{"id":1156,"date":"2019-12-21T23:52:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2019-12-22T21:43:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T02:43:43","slug":"the-bowling-green-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/2019\/12\/21\/the-bowling-green-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bowling Green"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"In 1733 Bowling Green was officially designated as a park by the City of New York. Its history goes back far longer though, as it is the oldest park in the City. The park\u2019s patrons have varied greatly over the years, from the Native Americans, to the Dutch, to the British colonists. The park has remained historically relevant by being host to several key events in the City\u2019s history, such as the selling of \u201cManhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626.\u201d Dutch settlers used the Bowling Green as \u201ca parade ground, meeting place, and cattle market.\u201d The versatility of this historic park cemented its place in the creation of New York City and was witness to the nation\u2019s critical development from its birth to the present.<\/p>\n

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The Bowling Green was the home of the infamous statue of King George III for four years before the start of the American revolution. The statue, erected in 1771, became an emblem of the oppressive nature of the British government. As a result, citizens of New York tore down the statue in 1776 \u201cafter the first public reading in New York of the Declaration of Independence,\u201d eventually melting the statue and transforming the metal into ammunition that was fired at the British forces. Currently, the Bowling Green is surrounded by the City’s oldest fence. The original piece featured crowns atop the pikes of the fence, but these were knocked and sawed off by citizens along with the removal of the King George III statue, which can be seen in the photo on the left.<\/p>\n

Bowling Green later became the center of New York\u2019s most popular residential area, where residents \u201ccould plant and tend the area in return for the exclusive use of the park,\u201d which helped build the favorable reputation of the park and increased public use after a second transition from residential to commercial properties. The construction of the New York City subway impeded the growth and use of the park as a public space for \u201cthe first decade of the 20th<\/sup> century\u201d until the rebuilding of the park around 1939. On April 6, 1939, the city held a \u201crededication ceremony,\u201d which included a \u201cdemonstration of colonial-era lawn bowling,\u201d after which the park was named.<\/p>\n

\"\"One of the most notable and famous features of the park is the life-size sculpture of a bull placed at the northern tip of the park, named the Charging Bull. Sculptor Arturo DiModica explains that the bronze statue \u201crepresents \u2018the strength, power and hope of the American people for the future,\u2019\u201d while many people associate the bull with the wealth and prosperity of Wall Street. Previously featured and standing in opposition of the bull was a statue called \u201cThe Girl.\u201d She, in response to the interpretation of the Bull as representative of Wall Street, faces off the power and domineering aspect of the upper class businessmen associated with Wall Street.<\/p>\n

The Bowling Green of New York City, the oldest and one of the most visited parks of the city, played a significant role in the development of the city and the nation as a whole. Its existence proves the resilience of the American people and the fortitude of our nation.<\/p>\n

Sources: https:\/\/www.nycgovparks.org\/parks\/bowling-green<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1733 Bowling Green was officially designated as a park by the City of New York. Its history goes back far longer though, as it is the oldest park in the City. The park\u2019s patrons have varied greatly over the years, from the Native Americans, to the Dutch, to the British colonists. The park has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4025,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-places-and-landmarks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4025"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/litandthecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}