City Hall Park

Before this space was a manicured park, it was known as the Commons, a rugged stretch of land situated on the outskirts of colonial New York. Because it sat far from the city center, authorities used this location to house institutions that residents wanted to keep at a distance, including a jail for debtors, an almshouse for the poor, and a site for public executions. In the late seventeenth century, the area served as a communal pasture where ordinary citizens allowed their livestock to graze. Over time, these open fields transformed from a lonely, isolated patch of dirt into the high-stakes political heart of the city.