Know This :: What the Conservancy Does
The mission of the Carl Schurz Park Conservancy is to restore and beautify Carl Schurz Park, complementing the efforts of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Our goal is to enhance the public's enjoyment and involvement in the Park. The Conservancy organizes volunteers to execute its projects and sponsors community events that are open to all.
The Carl Schurz Park Conservancy funds and does lots of things that make our park a better, greener, healthier, safer, cleaner, funner, happier, more peaceful place. Such as...
- The Conservancy spends thousands of dollars every year pruning and caring for the trees of the Park
- Conservancy volunteers meet once a month to tackle...
- To ensure that the Park lawns are healthy and green the Conservancy funds all lawncare. That's the Conservancy... not the city, not the Parks Department, not the State.
Truth Be Told :: Interesting Facts & Historical Details
Carl Schurz Park is named for German-born Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz in 1910, at the edge of what was then a solidly German-American community of Yorkville.
Carl Schurz Park overlooks the waters of Hell Gate and Wards Island in the East River, and is the site of Gracie Mansion (built for Archibald Gracie, 1799, enlarged ca 1811), the official residence of the Mayor of New York since 1942 (although current mayor Michael Bloomberg does not live there). The park's waterfront promenade is a deck built over the FDR Drive, enclosing the roadway except on the side facing the East River. The park is bordered on the west by East End Avenue and on the south by Gracie Square, the extension of East 84th Street to the river. The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway passes along the promenade platform.
The bluff overlooking a curve in the East River at this point was named by an early owner, Siebert Classen, “Hoorn's Hook”, for his native Hoorn on the Zuider Zee. The first house on this commanding site was built for Jacob Walton, a few years before the Revolution, when the picturesque site suddenly gained tactical importance... >> Read more.
For Your Visit
The bluff overlooking a curve in the East River at this point was named by an early owner, Siebert Classen, "Hoorn's Hook", for his native Hoorn on the Zuider Zee. The first house on this commanding site was built for Jacob Walton, a few years before the Revolution, when the picturesque site suddenly gained tactical importance in the control of the East River. In February 1776 the house and grounds were... >> Read more.