--- title: Central Park: Photos of the Jewel of Manhattan in 1961 description: LIFE.com celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's best-loved creation: New York City's Central Park. canonical: https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-30T18:02:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:39.939Z og:title: Central Park: Photos of the Jewel of Manhattan in 1961 og:description: LIFE.com celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's best-loved creation: New York City's Central Park. og:url: https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9a368899a532b8d/698849e3524fc017aadf1f61/01_00859636.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Central Park 1961 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Central Park: Photos of the Jewel of Manhattan in 1961 twitter:description: LIFE.com celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's best-loved creation: New York City's Central Park. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9a368899a532b8d/698849e3524fc017aadf1f61/01_00859636.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jewel of Manhattan: LIFE in Central Park, 1961 by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jun 30, 2014 6:02 PM UTC  Dancers in Central Park, 1961. Dancers in Central Park, 1961.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jun 30, 2014 6:02 PM UTC New York’s [Central Park](http://www.centralparknyc.org/) 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](http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/huddlestone-arch.html), performance spaces, a castle on a hill, a quite charming zoo and, arguably, [the world’s greatest museum](http://www.metmuseum.org/). Here, LIFE.com celebrates [Frederick Law Olmsted’s and Calvert Vaux’s best-loved and most-frequented creation](http://www.emeraldnecklace.org/central-park-olmsted-vauxs-first-park/) with a series of photos from 1961. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Dancers in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Unicyclist in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Warming up before a soccer match, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A painter finds a secluded spot, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Rowers on the Lake in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fishing in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sunbathers cool their feet, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene near the Boat House, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Model sailboats in Conservatory Pond, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Nelson's flagship Victory gets a tender launching by its builder, Arthur Langton." Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Dogs in a fountain, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Chess players, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Water fountain, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption 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 Images  Caption 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 Images  Caption 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 Images  Scene in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elephants in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Seals in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kodiak bears, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Couple on a bench, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young woman is helped down from a horse-drawn carriage, Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene in Central Park, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/"},"headline":"Jewel of Manhattan: LIFE in Central Park, 1961","datePublished":"2014-06-30T18:02:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:39.939Z","description":"LIFE.com celebrates Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's best-loved creation: New York City's Central Park.","url":"https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/","keywords":["Great Places","New York City","photography","Culture","LIFE Magazine","Central Park","1961","Leonard McCombe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9a368899a532b8d/698849e3524fc017aadf1f61/01_00859636.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9a368899a532b8d/698849e3524fc017aadf1f61/01_00859636.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Central Park 1961","caption":"Dancers in Central Park, 1961.","creditText":"Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/great-places/","name":"Great Places"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880289/central-park-photos-of-the-jewel-of-manhattan-in-1961/","name":"Jewel of Manhattan: LIFE in Central Park, 1961"}}]}] ```