Bowling Green Fence

History and architecture

The simple iron fence around Bowling Green Park is closely associated with the dramatic events of the American Revolution. It was erected in 1771 to protect the equestrian statue of George III, unveiled August 16, 1770, with the stated purpose of insuring that the Green not become ''a Recipticle of all the filth and dirt of the neighborhood." The statue soon became the hated symbol of tyranny and was putted down and hacked apart by a crowd of soldiers and civilians on July 9, 1776 — the day the Declaration of Independence reached New York from Philadelphia and was read to the troops.

The fence fared better than the statue, although it too was partially pulled down during the Revolution. The small ornaments, which originally capped the posts and were variously described as royal crowns or iron balls, were broken off by patriots and used for ammunition.

The fence was repaired in 1786. Old views show that graceful lamps, set at intervals above the posts, once adorned it.

As late as 1850, E. Porter Belden was able to note: "one entire post, with its head upon its shoulders, still stands near the southern entrance to the Green, a memento of the former glory of its brethren." This is corroborated by David Johnson's painting of 1860 at the New York Historical Society, which, incidentally, possesses a small section of the fence itself.

The original construction contract, with Richard Sharpe, Peter T. Curtenius, Gilbert Forbes and Andrew Lyall, edited for an iron fence set into a stone foundation, at a cost of 800 pounds. But, even in those days, costs exceeded estimates, and the City finally paid 843 pounds for the work.

In 1791, the fence and stonework, in which it was bedded, were raised two feet above the original level. A beautification program was inaugurated in 1819, when the Common Council granted the request of neighborhood residents that they be allowed to plant trees and shrubbery in the Green, and in 1825, it was "laid down in grass."

In those days, Bowling Green was in the center of an elegant residential neighborhood, surrounded by handsome red brick federal houses. Bolden describes it as "an ellipse, whose diameters are respectively two hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty feet".

In the course of the later 19th century, the area became completely commercial, and in 1914, the fence was dismantled to allow construction of the subway beneath the Green. It was removed to Central Park — and there lay forgotten until 1919 when the greater part of the fence was rediscovered and restored to Bowling Green.