17/07/2025
To a modern day visitor, Seneca village resembles much of the surrounding park. But what many people don’t know is that the area of Central Park, from West 82nd Street to West 89th Street, was home to Seneca Village, a community of predominantly Black people, many of whom owned property. Property which was taken from them by “eminent domain.”
Seneca Village began in 1825, when la downers John and Elizabeth Whitehead subdivided their land into 200 lots and sold them to Black business men and women who opened shops and turned the area into a thriving community. Now all that’s left of that village is this plaque.
