Morningside Park is a 30-acre public park in Upper Manhattan. The area near Morningside Park was originally known as Muscota by the Lenape Native Americans in the Delaware languages. A park in this location 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.

Morningside Park

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe talks about the history of Morningside Park, Harlem's southernmost historic park, and some of its notable design features and amenities. The park was designed by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and took years to complete; Benepe charts the difficult construction of this New York City landmark and how it has evolved over the years, including the controversial 1968 Columbia University plan to build a gymnasium on the park's edge.