Battery Park

Battery Park is a 25-acre (10 ha) public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City, facing New York Harbor.

Name

The area and park are named for the artillery batteries that were positioned there in the city's early years to protect the settlement behind them.Battery Park City was named after the area.

In 2015, the New York City Department of Parks and the Battery Conservancy announced that the park would revert to its historic name, The Battery.

History

The southern shoreline of Manhattan Island had long been known as "The Battery," and has been a popular promenade since the 17th century. At the time, an artillery battery there served as protection to the town. The Battery was the center of Evacuation Day celebrations commemorating the departure of the last British troops in the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Just prior to the War of 1812, the West Battery, later renamed Castle Clinton, was erected on a small artificial offshore island nearby, to replace the earlier batteries in the area; later, when the land of Battery Park was created, it encircled and incorporated the island.