities in this area as "shantytowns" and the residents there as "squatters". The village was razed for park construction. Residents were offered $2,335 for their property.[2] Members of the community fought to retain their land.[10] For two years, residents resisted the police as they petitioned the courts to save their homes, churches, and schools. Some villagers were violently evicted in 1855.[2] However, in the summer of 1856, Mayor Fernando Wood prevailed and residents of Seneca Village were given final notice. In 1857, the city government acquired all private property within Seneca Village through eminent domain. On October 1, 1857, city officials in New York reported that the last holdouts living on land that was to become Central Park had been removed.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village#cite_note-11
A newspaper account at the time suggested that Seneca Village would “not be forgotten…[as] many a brilliant and stirring fight was had during the campaign. But the supremacy of the law was upheld by the policeman’s bludgeons.”[6] There are few records of where residents went after their eviction and the community was destroyed.[7]
After its destruction, public memory of Seneca Village disappeared for over a century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village
Sad stuff.
