19th century Tompkins Square Park is located on land near the
East River, that originally consisted of
salt marsh and open tidal meadows, "Stuyvesant meadows", the largest such ecosystem on
Manhattan island, but has since been filled in. The unimproved site, lightly taxed by the city as most agricultural properties were, seemed scarcely worth the expense of improving to its owners, the Stuyvesants, who inherited it from the 17th-century grant awarded to
Peter Stuyvesant, and their Pell and Fish relatives. The City aldermen, to raise the tax base of the city, accepted a gift of land in 1829 from Peter Gerard Stuyvesant (1778–1847) with the understanding that it would remain a public space, and compensated other owners with $62,000 in city funds to set aside a residential square; transforming the muddy site took another $22,000 before Tompkins Square was opened in 1834. Surrounded by a cast-iron fence the following year and planted with trees, the square was expected to have a prosperous and genteel future, which was undercut, however, by the
Panic of 1837 that brought the city's expansion to a halt. Tompkins Square Park is named for
Daniel D. Tompkins (1774–1825),
Vice President of the United States under President
James Monroe and the
Governor of New York from 1807 until 1817. He had overseen some early drainage in the locality in connection with minor fortifications in the
War of 1812. The park was opened in 1850. In 1857, immigrants protesting unemployment and food shortages were attacked by police. In 1863 the deadly
Draft Riots occurred in the park. The riot marked an unprecedented era of labor conflict and violence. The riot occurred in the midst of the
Panic of 1873, a
depression that began in 1873 and lasted for several years. Workers movements throughout the United States had been making demands of the government to help ease the strain of the depression. Organizations rejected offers of charity and instead had asked for public works programs that would provide jobs for the masses of unemployed. In 1877, 5,000 people fought with the National Guard when a crowd gathered at the park to hear Communist revolutionary speeches.
20th century In the middle 19th century the "Square" included a large parade ground for drilling the
New York National Guard. The modern layout of the park by
Robert Moses in 1936 is said to be intended to divide and manage crowds that have gathered there in protest since the 1870s. That tradition was rekindled as the park became the nursery of demonstrations against the
Vietnam War in the 1960s. By the 1980s, the park had become for many New Yorkers synonymous with the city's increased social problems. The park at that time was a high-crime area that contained
encampments of
homeless people, and it was a center for illegal drug dealing and
heroin use. In August 1988, a
riot erupted in the park when police attempted to clear the park of homeless people; 38 people were injured. Bystanders as well as homeless people and political activists got caught up in the police action that took place on the night of August 6 and the early morning of August 7, after a large number of police surrounded the park and charged at the hemmed-in crowd while other police ordered all pedestrians not to walk on streets neighboring the park. Much of the violence was
videotaped and clips were shown on local TV news reports (notably including one by a man who sat on his stoop across the street from the park and continued to film while a police officer beat him up), but ultimately, although at least one case went to trial, no police officers were found culpable. A
punk rock festival has been held in the park in the years since, in commemoration of the event. The park had become a symbol of the problems in the city, including homelessness—which had prompted the 1988 riot. Rakowitz, called the Butcher of Tompkins Square, was found
not guilty by reason of insanity and remains incarcerated at the
Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on
Wards Island. Further clashes occurred during May Day festivities of 1990, the culmination of a "Resist 2 Exist" Festival, which featured notable local acts and artists. Twenty-nine protesters were arrested and 25 charged with felony charges. From June 3, 1991 to July 25, 1992, the park was closed to the public for restoration, but also to keep out the homeless and in attempt to calm tensions. The Tompkins Square Park Bandshell, a key feature of the park, was one of the first targets of these renovations.
21st century Increasing
gentrification in the East Village during the 1990s and 2000s, and enforcement of a park curfew and the eviction of homeless people have changed the character of Tompkins Square Park. Today, with its playgrounds and
basketball courts, dog run, ping pong table, handball courts, and built-in outdoor chess tables, the park attracts young families, students and seniors and tourists from all over the globe. The same year, NYC Parks temporarily installed an electronic basketball hoop, with a video screen, at the park. Work on the ground-level swimming pool had still not started by 2026. ==Events==