Morningside Park
Morningside Park is an Olmstead and Vaux (the same guys who designed Central and Prospect Parks) designed city park east of Columbia's Morningside Heights campus. It runs from 110th St to 123rd St. Due to its location along the foot of a cliff - which creates sinuous pathways, forbidding shadows, and dense, tangly vegetation - even the park creators acknowledged that park security would be problematic. Nowadays the park is not nearly as dangerous as it used to be, although hanging around there after dark is ill-advised. It is home to at least one wild turkey.
In 1961, the university wanted to build a gym there. Everyone hailed it is a great idea, especially the neighborhood, which would get access to a brand new facility. But then the University refused to pay for the gym until some Alumni ponied up. Then JFK, MLK Jr, and Malcolm X all got shot. When the university finally got around to building the darn thing in 1968, some people got mad.
Map
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