OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 109 



submitted for their consideration. The result of these deliberations was the adoption 

 of the general features of the plan prepared by Engineer-in-Chief Viele. 



The Legislature passed on April 17, 1857, a law creating a Board of Commissioners 

 to consist of eleven members named and styled "The Commissioners of the Central Park," 

 and conferring upon them all the power and authority over the lands included in the 

 Central Park, hitherto possessed by the Common Council. 



The Commissioners were named and appointed for five years, and consisted of the 

 following gentlemen: Robert J. Dillon, James E. Cooley, Charles H. Russell, John F. 

 Butterworth, John A. C. Gray, Waldo Hutchins, Thomas E. Field, Andrew H. Green, 

 Charles W. Elliot, William R. Strong, and James Hogg. Andrew H. Green was elected 

 first President of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park. The first work done 

 were preliminary surveys of the Park completed at the beginning of 1858. 



The Commission offered prizes for competition in preparing designs for the Central 

 Park, to be submitted not later than April i, 1858. The competing plans were publicly 

 exhibited for several weeks. 



The first prize of two thousand dollars was awarded to the design subsequently 

 adopted as the plan of the Park. This plan — the Greensward Plan — was prepared by 

 Messrs. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Mr. Olmsted was appointed 

 Architect-in-chief of the Park, and Mr. Vaux, consulting Architect. 



It was not until about the first of June, 1858, that a force could be organized and 

 operations commenced on the park, with proper regard to efficiency and economy of 

 labor. 



It was necessary, first, to drain the lower part of the park below the old reservoir; 

 then the drives were constructed and the transverse roads, so as to enable the public to 

 cross the park. 



In the meantime there was a law passed in the Legislature, dated April 2, 1859, adding 

 the area between the Central Park (which reached as far as io6th Street), Fifth Avenue, 

 iioth Street, and Eighth Avenue to the Central Park, and commissioners were appointed 

 to appraise the lands involved. 



By the end of the year i860, the lower part of the park below 79th Street was mainly 

 completed, and from 79th Street to 86th Street on the west side of the old reservoir was 

 also well advanced. 



At the opening of the year 1861, the Board was clear in its general view of the expedi- 

 ency of reducing the amount of its expenditures — consequently less work was done, though 

 the operations were not suspended, as the conditions of the park were such as to make 

 suspension of all the work inadmissible. 



The demand for the army had withdrawn a large population from the city, which, 

 with other causes, had occasioned a general nominal increase in the rate of wages. 



Still, the end of 1862 found three transverse road arches completed, and work on 

 other bridges and arches completed or started. Considerable work was done on the terrace. 

 Water-supply below I02d Street was completed and brought into use throughout the 

 lower park. There were seventy-eight miles of carriage drives open at this time, forty-six 

 of bridle roads, and one hundred and eighty-five miles of walks. 



This shows how energetically the work had progressed under the administration 

 of Mr. Andrew H. Green and the general supervision of Frederick Law Olmsted and 

 Calvert Vaux, who acted as Architect-in-chief and Consulting Architect respectively. 



