Central Park

==== 1870–1876: completion ====
[[File:The Pennsylvania railroad- its origin, construction, condition, and connections. Embracing historical, descriptive, and statistical notices of cities, towns, villages, stations, industries, and (14573460329).jpg|thumb|upright=1|alt=People on horseback and riding in carriages in the park|Gentry in the new park, {{circa}} 1870]]
The [[Tammany Hall]] political machine, which was the largest political force in New York at the time, was in control of Central Park for a brief period beginning in April 1870.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=77}} A new [[charter]] created by Tammany boss [[William M. Tweed]] abolished the old 11-member commission and replaced it with one with five men composed of Green and four other Tammany-connected figures.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=77}}{{sfn|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|p=263}} Subsequently, Olmsted and Vaux resigned again from the project in November 1870.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=77}} After Tweed's embezzlement was publicly revealed in 1871, leading to his imprisonment, Olmsted and Vaux were re-hired, and the Central Park Commission appointed new members who were mostly in favor of Olmsted.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|pp=78–79}}

One of the areas that remained relatively untouched was the underdeveloped western side of Central Park, though some large structures would be erected in the park's remaining empty plots.<ref name="NYTimes-Improvement-1872">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1872/08/25/archives/central-park-improvement.html |title=Central Park Improvement|date=August 25, 1872|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 9, 2019|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409175425/https://www.nytimes.com/1872/08/25/archives/central-park-improvement.html|archive-date=April 9, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1872, Manhattan Square had been reserved for the [[American Museum of Natural History]], founded three years before at the [[Arsenal (Central Park)|Arsenal]]. A corresponding area on the East Side, originally intended as a playground, would later become the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]].<ref name="NYTimes-Improvement-1872"/>{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|pp=86–87}} In the final years of Central Park's construction, Vaux and Mould designed several structures for Central Park. The park's sheepfold (now Tavern on the Green) and Ladies' Meadow were designed by Mould in 1870–1871, followed by the administrative offices on the 86th&nbsp;Street transverse in 1872.{{sfn|Heckscher|2008|p=60}} Even though Olmsted and Vaux's partnership was dissolved by the end of 1872,{{sfn|Rosenzweig|Blackmar|1992|p=280}} the park was not officially completed until 1876.{{sfn|Taylor|2009|p=292}}