Bowling Green

It was here on May 6, 1626 that Manhattan was allegedly purchased from the Indian tribes of the area.Bowling Green, originally a cow pasture and a parade ground, is now a very small park – resembling a tiny plaza.Dutch settlers first introduced bowling to America on the lawn here (therefore the name Bowling Green) and other entertainments such as turkey shoots and cockfights were held here.

In 1770 a statue of England’s King George III (on horseback) was erected here after the English Parliament repelled the Townsend Act (duties on lead, glass, paint and tea).That statue was so disliked by the public and graffiti such a problem that the City passed anti-graffiti laws. On July 19, 1776, the King George III statue met its demise when citizens and soldiers tore it down following a reading of the Declaration of Independence to George Washington’s troops.Part of it now resides at the New York Historical Society, but, most of the statue, made of lead and covered with gold, was melted down and turned into 40,000 bullets for the American patriots.

A few years later in 1783, Bowling Green was the site of the raising of the American flag, a “13-gun salute” and an evening fireworks display as New Yorkers celebrated the end of the American Revolution and the departure of the last British troops.A shooting water fountain now stands at the spot where the King George III statue once reigned.In 1989 another statue – one of a Charging Bull representing a bullish stock market -- was moved to Bowling Green (after having been illegally installed on Wall Street and subsequently confiscated by the NYC Police Department).

Directly across from Bowling Green (in the background here) is the National Museum of the American Indian (once the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House) and where Fort George was built. In June 1776 George Washington established his first headquarters here at One Broadway.