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Seneca Village: Buried Under Central Park

Walk into Central Park near West 85th Street and you will find a gentle slope shaded by scattered trees. Almost nothing suggests that families lived there for a generation. Yet Seneca Village stood on that ground for 32 years. It held the largest concentration of […]

By Devario Johnson Madison Ave Magazine  · Social Justice 12 min read
Seneca Village | Madison Ave Magazine
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. "Map of the lands included in the Central Park, from a topographical survey, June 17th, 1856

Walk into Central Park near West 85th Street and you will find a gentle slope shaded by scattered trees. Almost nothing suggests that families lived there for a generation. Yet Seneca Village stood on that ground for 32 years. It held the largest concentration of free Black property owners in New York City before the Civil War. Then the city took the land and cleared the buildings. Afterward the settlement slipped out of public memory for more than a century.

 

How Seneca Village Began

The story starts in the fall of 1825. John and Elizabeth Whitehead owned farmland in the west 80s and decided to subdivide it into 200 lots. Most white landowners in Manhattan would not sell to Black buyers. The Whiteheads did.

DEVARIO JOHNSON

Devario Johnson is the founder and creative lead of Madison Avenue Magazine and Derek Madison Media, where he shapes culture through editorial storytelling, original photography, and platform design. As a fashion editor, media entrepreneur, and senior technology leader, he blends style, innovation, and narrative across every venture. As a former world-class athlete, he brings the same discipline and vision to all his creative pursuits.