page_title: Morningside Park (Manhattan)
section_title: Initial plans
hierarchical_section_title: Morningside Park (Manhattan) / History / Design and construction / Initial plans
caption_attribution_description: Looking south at Morningside Avenue and 116th Street, Morningside Park, New York City. These Harlem apartments on 115th street can be seen in the background.
context_page_description: Morningside Park is a 30-acre public park in Upper Manhattan, New York City. The park is bounded by 110th Street to the south, 123rd Street to the north, Morningside Avenue to the east, and Morningside Drive to the west. It forms the border between the neighborhoods of Harlem to the east and Morningside Heights to the west. Much of the park is adjacent to Columbia University, located on the western border.
  The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation operates Morningside Park. Its natural geography contains a cliff of Manhattan schist rock that separates the high terrain of Morningside Heights and the low terrain of Harlem. Several rock outcroppings and a man-made ornamental pond and waterfall are located within the park. There are also three sculptures, as well as several athletic fields, playgrounds, and an arboretum.
  The area near Morningside Park was originally known as "Muscota" by the Lenape Native Americans. The park was first proposed by the Central Park commissioners in 1867, and the city commissioned Central Park's designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to produce a design for the park in 1873.
context_section_description: By 1866, the state legislature had given the Central Park commissioners the authority to construct streets on Manhattan's west side from 67th to 155th Streets. In 1867, lead Central Park commissioner Andrew Haswell Green proposed that a park be built in Morningside Heights to avoid the expense of expanding the Manhattan street grid across extremely steep terrain. Green enclosed a map by John J. Serrell that modified the Commissioners' Plan to this extent. The Central Park commissioners passed an act on March 26, 1868, allowing the acquisition of lands for parks, under which 31.238 acres (12.642 ha) was acquired for Morningside Park and 0.018 acres (73 m²) were condemned for $1.33 million.
  In April 1870, the Central Park commission was dissolved and the City of New York obtained jurisdiction over the property. That September, Department of Public Parks (DPP) chief engineer Montgomery A. Kellogg was asked to create a plan for Morningside Park. Over the next year, the city would spend $5,500 to conduct surveys of the proposed parkland. Kellogg presented a design for the park in October 1871. The New York Times said that the park's name was apt for it would "[possess] a sunny exposure in the early morning hours," and described the planned park as having "handsome walks, flower-beds, jetting fountains, [and] a play-ground" among other things. The Times predicted that the planned Morningside Park "will doubtless be a favorite resort for children and invalids." However, Kellogg's plan was rejected by the Board of Commissioners for Public Parks.
  In April 1872, the DPP created a committee to discuss possible upgrades to the street to the park's west side, and Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who had designed Central Park's Greensward Plan, were commissioned to produce a design for the park. In a September 1872 article, the Times predicted that the construction of Morningside Park and its proximity to Broadway and Central Park would raise property values nearby. Talk of a preliminary study and map began circulating in March 1873. By that September, Olmsted was assigned to work exclusively on Morningside Park, and to that extent, he was dropped from his position as superintendent of other parks. Olmsted and Vaux's plan, called "A Preliminary Report on the Improvement of Morningside Park", was presented to the DPP on October 11, 1873. Because of the limitations of the terrain, the proposed Morningside Park would be designed to emphasize scenery and its proximity to Central Park, and would contain several features including balconies, a planted lagoon, a lawn at the north end of the park and a retaining wall with stairways.  The work would cost about $816,000. Five days after the plan was presented, the DPP approved it "in principle".
caption: Morningside Avenue runs along the edge of the park in Harlem
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