In 1853, the New York State Legislature enacted a law that set aside 775 acres of land in Manhattan-from 59th to 106th Streets, between Fifth and Eighth Avenues-to create the country’s first major landscaped public park.
Records also show that most children who lived in Seneca Village attended school.ĭuring the early 1850s, the City began planning for a large municipal park to counter unhealthful urban conditions and provide space for recreation. Census records show that residents were employed, with African-Americans typically employed as laborers and in service jobs, the main options for them at the time. While some residents lived in shanties and in crowded conditions, most lived in two-story homes. The fact that many residents were property owners contradicts some common misperceptions during the mid-19th century that the people living on the land slated for the Park were poor squatters living in shanties.
Of the 100 black New Yorkers eligible to vote in 1845, 10 lived in Seneca Village. In 1821, New York State required African-American men to own at least $250 in property and hold residency for at least three years to be able to vote. With property ownership came other rights not commonly held by African-Americans in the City-namely, the right to vote. It also would have provided an escape from the unhealthy and crowded conditions of the City, and access to more space both inside and outside the home.Ĭompared to other African-Americans living in New York, residents of Seneca Village seem to have been more stable and prosperous-by 1855, approximately half of them owned their own homes. Seneca Village’s remote location likely provided a refuge from this climate.
Despite New York State’s abolition of slavery in 1827, discrimination was still prevalent throughout New York City, and severely limited the lives of African-Americans. By the mid-1850s, Seneca Village comprised 50 homes and three churches, as well as burial grounds, and a school for African-American students.įor African-Americans, Seneca Village offered the opportunity to live in an autonomous community far from the densely populated downtown. A nearby spring, known as Tanner’s Spring, provided a water source. There is some evidence that residents had gardens and raised livestock in Seneca Village, and the nearby Hudson River was a likely source of fishing for the community.