| Marcus Garvey Park | |
|---|---|
| Mount Morris Park | |
 View in the park looking west | |
 Interactive map of Marcus Garvey Park | |
| Location | Harlem/East Harlem,Manhattan |
| Nearest city | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′16″N73°56′37″W / 40.804487°N 73.943696°W /40.804487; -73.943696 |
| Area | 20.16 acres (8.16 ha) |
| Created | 1840 |
| Operated by | New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |
Marcus Garvey Park (formerly and also namedMount Morris Park) is a 20.16-acre (81,600 m2) park on the border between theHarlem andEast Harlem neighborhoods ofManhattan,New York City. The park, centered on a massive and steep outcropping ofschist, interrupts the flow ofFifth Avenue traffic,[a] which is routed around the park via Mount Morris Park West. The park is also bounded by120th Street to the south,124th Street to the north, andMadison Avenue to the east.
Created in 1840, the park was originally named forRobert Morris, then themayor of New York City. It was renamed for black activist and businessmanMarcus Garvey in 1973. Marcus Garvey Park contains flat lawns and playing fields surrounding the schist outcropping, as well as theHarlem Fire Watchtower, aNew York City-designated landmark. It is operated and maintained by theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2025.[1]
Early Dutch settlers called the hill Slang Berg, or Snake Hill. This name was commonly used before the park was created. When the park was opened to the public in 1840, the park was named after the newly electedMayor of New York City,Robert Morris, although the origin of this name is not certain.[2]
In 1970, the Community Thing and otheractivist groups suggested naming the park forMarcus Garvey, apublisher,journalist,entrepreneur, activist forblack nationalism, and founder of theUniversal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). They also asked that a portion of the newly built recreation center contain a Garvey Museum.[3] That August, the African Nationalist Activist Movement called for a Marcus Garvey Day celebration, andThe New York Times noted that the park was already being "called Garvey Memorial Park by some persons."[4] More than 1,000 reportedly attended the celebration in the park.[5] City Council voted to officially rename the park to Marcus Garvey Memorial Park in 1973, during the same vote in which Welfare Island was renamedRoosevelt Island.[6] The portion of Fifth Avenue in Harlem was also proposed to be renamed Marcus Garvey Boulevard by advocates and the two surrounding Community Boards in 1988, but this effort ultimately failed amid complaints from residents who feared that the street would lose its reputation and lead to confusion.[7]
Before the European settlements, the rocky hill ofManhattan mica-schist was used by the Native Americans as a lookout station to see over the entire island. The nearness of theHarlem River made Slang Berg a militarily strategic location.
During theAmerican Revolutionary War,Hessian soldiers "mounted a battery" at the hill "to command the mouth of the Harlem River".[8] Despite the 18th-century local prominence of theGouverneur Morris family,[b] the name "Mount Morris" for the rocky formation, one of two the Dutch called the Ronde Gerbergte is of 19th-century origin:
One is an abrupt wooded eminence, by modern innovation styled Mount Morris, but which the Dutch called Slang Berg, or Snake Hill, from the reptile tribes that infested its cleft rocks and underbrush even within memory of the living. Southerly from it thegneiss rock crops out in huge, disordered masses. A little way to the right, as seen fromMcGown's Pass to the south, is ... a lesser height or ridge, and which to the inhabitants came to be known as the Little Hill.[10]
Little Hill was leveled when the right-of-way of thePark Avenue main line was graded for theNew York and Harlem Railroad, following the present route ofPark Avenue.[11]
On September 4, 1839, a 20-acre (81,000 m2) residential square, on land which was formerly a race track for horses, out of 173 acres (0.70 km2) of a land grant farm owned by the Benson family, was set aside.[12] The square was relocated from theCommissioners' Plan of 1811, which had planned for a square in the neighborhood, in order to take advantage of the rugged topography that stood squarely in the path ofFifth Avenue, which was being extended north ofCentral Park. "Mount Morris Square" was officially opened December 1, 1840.[13]
The new square that existed on paper remained unimproved for decades. It was landscaped in 1869, to a plan by the City surveyorIgnaz Pilat,[14] for which the Central Park Commission allocated $15,000. Walks were graded and the sloping path to the summit was constructed; by the next spring,The New York Times predicted, "croquet playing, decent picnic parties, and a band of music will attract not only the inhabitants of Harlem, but those of New-York".[15] Blocks of the original rusticated retaining walls, akin to the stonework that surrounds Central Park, can still be seen.
Music has been played in the park since its beginnings, with the Parks Department promoting performances in 1872[16] and 1893.[17] By 1900 a refreshment booth had been built at the 120th Street and Madison Avenue entrance to the park.[18] A long vehicular tunnel to send Fifth Avenue through the center of the rock was proposed byManhattan Borough PresidentSamuel Levy and approved byRobert Moses in 1936.[8] It was never built.
In the summer of 1969, the park was the site of theHarlem Cultural Festival, a series of concerts that came to be known as "Black Woodstock," and the subject of the 2021 documentary "Summer of Soul."[19]
TheHarlem Fire Watchtower was designed byJulius H. Kroehl and erected in 1855–57 ofcast iron. The tower was fitted with a 10,000 pound bell cast by Jones & Hitchcock. The watchtower allowed observers to use the natural elevation of the park and the added height of the structure to search for fires, in an era when most buildings were made of wood. The 47-foot (14 m) cast-iron tower is the only one to survive of eleven that had been constructed in the city.[20] It was designated as a city landmark in 1967[21] and added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1976. The watchtower, still bearing its bell, is located at the center of the park on an artificial plateau called The Acropolis.[20]
Facilities in the park include the Pelham Fritz Recreation Center and the Richard Rogers Amphitheater (both located on the west side of the park at122nd Street), and Swimming Pool (open in summer) on the north side of the park, and two playgrounds designed for infants and disabled children, which were built in 1993. ALittle League baseball field occupies the southwest corner of the park. A dog run with wood chip footing is located on the southeast corner of the park.
Much of the rusticated stonework stairs and walling has been patched with concrete; capstones have been dislodged by vandals. Sections of the upper part are closed off with chainlink fencing.
Most of the park closes at 10 pm; the upper section closes earlier, at dusk.
| International | |
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| Geographic | |
