 Bowling Green is New York City`s oldest park. According to tradition, this spot served as the council ground for Native American tribes and was the site of the legendary sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626. It was first designated as a park in 1733, when it was offered for rent at the cost of one peppercorn per year. By the late 18th century, Bowling Green marked the center of New York`s most fashionable residential area, surrounded by rows of Federal-style townhouses. Since December 1989 the statue of Charging Bull (1987-89) has been on display at the north end of the park. Its sculptor, Arturo DiModica, says the three-and-a-half-ton bronze figure represents "the strength, power and hope of the American people for the future." It has also been linked to the prosperity enjoyed by Wall Street in the past decade. 

'Resolved that this corporation will lease a piece of land lying at the lower end of Broadway fronting to - the Fort to some of the inhabitants of the said Broadway in order to be inclosed to make a Bowling Green thereof with walks therein for the Beauty and Ornament of the said street as well for the Recreation &amp; Delight of the inhabitants of this city.From the minutes of the Common Council Reconstructed 1938'

"Publisher and PhilanthropistWho's many gifts beatify New York CityDedication of this historic park and fountain are an illustration of his generosity.Bowling Green was restored by the City of New York with his assistance under the administration of Abraham D Beame, MayorJoseph R Davidson, Commissioner"

 By 1850, with the opening of&amp;nbsp;Lafayette Street&amp;nbsp;and the subsequent completions of&amp;nbsp;Washington Square Park&amp;nbsp;and&amp;nbsp;Fifth Avenue, the general northward migration of residences in&amp;nbsp;Manhattan&amp;nbsp;led to the conversion of the residences into shipping offices, resulting in full public access to the park.  

European garden treatises, noted that the term &ldquo;bowling green&rdquo; denoted several, interrelated meanings: a sunken, generally round, turfed&nbsp;lawn; a close-cropped playing field for bowls; and a recessed turfed area in the midst of a&nbsp;parterre&nbsp;or&nbsp;grove. In America before 1850, the term &ldquo;bowling green&rdquo; encompassed each of these three definitions, often in combination, and was applied to both public and private spaces. As a resolution by the New York Common Council in 1733 suggests, the bowling green&rsquo;s ornamental and recreational functions often were inseparable. Museum of the City of New York

In 1982, the Irish Institute of New York installed a plaque in the park commemorating an important religious liberty challenge which occurred in colonial Manhattan in 1707, when Reverend&amp;nbsp;Francis Makemie, the founder of&amp;nbsp;American Presbyterianism, preached at a home near the park in defiance of the orders of&amp;nbsp;Lord Cornbury, and was subsequently arrested, charged with preaching a "pernicious doctrine", and later acquitted.  

Bowling Green

 At Bowling Green, Kaplan talks about Evacuation Day, the departure of the British from New York City, and Charging Bull, a popular statue representing the spirit of Wall Street and American capitalism. 