Scavenger Hunt: Remember the Maine

At the entrance to Central Park at Columbus Circle is a monument to the USS Maine.  As we all learned in school, the Maine sank in 1898 new Havana, Cuba and was perhaps the catalyst for the Spanish American War.  (Ch. 133)  After the explosion and subsequent sinking of the battleship, a committee started raising funds for a memorial for the 258 men who died with the "rallying cry 'Remember the Maine!'"  (Ch. 133) There was a large gap of time between the fundraiser and the actual building of the monument, which had one major benefit.  The Maine was raised from the ocean and the bronze guns on the Maine were melted down for the primary statue at the top of the monument—a gilded figure of the godduss Columbia rising in a chariot from the sea.  (Ch. 133)

I should also circle back and talk about a little of the history of the park.  I touched on it briefly before in my discussion of Ch. 49.  In 1851, Andrew Jackson Downing, "America's chief landscape designer" (do we still have one? because that would be awesome!),  wanted "some inhospitable land in the city" ranging north from 59th Street "with tremendous amounts of schist rising up from the ground".  (Ch. 55)  In 1853, NY was given eminent domain over an area bounded by 5th and 8th Ave. and between 59th and 106th Street and was eventually expanded to 110th Street.  (Ch. 55)  Unfortunately, they just had to get rid of the "squatters" in Seneca Village first.  (Ch. 55)

In 1852, Downing died in steamboat accident (boiler fire) and one of his assistants Calvert Vaux took over.  (Ch. 55)  In 1857, Vaux approached the Central Park Commission with an idea for who should design the park:  A design competition.  (Ch. 61)  Vaux enlisted the help of Frederick Law Olmsted (who is actually more famous for creating the park than Vaux).  (Ch. 61)  Together, they sketched out their vision and called it the "Greensward Plan" after the English term for a sweeping green lawn.  (Ch. 61)