Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!

Bryant Park is a 10-acre public park in midtown Manhattan. The main branch of the New York Public Library faces 5th Avenue and sits on the east side of the park. I visited it after watching the sun rise from the Empire State Building’s observation deck. The library was closed due to Covid, so I contented myself walking the grounds.

Aside from the library, the park contains a carousel, restaurant and shops around lawns, flowerbeds and shaded walkways. This section sits on top of the underground storage for the library’s books.

Bryant Park was originally was called Reservoir Square. It opened in 1847 before the Croton Distributing Reservoir was replaced by the Library. The city renamed the square in 1884 for journalist William Cullen Bryant.

The park was renovated in the 1930s and again in the 1980s. The City Parks department owns Bryant Park. The non-profit group Bryant Park Corporation has managed the park since the 1980 restoration.

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Location: Avenue of the Americas, between 40th & 42nd
Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Date designated/established: Built 1847, NRHP 1966
Date of my visit: April 10, 2021