Seneca Village
Seneca Village was a small village on the island of Manhattan, New York, founded by free blacks. Seneca Village existed from 1825 through 1857, when it was torn down due to 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 English, Irish and German immigrants. The village was located on about 5 acres (20,000 m2) between where 82nd and 89th Streets and 7th and 8th Avenues[1] would now intersect, an area now covered by Central Park.
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[edit] Name Origin
The origin of Seneca Village's name is not exactly known; however, a number of theories have been advanced.
- One theory suggests the word “Seneca” came from a Roman philosopher named Lucius Annaeus Seneca, whose book was often read by African American activists.
- Another theory is that the village was named after a group of Native Americans, the Seneca nation.[2]
- Sara Cedar Miller, the Central Park Conservancy's historian suggests, "It must have been an ethnic slur," a way to simultaneously denigrate Indians and blacks.[3]
- Some suggest it is a derivative of Senegal, a country in West Africa, where many of the people who lived in the village were from.[4]
- Yet other theories suggest the name could also have been used as a code for the underground railroad.[4]
[edit] Mixing Pot
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.[5] 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.[3] 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. The village grew by 30 percent during this time.[2]
[edit] Institutional Buildings
The village had three churches, a school, and several cemeteries. The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Yorkville laid its cornerstone in Seneca Village in 1853. A box put into the cornerstone contained a Bible, a hymn book, the church's rules, a letter with the names of its five trustees and copies of the newspapers, The Tribune and The Sun. Its sister church, known as Mother AME Zion, is in Harlem on 137th Street.
There was a school located in a church where 17-year-old Catherine Thompson taught the village's children.[4]
[edit] 1855 Census
In 1855, a New York State Census found that Seneca Village had 264 residents.[6][7] At this time in New York City's history, most of the city's population lived below 14th Street, and the region above 59th Street was only sporadically developed and was semi-rural or rural in character. No one knows where the residents of Seneca Village resettled. Unfortunately, to date, no living descendants of Seneca Villagers have been found.[8]
[edit] Central Park Destruction
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.[8] Members of the community fought to retain their land.[9] For two years, residents resisted the police as they petitioned the courts to save their homes, churches, and schools. 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.[10]
The residents did not leave peacefully. The villagers were evicted in 1855, some violently.[8] 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.” [5]
[edit] Existing Evidence
Enter Central Park at 85th Street. On your right you will see a playground with benches. At the ginkgo tree, cross the road and go up the hill. Walk past Spector Playground on your left. A little beyond this look down at what appears to be a stone outcropping which is the corner of a foundation. This is believed to be what is left of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.[8]
In 2004 and again in August 2005, the buried remains of the village were the subject of archaeological investigation.[11]
[edit] Sign Erected
On Saturday, February 10, 2001 Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern, State Senator David Paterson, Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and New York Historical Society Executive Director Betsy Gotbaum unveiled the Historical Sign commemorating the site where Seneca Village once stood.[12]
[edit] 2011 Excavation
In the summer of 2011, the Seneca Village Project organized an archaeological dig of the site.[13][14]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/
- ^ a b http://www.harlemlive.org/community/parks/senecavillage/seneca.html
- ^ a b Martin, Douglas (April 7, 1995). "Before Park, Black Village; Students Look Into a Community's History". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/07/nyregion/before-park-black-village-students-look-into-a-community-s-history.html. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
- ^ a b c Williams, Jasmin K. (August 13, 2007). "The Village In The Park". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/classroom_extra/the_village_in_the_park_OxmHmz00olLCD2czIfviQP.
- ^ a b http://maap.columbia.edu/place/32.html
- ^ "Seneca Village". The New York Historical Society. http://projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/frame.html. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
- ^ Shipp, E.R. (August 21, 2005). "The Price of Progress: Eminent domain can lead to pain as well as advancement". Daily News (New York).
- ^ a b c d Martin, Douglas (January 31, 1997). "A Village Dies, A Park Is Born". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/31/arts/a-village-dies-a-park-is-born.html.
- ^ "William's Affidavit". The New York Historical Society. http://projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/affidavit3.html. Retrieved 2006-05-15.
- ^ http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=17187
- ^ http://www.learn.columbia.edu/seneca_village/htm/archaeology.htm
- ^ http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/media_advisories/media_advisories.php?id=8572
- ^ http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/2011.html
- ^ Foderaro, Lisa W. (2011-07-27). "Unearthing an African-American Village Displaced by Central Park". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/nyregion/unearthing-an-african-american-village-displaced-by-central-park.html?_r=1.
[edit] External links
- Copy of the 1855 Census
- Central Park Condemnation Map, 1856
- Seneca Village Project History and Archaeology
- The Naturalist Podcast on Seneca Village, November 2011
[edit] Other references
- Killcoyne, Hope (author) and Majno, Mary Lee (illustrator). "The Lost Village of Central Park." New York: Silver Moon Press, 1999.
- Rosenzweig, Roy and Blackmar, Elizabeth. The Park and the People: A History of Central Park. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1992.
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