New York's Central Park Trivia Quiz

Answer: Over 800 acres

Central Park is exactly 843 acres. But when you think of it in relation to the total square acreage of the island of Manhattan, Central Park takes up 6% of it.

Answer: The Greensward Plan

It has been suggested by New York historians that the 1858 competition may have been rigged. Olmstead was already a park employee, and many of the judges knew what he had in mind. Although the entries were anonymous, Olmstead's vision was all over The Greensward Plan. Wanting to keep the design of the park "in the family", as it were, the judges may have been biased toward Olmstead and Vaux' plan.

However, if you compare The Greensward Plan to any of the other submissions, it is clearly the most visionary and the most sophisticated.

Answer: Angel of the Waters

After his horrific experiences in the Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, Olmstead wanted to dedicate something to the thousands of people who suffered during those times. The stimulus for the idea of the "Angel of the Waters" came from the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 5, the story of an angel bestowing healing powers on the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem.

Answer: "The Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger

Holden Caulfield takes his sister, Phoebe, to the Carousel in Central Park at the end of the book. And it is at that moment that all his pent up frustrations lead to his breakdown. On a side note, there has been a carousel in Central Park since 1871. The original one was powered by a mule and a blind horse that walked around in a circle beneath the ride. Later carousels were steam powered and then electrically powered.

Answer: True

The 581 acre park was begun after Vaux and Olmstead completed their work on Central Park. Breaking with the European tradition of landscaping that they had incorporated in much of Central Park, Vaux and Olmstead created a decidedly American landscape, complete with baseball fields.

The park was substantially completed in 1873. When the fiscal panic of 1873 froze the park's assets, Vaux and Olmstead broke up their long partnership.

Answer: Generations of visitors have pet it, as if it were a real dog

In 1925, the city of Nome, Alaska was in dire need of a diphtheria antitoxin. 150 sled dogs and twenty mushers raced across 675 miles of frozen land in a record five and a half days, saving the town. Both mushers and dogs became celebrities, especially the lead dog, Balto. For years, the statue of a happy-looking Balto has been patted by millions of visitors.

Answer: Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra's Needle actually pre-dates Cleopatra. The 244-ton obelisk was created around 1450 BC. After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, first mentioned the gift of the obelisk to the United States in the hope of cultivating trade relations. It was erected in Central Park on January 22, 1881.

Answer: Fiorello LaGuardia

LaGuardia secured some funds from FDR's New Deal administration and turned it over to the powerful Robert Moses. The rehabilitation was completed in one year. LaGuardia was so pleased that he presided over the grand reopening and led the first group of children into the refurbished zoo.

Answer: The NYPD created a new precinct within the park

The Central Park Precinct employs regular police, auxiliary police, and volunteers. This, combined with the general drop in crime in the city, has made the park safer--in fact, it is among the safest urban parks in the nation. In 2005, over 25 million people visited the park, less than 100 of them were victims of a crime.

In fact, most crime victims knew their attackers, rather than being victims of random violence.

Answer: All of these

Central Park has been the site of many huge concerts, such as the Dave Matthews Band, Simon and Garfunkel's reunion, and Diana Ross' rain-soaked concert in 1983. And if music's not your thing, there's always the historic Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre.