New York’s Central Park has been around, in various incarnations, for more than 150 years. In that time it has been hailed as a masterpiece of landscape design; served as a punchline in jokes about muggings and violent crime; provided the setting for key scenes in books, plays and movies; and remains, for New Yorkers and for countless visitors to Gotham, one of the world’s urban wonders—840 acres of tree-lined paths, public plazas, open fields, gardens, ponds, lakes, bridges, arches, performance spaces, a castle on a hill, a quite charming zoo and, arguably, the world’s greatest museum.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Dancers in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesUnicyclist in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesWarming up before a soccer match, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesScene in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA painter finds a secluded spot, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCentral Park's Bethesda Fountain, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesRowers on the Lake in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFishing in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesSunbathers cool their feet, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesScene near the Boat House, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesModel sailboats in Conservatory Pond, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "Nelson's flagship Victory gets a tender launching by its builder, Arthur Langton."Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesDogs in a fountain, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesChess players, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesWater fountain, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "In a wonderland for climbers a bronze Alice is cluttered with children who have scrambled over Mad Hatter and other Lewis Carroll creatures."Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "A trio of newly graduated students strolls soberly past a trio of figures dancing ring-around-a-rosy at a fountain."Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. "The park's carriage trade, out for a morning ride, moves in conversational formation along a broad pavement."Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesScene in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesElephants in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesSeals in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesKodiak bears, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCouple on a bench, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA young woman is helped down from a horse-drawn carriage, Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesScene in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images