Bryant Park is a nine and a half thousand acre park in the Manhattan district of New York City. The park is bounded by 40th and 42nd Streets in Mid Manhattan and by Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Like Central Park, Bryant Park is managed by an independent not for profit organisation.
Bryant Park has a long history and the area where it stands was first designated as a public space in 1686. From 1823 Bryant Park was designated as a grave yard for the poor, a Potters’ Field and stayed that way until 1840 when thousands of the bodies buried there were moved to Wards Island. The first park to be opened in the space was called Reservoir Square. The park was host to the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations and exhibitions in the New York Crystal Palace in 1853.
Reservoir Square was eventually renamed as Bryant Park in 1884 in honour of abolitionist William Cullen Bryant editor of the New York Evening Post. The reservoir building in the park was removed in 1899 and building began on the New York Public Library. At the same time, public facilities, kiosks and terraces were also added to the park.
The park has deteriorated and suffered from neglect by the start of the nineteen thirties but was redesigned between 1933 and 1934 as a public works project during the period of the Great Depression. Iron fencing was added to separate the park from the city streets along with hedges and a great lawn. The park had become disreputable by the nineteen seventies and was known to be the stomping ground of drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless and some people renamed it as Needle Park. The heroin trade flourished in the park and made it into a no-go area. From the mid seventies through to 1983 there was a concerted effort to clean up the park and add amenities such as flower market, cafes, and entertainment.
The park was temporarily closed by the Bryant Park Corporation that managed it in 1988 to undertake a four year project to provide entrances and greater visibility from the street in order to cut crime. Prior to 1988 the park had been elevated above the street and views of it hidden by tall hedges, the hedges were removed during this renovation and the park was lowered to nearly street level. The lowering of the park along with moveable chairs within it made this renovation extremely successful and the park reopened in 1992 and was nominated as the best example of urban renewal by New York Magazine.
Today Bryant Park is a symbol of the nineteen nineties revival of New York City. Nowadays the park is virtually crime free and in the summer nearby city workers and office staff take their lunch breaks in the park. People congregate for after work snacks and drinks at the Bryant Park Café and Bryant Park Grill. In 2002 Bryant Park launched its wireless network and became the first outfit in New York City to offer visitors free WiFi access.