Central Park is New York City’s 843-acre backyard: a masterpiece of landscape architecture created nearly 170 years ago to provide a democratic space and green respite for the City and all its people—and to establish New York as one of the great cities of the world.
The Central Park Conservancy is founded on the belief that leadership and support from New Yorkers are key to ensuring that Central Park and its essential purpose endure. Since 1980, the Conservancy has invested nearly $2 billion into its restoration and care and today, the Park welcomes 42 million visits annually.
After nearly 50 years, the Conservancy has broken the “decline and restore” cycle that afflicted Central Park for more than a century. The Conservancy continually raises funds for the Park’s ongoing care and deploys a team of nearly 400 staff who tend to its complex maintenance, restoration, and architectural needs—from horticulture to tree and turf care, trash management, visitor services, and much more.
The Conservancy was founded in 1980 by New Yorkers determined to bring Central Park back from ruin. From that small group grew today’s Conservancy, now entrusted by the City of New York with the complete day-to-day care of this iconic public space.
Funded primarily by individual donations, we raise and invest more than $100 million into the Park’s care each year, allowing the NYC Parks to allocate nearly its entire budget to other parks, and helping generate more than $1 billion in annual economic activity and 5,000 local jobs—a true partnership with the City for the people of New York.
1858–1873
Olmsted & Vaux
As the Industrial Revolution takes hold in the city and the population rapidly increases, City officials decide a democratic place of refuge from the stresses of city life is a necessity for all New Yorkers. The City begins acquiring land for a central park, displacing approximately 1,600 New Yorkers in the process, including the predominantly Black community of Seneca Village.
City officials subsequently launch a design competition for a great green space; the winners are Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, whose “Greensward Plan” evokes the experience of a visit to the countryside with sweeping meadows, picturesque woodlands, and idyllic lakes and ponds meant to make visitors forget they were in the city.
1873–1960s
Protecting The Park
Central Park quickly becomes an immensely popular destination for New Yorkers of all backgrounds. But for much of its first century, Park managers—including Olmsted and Vaux—fight off proposed projects, including bathhouses and restaurants, that threatened to harm the naturalistic landscape and detract from its essential purpose. Park officials and advocates would have to continue defending it from encroachments for decades.
1963 | A National Treasure
Central Park is the first municipal Park designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
1970s
The Recession
Following several years of economic instability, New York City enters a recession and a municipal budget crisis develops. The Parks Department permanent workforce significantly decreases while Central Park is increasingly used for events of unprecedented scale, including mass concerts, sporting events, "happenings," and political rallies. With Central Park rapidly descending into disrepair, an advocacy group establishes a Task Force focused on planning the restoration of the Park.
1973
Downtown, 1,400 original Olmsted & Vaux drawings for the Park are discovered in a maintenance facility at Sara Delano Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.
1974 | A New Task Force
The Central Park Task Force begins organizing volunteer programs to improve the park and inspire neighbors to care for it. The Central Park Community Fund (CPCF) is founded to support Park improvements, led by financiers George Soros and Richard Gilder.
The Park is the first site to ever be designated as a Scenic Landmark of the City of New York. Henceforth, it is protected by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), with any proposed changes subject to review and approval of LPC.
1975 | Ford to City: Drop Dead
New York City is on the verge of bankruptcy. President Gerald Ford vows to veto any proposed federal bailout, prompting the New York Daily News’ infamous headline that April: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”
Massive layoffs are forced within the Parks Department. Elizabeth (Betsy) Barlow Rogers, an urban planner and writer, is selected as the Central Park Task Force’s Executive Director.
1976 | Rogers to the Rescue
With the city saved from bankruptcy but still in a precarious financial state, New York Magazine publishes Betsy Barlow Rogers’ “32 Ways Your Time and Money Can Rescue Central Park.” It generates a tremendous response, including contributions totaling over $20,000 in the first week, or $117,000 in 2026 dollars.
A report commissioned by the Central Park Community Fund concludes that mismanagement is to blame for the degradation of Central Park and recommends appointment of a Park Executive and establishment of a Board of Guardians. On the campaign trail for U.S. Senate, Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposes a federal takeover of Central Park by the National Park Service, describing its deteriorated condition as a “national disgrace.”
1978 | Reform
The Central Park Community Fund considers takeover by the National Park Service, transfer to the State of New York park system, creation of an independent commission to operate the Park, and transfer of control to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
They conclude that control of the Park should remain with the NYC Parks Department, but with major reforms to its management.
1979 | Restore
Based on the Central Park Community Fund’s recommendation, Mayor Ed Koch and Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis agree to establish the role of Central Park Administrator, and appoint Betsy Barlow Rogers to the position.
In addition to establishing the Administrator’s office, the City conducts several major capital restoration projects, including restoration of Sheep Meadow, the Dairy, the Reservoir running track, the dredging of the 59th Street Pond, and landscaping of the southeast corner of the Park.
1980s | A New Era
The Task Force and the Community Fund consolidate into one organization responsible for both planning and fundraising, and to support the new Administrator: the Central Park Conservancy. The first Board meeting is convened at the Dairy on December 3, 1980, chaired by business leader and philanthropist William Beinecke.
1981–82 | Laying the Groundwork
Using newly raised private contributions, Conservancy begins hiring crews of horticulture and preservation interns to perform much-needed landscape and restoration work, including care of the newly-restored Sheep Meadow, restoration of the Point in the Ramble, and rebuilding the Park’s rustic structures.
A visitor center is established in the Dairy, and Conservancy planners begin outlining the comprehensive restoration of the Park by analyzing every aspect of its historic features, natural systems, infrastructure, use, and operation.
1982–84 | A Cleaner, Brighter Park
The Conservancy’s graffiti removal crew eradicates all existing graffiti and is able to address fresh “hits.” The Conservatory Garden is revived, and pathway lighting throughout the Park is addressed by retrofitting 1,500 lampposts with new luminaires.
The Conservancy uses its private funding on design for projects the City will fund capital construction of, including the Dairy landscape, Belvedere Castle, Cherry Hill, and Bethesda Fountain.
The first two full-time employees are hired: a mechanic to keep equipment in repair, and a gardener to oversee horticultural care at the newly restored Conservatory Garden.
1990s | A New Dawn
In the wake of a brutal attack of a female jogger, a Citizens Task Force on the Use and Security of Central Park, chaired by prominent attorney Ira Millstein, is formed to address security challenges and perceptions of the Park.
The Task Force recommends a series of projects and programs aimed at increasing park use and the maintenance presence in the North End.
1993 | In Full Swing
The Conservancy, operating in full swing, completes more than a dozen capital projects, including the restoration of the Harlem Meer, an iconic water body at the northeast corner of the Park that was choked with trash and heavily polluted.
Early 1990s | Expansion
In the face of citywide budget cuts, the Conservancy makes a commitment to increase its fundraising and takes on new responsibilities to relieve the Parks Department.
1993 – 96
Conservancy Trustee Richard Gilder pledges an unprecedented $17 million, launching the Wonder of New York Campaign. The City of New York matches Gilder’s $17 million and thousands of New Yorkers, corporations, and foundations help the Conservancy reach a total of $75 million. It is used to restore the Park’s remaining major landscapes, including Summit Rock, the Great Lawn, and the North Meadow—while $26 million is set aside for future maintenance and long-term endowment.
1998 | The City and the Conservancy
The City of New York and the Conservancy sign a formal operating agreement, making the Conservancy officially responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and operation of the Park. Beyond these obligations, the Conservancy also manages design, business administration, supervision of capital projects, presentation of public programs, and operation of visitor centers.
2004 | Doug Blonsky Leads
Upon the resignation of the Conservancy’s third president, Regina Peruggi, (2000-2004), Doug Blonsky is named its new leader.
2010s – 2020s
Central Play
The Conservancy launches Central Play, a $40 million campaign to comprehensively renovate or rebuild each of the Park’s 21 playgrounds.
After a 2009 storm that causes severe tree damage, the Conservancy also launches a $45 million initiative focused on comprehensive restoration of the Park’s woodland landscapes. Neglected through much of the twentieth century, restoration efforts had proceeded slowly in light of sensitivities about the removal of healthy trees and concerns about potential disruption to wildlife habitats.
2018
Upon Doug Blonsky’s retirement, Betsy Smith is named President & CEO.
The City and the Conservancy announce a transformational project to re-envision the site of Lasker Pool & Rink at the Harlem Meer, replacing the existing, ill-conceived facility with a new one, the Davis Center, to better serve Harlem and surrounding neighborhoods around the north end of the Park.
2020 | A Lifeline
The Park becomes a lifeline during the COVID pandemic, as lockdowns and social distancing make it one of the few places for people to safely be outdoors and congregate. The closure of playgrounds and other park facilities, along with the cancellation of all events and team sports, foster renewed appreciation among New Yorkers of the Park’s essential purpose as a respite and the restorative, uplifting power of its landscape.
The Conservancy’s Board of Trustees approves A Plan for the Stewardship of Central Park: 2020-2027, a new strategic plan for the organization’s long-term care of the Park.
2022
The Gate of the Exonerated is dedicated. It is the first and only park entrance to be officially named since 1862, and the outcome of dialogue with members of the Harlem community who sought recognition of the wrongful conviction and incarceration of five youth from the neighborhood who were falsely accused of the 1989 attack on a female jogger in the Park. This permanent commemoration memorializes this painful history and provides a healing influence.
2025 | Building Community
Funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, the Conservancy initiates community engagement around a planning effort to commemorate Seneca Village, a thriving, predominantly African-American community that existed before the Park between what is today the Great Lawn and Central Park West, from approximately 82nd to 89th Street.
The Davis Center at the Harlem Meer opens in Central Park’s north end, providing a state-of-the-art pool, an ice rink, and multi-use turf field. The project is the capstone to the decades-long effort to restore and reconnect the landscape at the north end of the Park. The flow of water and movement of people between the North Woods and the Meer is re-established; and a long walled-off piece of the Park is returned to the community in the form of a welcoming, accessible facility seamlessly integrated into a restored landscape.