Central Park is a public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City. The park initially opened in 1857, on 843 acres (3.41 km2) of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year, continued during the American Civil War, and was completed in 1873. Central Park is one of the world's largest urban public parks comparable to other great parks in the world as for example Paris' Bois de Vincennes (995 ha; 2,458 acres) and Bois de Boulogne (846 ha; 2,090 acres), London's Richmond Park (955 ha; 2,360 acres), Madrid's Casa de Campo (1,723 ha; 4,256 acres), Los Angeles' Griffith Park (1,740 ha; 4,310 acres).
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, the park is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the city government. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 83.5% of Central Park's $37.5 million dollar annual budget, and employs 80.7% of the park's maintenance staff.
Read more about Central Park: Central Park Today, Activities, Art, Geology, Flora, Fauna, Miscellaneous, Gallery
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“Friends serve central functions for children that parents do not, and they play a critical role in shaping children’s social skills and their sense of identity. . . . The difference between a child with close friendships and a child who wants to make friends but is unable to can be the difference between a child who is happy and a child who is distressed in one large area of life.”
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