The lost neighborhood under New York’s Central Park
Before Central Park was built, a historic black community was destroyed.
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If you’ve been to New York, you’ve probably visited Central Park. But there’s a part of its story you won’t see.
It’s a story that goes back to the 1820s, when that part of New York was largely open countryside. Soon it became home to about 1,600 people. Among them was a predominantly black community that bought up affordable plots to build homes, churches and a school. It became known as Seneca Village. And when Irish and German immigrants moved in, it became a rare example at the time of an integrated neighborhood.
Everything changed on July 21, 1853. New York took control of the land to create what would become the first major landscaped park in the US — they called it “The Central Park.”
In the Vox series Missing Chapter, Vox Senior Producer Ranjani Chakraborty revisits underreported and often overlooked moments from the past to give context to the present. Join her as she covers the histories that are often left out of our textbooks. Our first season tackles stories of racial injustice, political conflicts, even the hidden history of US medical experimentation.
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The Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History website: http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/seneca_village/
The exhibit on Seneca Village through the Central Park Conservancy: https://www.centralparknyc.org/programs/discover-seneca-village
Check out the 1856 before and after Central Park plans at the New York Public Library, as well as dozens of other Central Park maps and archives: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/6850fc74-5e61-8806-e040-e00a18067a2c
Read the full report on the 2011 Seneca Village excavations: http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/arch_reports/1828.pdf
Read the New York Times’ coverage of Seneca Village: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/opinion/seneca-central-park-nyc.html
Read The Park and the People by Elizabeth Blackmar and Roy Rosenzweig for a comprehensive history of Central Park, including Seneca Village: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801497513/the-park-and-the-people/
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@Vox
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
hi everyone, thanks for checking out the first Missing Chapter episode of 2020! we've got a lot more reporting planned this year, so if you want to stay up to date with the latest in the series you can sign up for the Missing Chapter newsletter: https://vox.com/missing-chapter . -Ranjani
@Dolanlol1984
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
So the government sells land. People buy it and years later the government steals it back. 😮. Nothing new.
@rodderickjames-bp5rp
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
PrePark history reminds me of THE TRAIL OF TEARS 😢😮
@yvette3636
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
The importance of knowing history so it isn’t repeated
@larspolten
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
sehr interessant und noch nicht gewusst
@larryg-firerain
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
How shameful to treat hardworking American citizens that way.
@nicoldavis-johnson7080
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Thank you for sharing this information.
@Curitaw
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Just like Lake Lanier in Georgia there were many African American communities that were taken over by force. This is history not taught in schools.
@hermesmoke
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Is this park home alone filmed? ❤
Anonymous
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Always ready for class…b1 fba
@musiqsoundsproductions
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
See how the media and goverments even back then, could twist words, make up stories, and play out people against eachother and could make whole communities dissapear.
Nothing has changed.
And people still fall for it.
@alin81-82
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Didn't know the park's history of gentrification. An old, but familiar story.
@JamesThompson-vs4kg
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
The rich still do what they want with us plebs
@adamdavenport6421
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
I really think that there needs to be a museum for the history of Seneca village otherwise it will be forgotten forever
@lllyyysgf
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
A bulldozer comes through because a new hospital, a new highway, or a new high-speed railway station is being built, and then you lose your house or land without thorough and transparent negotiation. This kind of story happens in China every day. Anyway, feel sorry for the residents who lived in Seneca Village and other villages before.
@jamalarcher3272
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Imagine the type of world we would be living in if all truths were known.
@ORIGINAL__ONE
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
They flooded the indigenous people out
@jean-jacquescortes9500
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
All the Central Park is artificial
@Truthmatterstrusttheprocess
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
It's sad like most of American History or History in general for that matter, but good to know
@celticfouleur
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Do these people ever stop complaining? 😂
@MariaMaya-hq6jc
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Welcome Maya..
@kristiemmons1074
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Nothing has changed in NYC, I see
@CritterStyle
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
4 slaves in 1840 @1:24. We learned in school that some slaves wanted to remain as slaves.
@teyanuputorti7927
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
This is heartbreaking the part of it being forgotten I mean
@robinson--B-d5
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Didnt know the name if the park last week.
@LuzileneManoeldasilva
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
woa
It's not just Black American History, it's American History."
@tasireN
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Everything black Americans had was always washed away no matter where it was in the United States smh 🤦🏾♀️ I hope that type of power never happens again in America smh 🤦🏾♀️
@Tawadeb
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
It always starts with media lies.
@emeejay5430
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
So even before the trump…the history has repeated itself
@jessenoelle262
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Even if it WAS a "shanty town," being poor shouldn't disqualify citizens from having rights!!! And btw, the working class isn’t different from the lower class—to the elite, everyone who isn’t elite is lower class.
@hersheysfloyd
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Wow😢
@siouxjo
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
People were displaced in the Appalachian region to make way for Shenandoah National Park too.
@siouxjo
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
We need to know about these things,
@lukeyznaga7627
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
so, where did these people who lived in Seneca Ridge go to? what happened to the families there?
@lukeyznaga7627
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
so there was a good, educated middle class that lived there. they were doing okay.
@RC-qf3mp
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
So what? The entire island displaced the native Americans. I’m glad Seneca village is gone so EVERYONE can enjoy Central Park. Are you a NIMBY? Life — and capitalism— is about creative destruction. Get over it.
@dazecm
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
Wealthy people stamping on poorer people. Looking at today's political environment shows things have sadly not improved as much as they should.
@Revolver1701
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 am
If rich wyte people want property they usually find a way to get it. Just ask the Indians.
Comments are closed.