io8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



more suitable for the purpose of a public park than that designated in the act then recently 

 passed by the Legislature. 



This committee made a lengthy and detailed report, setting forth the advantages 

 of the piece of ground lying between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, 59th and io6th Streets, 

 for the purpose indicated, over that known as Jones' Woods. A resolution to this effect 

 was passed by the Board and, being concurred in, application was made to the Legislature 

 for the passage of an act authorizing the appointment of Commissioners of Estimate and 

 Assessment, for the purpose of taking the ground referred to for a public park. 



Accordingly the Legislature passed, on the 23d of July, 1853, an act for taking the 

 ground now known as the Central Park. The Supreme Court, upon the application of the 

 counsel to the corporation, appointed, on the 17th of November, 1853, five Commissioners 

 of Estimate and Assessment, to take the land for Central Park. 



These Commissioners completed their labors on the 2d of July, 1855, and their report 

 was confirmed on the 5th of February, 1856. On the same day the Comptroller communi- 

 cated to the Common Council the draft of an ordinance for the payment of damages awarded 

 by the Commissioners. 



During the period which elapsed between the appointment of Commissioners and the 

 confirmation of their report, efforts were made to reduce the limits of the park. Petitions 

 were sent to the Common Council to that effect by various individuals whose motives 

 were as numerous as the names appended to the petitions. 



A committee was appointed to examine the subject, which committee made a minority 

 and a majority report. The following year a resolution passed both Boards to petition the 

 Legislature to cut off a certain portion of the park, by which a few property holders would 

 have been benefited, and the park in reality destroyed. The resolution was promptly 

 vetoed by the Mayor, Hon. Fernando Wood. This would seem to have put an end to all 

 open opposition; but a secret influence appears to have been steadily at work, for reasons 

 known only to a few, to retard the progress of this great improvement. 



The Common Council adopted, on the 19th of May, an ordinance creating the Mayor 

 and Street Commissioner Commissioners of Central Park, with power to employ the neces- 

 sary persons to execute the repeatedly expressed wishes of the people, and appropriating 

 certain funds to carry out the provisions of the ordinance. 



This Board entered at once upon the discharge of their duties. Feeling the importance 

 of the subject and the responsibilities devolving upon them, they determined, before 

 adopting any definite course of action, to seek the advice of certain well-known citizens, 

 whose public reputation, peculiar avocations, and cultivated taste gave assurance that 

 their opinions would possess the force of a clear, unbiased judgment. Accordingly, invi- 

 tations were extended to Washington Irving, George Bancroft, James E. Cooley, Charles 

 F. Briggs, James Phalen, C. A. Dana, and Stewart Brown to attend the meetings of the 

 Commissioners and form a consulting Board for the purpose of discussing a fine of conduct 

 to be pursued, and to determine upon the merits of such plans or propositions as might be 

 laid before them, with the view of adopting a permanent design for the improvement 

 of the park. 



These gentlemen met on the 29th of May, 1856, organized by electing Washington 

 Irving as President of the Board, and settled the preliminaries for carrying into effect the 

 objects of the Commission. 



Subsequently, various plans were laid before them, and a variety of views and opinions 



