Great Lawn and Turtle Pond

File:CENTRAL PARK GREAT LAWN.JPG

The lawn and pond occupy the almost flat site of the rectangular, {{Convert|35|acre|ha|abbr=|adj=on}} Lower Reservoir, which was incorporated into the Greensward Plan for Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The King Jagiello Monument stands at Turtle Pond's east end, the Delacorte Theater on its west end.{{Cite web|url=http://www.centralparknyc.org/assets/pdfs/maps/CPC_Map_2014_V2.pdf|title=Central Park Map|date=2014|website=centralparknyc.org|publisher=Central Park Conservancy|access-date=April 1, 2019|archive-date=October 5, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005170140/http://www.centralparknyc.org/assets/pdfs/maps/CPC_Map_2014_V2.pdf|url-status=dead}} The Great Lawn proper, surrounded by an oval-shaped path, covers {{Convert|14|acre|ha|abbr=}}. The Turtle Pond and the adjacent Arthur Ross Pinetum occupy another {{Convert|31|acre|ha|abbr=}}.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/09/nyregion/city-emerald-great-lawn-reopens-will-its-fans-love-it-to-death.html|title=City Emerald; Great Lawn Reopens. Will Its Fans Love It to Death?|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=1997-10-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The Great Lawn and Turtle Pond take up about {{Convert|55|acre|ha|abbr=}} in total.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/13/nyregion/caring-for-reborn-great-lawn-keeper-park-s-play-space-wants-it-used-gently.html|title=Caring for a Reborn Great Lawn; Keeper of the Park's Play Space Wants It Used Gently|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=1998-06-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

The Great Lawn is mainly a recreational field, surrounded by an oval walkway. There are eight baseball fields on the Great Lawn (six within the oval walkway and two directly to the north),{{Cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/facilities/baseball|title=Central Park Baseball Fields: NYC Parks|website=www.nycgovparks.org|access-date=April 17, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/baseball.html|title=Baseball|date=February 12, 2015|website=The Official Website of Central Park NYC|publisher=Central Park Conservancy|access-date=April 17, 2019|archive-date=April 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417155021/http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/baseball.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/permits/field-and-court/issued/M010|title=Field and Court Usage Report for Central Park: NYC Parks|date=June 26, 1939|website=New York City Department of Parks & Recreation|access-date=April 17, 2019}} as well as a soccer field and four basketball courts.

The Turtle Pond is located south of the Lawn.{{cite web|url=http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/turtle-pond.html|title=Turtle Pond|website=The Official Website of Central Park NYC|publisher=Central Park Conservancy|access-date=April 4, 2019|archive-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404175001/http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/turtle-pond.html|url-status=dead}} Most of the park's turtles live in Turtle Pond, and many of these are former pets that were released into the park.{{cite web|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/biology-in-the-big-apple-surveying-the-wildlife-of-central-park/|title=Biology in the Big Apple: Surveying the Wildlife of Central Park|date=September 28, 2013|website=Scientific American Blog Network|access-date=April 16, 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/science/census-of-central-park-finds-new-tenants.html|title=Canvassing Central Park and Finding New Tenants|last=Foderaro|first=Lisa W.|date=August 27, 2013|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 16, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

The Arthur Ross Pinetum, named after philanthropist Arthur Ross, contains 17 species of pine trees across a {{Convert|4|acre||abbr=|adj=on}} area on the northwestern side of the oval.{{Cite web|url=http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/arthur-ross-pinetum.html|title=Arthur Ross Pinetum|last=Central Park Conservancy|website=www.centralparknyc.org|language=en|access-date=2019-09-06}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkcitytrees00barn|url-access=registration|title=New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area|last=Barnard|first=E.S.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-231-12835-3|series=City of New York. Parks & recreation|page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkcitytrees00barn/page/33 33]|access-date=September 6, 2019}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKjS342df7YC&pg=PA88|title=The Complete Illustrated Map and Guidebook to Central Park|last1=Carroll|first1=R.|last2=Berenson|first2=R.J.|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4027-5833-1|page=88|access-date=September 6, 2019}}

The Yorkville Reservoir of the Croton Aqueduct system, also known as the Lower Reservoir or the receiving reservoir, was built in 1842 to store the city's drinking water.{{cite Hidden Waters NYC|page=37}} The community of York Hill was displaced for the creation of the reservoir, and the population moved to Seneca Village to the northwest, which itself was demolished when Central Park was constructed in the 1850s.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=66}} The reservoir was filled to a depth of {{Convert|34|ft|m|abbr=}} starting on June 27, 1842.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5tw6AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA534|title=Annual Report|year=1917|page=534|access-date=April 26, 2019}} The reservoir occupied the space between the 79th Street and 86th Street transverse roads,{{cite map|publisher=United States Geological Survey|title=Harlem, NY-NJ Quadrangle|url=http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Harlem.htm|year=1900|scale=1:62,500|series=15 Minute Series (Topographic)|section=SW|access-date=February 22, 2010|archive-date=January 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129004839/http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Harlem.htm|url-status=dead}} measuring {{Convert|1826|by|836|ft|m|abbr=}} with a capacity of at least {{Convert|150|e6gal|l|abbr=|sp=us}}. The reservoir was surrounded by a stone retaining wall, a portion of which is still visible near the 86th Street transverse.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/realestate/streetscapes-gobbled-up-by-a-great-lawn.html|title=Streetscapes — Gobbled Up by a Great Lawn|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=2013-02-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

In Egbert Viele's plan for Central Park, whose rejection prompted the design competition of 1857-1858, the civil engineer "considered the reservoir worthy of attention as a major engineering feat, and his plan emphasized it by adding a terrace to the walls, from which spectators could observe military drills".{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=102}} Proponents of the naturalistic plans in the competition proposed "'planting out' the park boundaries and the 'ugly', 'artificial', 'uncouth', 'horrid', and 'discordant' distraction of the reservoirs in order to reinforce the sense of natural expanse".{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=114}} The southwestern corner of the reservoir was overlooked by Vista Rock, atop which Belvedere Castle was built in 1869. When Central Park was completed, the Lower Reservoir served as a complement to the Upper Reservoir, now the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/highlights/6455|title=Central Park Highlights|date=June 26, 1939|website=The Great Lawn : NYC Parks|access-date=April 26, 2019}}

File:USA-NYC-Central Park-Turtle Pond2.jpg

As the Croton-Catskill Reservoir system was completed in the first decade of the 20th century, the Lower Reservoir came to be redundant. As early as 1903, there were plans to cover the reservoir to create additional recreational space,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1903/02/08/archives/to-enlarge-central-park.html|title=To Enlarge Central Park.|date=1903-02-08|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-22|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and in 1910, park commissioner Charles Bunstein Stover started advocating for the removal of the reservoir. In spite of years of prodding, the commissioners of the Catskill Aqueduct were loath to hand over their real estate to the city.

A number of projects in the City Beautiful manner were suggested for the site.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=415–416}} This was epitomized by the Catskill Aqueduct Celebration Committee's commission of a design from the prominent Beaux-Arts "society" architect Thomas Hastings.{{refn|His plan would have provided a grand formal space like a partly flooded version of the Paris Trocadéro, featuring a bronze casting of Frederick MacMonnies' Columbia in the Ship of State, the familiar fountain centerpiece of the lagoon at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition of Chicago.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=417}}|group=note}} Henry Fairfield Osborn lobbied instead for a formal carriage drive that would link his American Museum of Natural History with the Metropolitan Museum of Art.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=418–419}} Other plans for the site called for airplane landing pads, an opera house, a radio tower, sports arenas, underground parking. and a film-storage mausoleum.{{Rp|116}}

These plans were decried as intrusions by park preservationists protecting the Olmstedian rustic plan on the one hand, and as elitist by populist champions of organized recreation facilities, who envisaged playing fields and bath houses for the city's urban poor.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=420}}{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=422–424}} The city approved Hastings's plan in 1917.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/07/20/archives/to-alter-reservoir-into-sunken-garden-aqueduct-celebration.html|title=TO ALTER RESERVOIR INTO SUNKEN GARDEN; Aqueduct Celebration Committee Accepts Plan for Memorialto New Water System.OLD BASIN TO BE DRAINED MacMonnies Fountain, Amphitheatre, and Drives Part of Central Park Scheme. 100,000 Children to Take Part. To Preserve Historic Value.|date=1917-07-20|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} However, with the growing intensity of World War I, Central Park cycled through five parks commissioners between November 1917 and February 1918, and Hastings's plan was dropped by the administration of mayor John Francis Hylan.

File:Turtle Pond Egret jeh.JPG in Turtle Pond]]

In 1922, Hastings recast his plan as a recreational center and memorial to the soldiers of World War I, which fulfilled both the City Beautiful and recreational demands for the reservoir site. By the mid-1920s, populist groups and newspapers were publicly calling for expansion of recreational space. Notably, the New York Daily News published a series of articles advocating for different reuses of the receiving reservoir.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=425}} The issue became politicized. Hastings's World War I monument proposal, increasingly tied to Hylan's policies, was criticized by many of Hylan's opponents, and lost even more support when Hylan proposed a performing arts center on the site.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=426–427}} Hastings stated that the space would be wasted if the memorial plan were to be dropped,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/02/09/archives/defends-memorial-for-central-park-architect-hastings-says-reservoir.html|title=DEFENDS MEMORIAL FOR CENTRAL PARK; Architect Hastings Says Reservoir Site Would Be Lost if Not Used for War Monument.|date=1924-02-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and in 1925 the city's Board of Estimate gave preliminary approval to the memorial.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/11/19/archives/city-votes-to-put-memorial-in-park-estimate-board-grants-hylan-plea.html|title=CITY VOTES TO PUT MEMORIAL IN PARK; Estimate Board Grants Hylan Plea to Authorize Central Park Work. OPPONENTS MAY FIGHT ON Want War Dead Honored, but Elsewhere -- Contract Approved, Architect Ready. CITY VOTES TO PUT MEMORIAL IN PARK|date=1925-11-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

The Central Park Association, one of several groups to advocate for the improvement of Central Park, was created in December 1925.{{cite book|title=Central Park, 1857-1995: The Birth, Decline, and Renewal of a National Treasure|last=Kinkead|first=Eugene|publisher=Norton|year=1990|isbn=0-393-02531-4|location=New York|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/centralpark1857100kink}}{{Rp|115–116}} They opposed the memorial and subsequently succeeded in reversing the city's endorsement of the memorial.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/03/04/archives/central-park-body-opposes-memorial-association-votes-to-petition.html|title=CENTRAL PARK BODY OPPOSES MEMORIAL; Association Votes to Petition City to Reject Hylan's Proposed Monument. WILL LEAD PUBLIC FIGHT Experts Will Be Called In to See|date=1926-03-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Simultaneously, during the land boom that filled Fifth Avenue and Central Park West with luxury apartment towers for the rich. the Fifth Avenue Association was created. That association also opposed a reservoir memorial because it was seen as contributory to the decline of Central Park.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=429–430}}

A third group, the Citizens Union. endorsed the city's proposal to fill in the receiving reservoir.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/11/15/archives/citizens-union-aids-in-reservoir-fight-it-urges-city-to-add-the-35.html|title=CITIZENS UNION AIDS IN RESERVOIR FIGHT; It Urges City to Add the 35 Acres Under Water to Area of Central Park. WOULD TRANSFER CONTROL Landscape Study Urged to Make It Conform to General Plan -- Value Put at $100,000,000.|date=1926-11-15|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In the meantime, Frederick Law Olmsted's son Frederick Olmsted Jr. worked with Harvard librarian Theodora Kimball Hubbard to compile Frederick Sr.'s papers. The resulting publication invigorated preservationists who wanted to see the reservoir redeveloped as a more natural area. This, combined with mayor Jimmy Walker's increases to park budgets, resulted in a small general cleanup of Central Park, but also saw the cancellation of the memorial.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=434–435}}

The reservoir began to be drained in January 1930.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=439}} The project required the dumping of {{Convert|1,000,000|yd3|m3|abbr=}} of dirt into the decommissioned reservoir, which was set to be completed within a year.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/15/archives/400-trucks-filling-central-park-basin-task-of-dumping-1000000-cubic.html|title=400 TRUCKS FILLING CENTRAL PARK BASIN; Task of Dumping 1,000,000 Cubic Yards of Dirt Into Reservoir to End This Year.WALL TO BE RAZED FREE City Saves $90,000 When BuilderAgrees to Demolish It for Dumping Privilege. Walls to Be Removed. 100,000 Loads of Fill Needed.|date=1930-04-15|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} That April the American Society of Landscape Architects, New York Chapter (ASLA) proposed a sunken meadow and lake within the former reservoir site.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1930/04/22/archives/offer-plaza-plan-for-reservoir-site-landscape-architects-also-map.html|title=OFFER PLAZA PLAN FOR RESERVOIR SITE; Landscape Architects Also Map Sunken Meadow and Lake for Central Park. A PROMENADE IS URGED Inter-Museum Walk Opposed by Herrick Included in New Draft Submitted to City. Herrick Praises Plan. Little Filling Required. Park Promenade Favored.|date=1930-04-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In June 1930 the city adopted a plan presented by the ASLA for a great oval of turf, its edges softened by trees planted in clumps within and outside the encircling pedestrian walkway.

Two fenced playgrounds at the northern endThe northwestern playground was replanned as the Arthur Ross Pinetum in 1971; the northeastern playground is reconfigured for handball and basketball. were to be screened by shrubs and trees. The drainage was collected in a small receiving reservoir at the south end, the predecessor of the present Turtle Pond, which revealed its essentially rectangular shape, in spite of mild waggles in its concrete curbing. Along its southern shore, the steep gradient that had impounded the reservoir was regraded and planted with trees and shrubs to mask its regularity. The former receiving reservoir was filled in with dirt from the construction of Rockefeller Center.{{cite book|title=Central Park: an American masterpiece|url=https://archive.org/details/centralparkameri0000mill|url-access=registration|last=Miller|first=Sara|publisher=Harry N. Abrams Publishers in association with the Central Park Conservancy|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8109-3946-2|location=New York|oclc=50773395}}{{Rp|116}}

File:Turtle Pond island Feb jeh.jpg in Turtle Pond]]

In the meantime, the city teetered on the edge of insolvency during the Great Depression. A "Hooverville" of improvised shacks developed in the dry bed of the reservoir, as the city began dumping fill.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=440}} The homeless were initially evicted when they tried to move into the site in late 1930, but public sentiment gradually turned to sympathy. The few dozen shacks on the site were allowed to stay through April 1933, when they were evicted.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=441–442}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/realestate/streetscapes-central-park-s-hooverville-life-along-depression-street.html|title=Streetscapes: Central Park's 'Hooverville'; Life Along 'Depression Street'|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=1993-08-29|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Following the destruction of the Hoovertown, parks commissioner John E. Sheehy proposed building running tracks and ball fields on the site of the reservoir.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=443}} The plan was controversial. It was strongly opposed by preservationists and advocacy groups, who argued that these would ruin the rural character of Central Park as originally envisioned by Olmsted and Vaux.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1933/04/28/archives/central-park-fight-up-for-a-hearing-sheehy-at-mayors-request.html|title=CENTRAL PARK FIGHT UP FOR A HEARING; Sheehy, at Mayor's Request Consents to Receive Foes of His Reservoir Plan Today. O'BRIEN HINTS SOLUTION Says Sport Fields Are Only Temporary -- Art Societies Vote Strong Objection. HEARING ORDERED ON CENTRAL PARK|date=1933-04-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=444–445}} The Daily News, on the other hand, supported Sheehy's plan and denounced the objections as classist discrimination, since the opponents of the Sheehy plan were mainly wealthy residents of nearby areas.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|pages=446–447}} Sheehy's successor Robert Moses, who would see the ASLA Great Lawn to completion, took office with mayor Fiorello La Guardia in January 1934. Moses replaced Sheehy's plan with his own, which placed large playgrounds and children's recreational facilities on the perimeter of a proposed meadow.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/04/06/archives/sheehy-park-plan-dropped-by-moses-old-central-park-reservoir-will.html|title=SHEEHY PARK PLAN DROPPED BY MOSES; Old Central Park Reservoir Will Be Converted From Ball Field to Recreation Spot.|date=1934-04-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

The Great Lawn was essentially completed in 1937. It was planted with pine oaks and European lindens, in the reduced range of trees in the current repertory.{{Rp|118}} With the installation of children's play structures, the Great Lawn became a children's play area, contrasting with the adults' play area in North Woods and North Meadow.{{harvnb|ps=.|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|page=451}}

The Great Lawn received its baseball diamonds in the 1950s. Heavy use followed, and by the 1970s, the Great Lawn had badly compacted soil. Advocates argue this compaction was aggravated by its use for outdoor concerts once the Sheep Meadow had been restored in 1979. Eroded topsoil that washed into Belvedere Lake resulted in eutrophication that turned it to algal soup each summer. After Belvedere Castle was renovated in the 1980s, marshes were placed on the northern bank of Belvedere Lake, and turtles were introduced there.

In 1987, the Central Park Conservancy proposed renovating Belvedere Lake. This was stymied by the presence of dragonflies in the lake,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/28/nyregion/revamping-great-lawn-is-weighed-821-69813.html|title=Revamping Great Lawn Is Weighed 821:69,813>|last=Dunlap|first=David W.|date=1987-01-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and the project was later postponed.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/06/nyregion/plan-for-lake-at-park-lawn-is-postponed.html|title=Plan for Lake at Park Lawn Is Postponed|date=1987-02-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Belvedere Lake was officially renamed Turtle Pond the same year. In October 1995, the Conservancy took up the joint project of rehabilitating fifty-five acres of the lawn and its surroundings.{{Cite web |url=http://www.centralparknyc.org/media/file/ag-greatlawn.pdf |title=The Great Lawn: Central Park Conservancy pdf document |access-date=February 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203031412/http://www.centralparknyc.org/media/file/ag-greatlawn.pdf |archive-date=February 3, 2007 }} The resodding of the Great Lawn commenced in October 1996, at which point officials replaced a {{Convert|15|acre|ha|abbr=|adj=on}} ovoid patch of the Lawn, and nearby areas, with new sod for $18 million.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/28/nyregion/there-s-more-than-mere-sod-in-the-great-lawn-s-repair.html|title=There's More Than Mere Sod in the Great Lawn's Repair|last=Martin|first=Douglas|date=1996-10-28|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The project was completed the following year. The renovation included the installation of 250 automatic water sprinklers and 2,000 new trees, as well as a nature blind to observe the area's wildlife.

The Conservancy also completely drained, re-excavated, and reconfigured Turtle Pond.{{cite web |title=Turtle Pond |url=http://centralpark.org/index.php/attractions-h-w/turtle-pond/ |publisher=CentralPark.org |access-date=October 12, 2014}} The project, completed in 1997, was designed so that at no position can a viewer take in all its perimeter. Shoreline plants such as lizard's tail, bulrushes, turtlehead (Chelone glabra), and blueflag iris were planted in submerged concrete shelving designed to offer each group of wetland plants their ideal water coverage. A small island provides sunning spots and secure egg-laying sites for the turtles. Sightings of numerous species of dragon fly not previously noted in Central Park have been made.

File:Great Lawn Central Park jeh.JPG

In 1996, Great Lawn was used by 12,100 softball games per year, with 250,000 combined players. The following year, it was estimated that 15 million people crossed the Great Lawn every year.

Annual concerts by the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic started in the 1960s.{{Refn|See, for example:

• {{cite web | last=Strongin | first=Theodore | title=CONCERT IN PARK HEARD BY 73,500; Ozawa Leads Philharmonic in the Sheep Meadow | website=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331 | date=August 18, 1965 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/08/18/archives/concert-in-park-heard-by-73500-ozawa-leads-philharmonic-in-the.html | access-date=April 18, 2019}}
• {{cite web | last=Wilson | first=John S. | title=Barbra Streisand's Free Sing-In Jams Sheep Meadow in the Park; Barbra Streisand's, Sing-In Jams Sheep Meadow | website=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331 | date=June 18, 1967 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/18/archives/barbra-streisands-free-singin-jams-sheep-meadow-in-the-park-barbra.html | access-date=April 18, 2019}}}} Several past concerts have supposedly drawn hundreds of thousands of spectators each.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/nyregion/23about.html|title=Great Lawn: A Bubble of History Bursts|last=Dwyer|first=Jim|date=2008-07-23|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The 1980 Elton John concert drew 300,000 attendees, the 1981 Simon and Garfunkel reunion concert more than 500,000, and the 1982 Anti-Nuclear Rally nearly 750,000.{{cite book|author=Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow|author-link=Elizabeth Barlow Rogers|title=Rebuilding Central Park: A Management and Restoration Plan|date= 1987|page= 114|display-authors=etal}} Other large concerts include Paul Simon's 1991 concert, which drew 600,000 fans to the Great Lawn, In September 2003, Dave Matthews Band recorded the live album Central Park Concert at the Lawn, and drew more than 120,000 fans, and Bon Jovi's concert during the 2008 MLB All-Star Weekend, which drew about 50,000 people.{{Cite web|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article_entertainment.jsp?ymd=20080713&content_id=3133034&vkey=entertainment&fext=.jsp|title=MLB.com/Entertainment: News|website=Major League Baseball|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}

Other events held in the Great Lawn included the New York opening of the Disney movie Pocahontas in June 1995,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/11/nyregion/thousands-jam-disney-s-newest-park-to-see-pocahontas.html|title=Thousands Jam Disney's Newest Park to See 'Pocahontas'|last=Lee|first=Felicia R.|date=1995-06-11|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and Pope John Paul II's open-air mass for 125,000 that October.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/08/nyregion/the-pope-s-visit-the-overview-125000-join-pope-at-mass-in-central-park-basilica.html|title=THE POPE'S VISIT: THE OVERVIEW;125,000 Join Pope at Mass In Central Park 'Basilica'|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=1995-10-08|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Until the later-canceled OZY Fest in July 2019, most of the Great Lawn's concerts were free to attend. OZY Fest's plans to charge admission on half of the 40,000 tickets was controversial, even though the remaining tickets would be free, because it would require closing off the Great Lawn for nine days in the middle of the summer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/nyregion/ozy-fest-central-park-great-lawn.html|title=$399 for a Festival in Central Park? The Great Lawn Goes Capitalist|last=Kilgannon|first=Corey|date=2019-07-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-07-14|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Park officials have been skeptical of the claim that hundreds of thousands of people could fit in the Great Lawn, since Bon Jovi's concert in 2008 which filled the lawn. Only about {{Convert|10|acre|ha|abbr=}} of the lawn are estimated to be usable during concerts, and about 6,000 to 8,000 people could fit in an average acre if each person had {{Convert|5|to|7|ft2|m2|abbr=}} of personal space.

During the 2004 Republican National Convention, NYC Parks denied protesters the right to organize in either the Great Lawn or North Meadow, citing concerns over possible damage to the turf.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/nyregion/the-war-over-central-park-is-turning-cultural.html|title=The War Over Central Park Is Turning Cultural|last=Cardwell|first=Diane|date=2004-07-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In 2005, NYC Parks proposed setting a capacity limit on the Great Lawn to 50,000 people.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/nyregion/keeping-great-crowds-off-central-parks-great-lawn.html|title=Keeping Great Crowds Off Central Park's Great Lawn|last=Williams|first=Timothy|date=2005-04-27|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Many groups and people objected to the proposed regulation, saying that it violated their right to congregate under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The proposal was withdrawn in 2008.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/nyregion/09cnd-lawn.html|title=Settlement on Use of Central Park's Great Lawn|last=Feuer|first=Alan|date=2008-01-08|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} However, an independent report the following year recommended a 55,000-person capacity for the Great Lawn, implicitly supporting NYC Parks' initial proposal.{{Cite web|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/report-backs-limits-on-great-lawn-crowds/|title=Report Backs Limits on Great Lawn Crowds|last=Akam|first=Simon|date=2009-08-05|website=City Room|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}}

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