Cemetery and parade grounds Washington Park has been public property since the
Dongan Charter was granted to Albany incorporating it as a city. The charter specified that all land not privately owned at the time became property of the
Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of Albany, including the land that would become the site of Washington Park. A portion of the land was set aside for a structure built to house gunpowder in 1802, and in 1806 the areas between Willett and Knox streets, and between State Street and Madison Avenue, became the Middle Public Square. West of the cemetery was the alms-house farm and the penitentiary grounds. In 1809 the Middle Public Square was renamed Washington Square, and later the Washington Parade Ground. In 1868 the remains and headstones in the cemetery were removed and reinterred, most to
Albany Rural Cemetery, and some to the cemeteries of other churches.
Construction of the park The
New York Legislature passed a law in 1869 authorizing the creation of a large public park on the spot and the creation of the
Board of Trustees of the Washington Park of the City of Albany (later Commissioners). The Commissioners were given by the state additional powers to build and maintain approaches to the park and other parks as well, this allowed the commissioners to build a series of boulevards around the city.
Western Avenue from the northwestern corner of Washington Park to the location of the
toll gate of the Western Turnpike was under the purview of the commissioners. Work on the road began in late 1876 and was finished the next year. The total construction cost of the park, including purchasing the real estate and improving Western Avenue, was $1,073,020.91. In 1878 Northern Boulevard (today
Manning Boulevard) was constructed by the commissioners, it extended from the western end of their jurisdiction on Western Avenue north and east to the intersection of
Clinton and
Central avenues. In addition to boulevards the Commissioners of Washington Park also gained control of other existing parks, and built new ones throughout the city, including Academy Park, Bleeker Park, Hudson Avenue Park, Clinton Square, Rensselaer Park, St. Joseph's Park,
Townsend Park, Beaver Park (later
Lincoln Park), and the former grounds of the
Dudley Observatory.
Modern times In 1958 Lancaster Street, which had previously ended at Willett Street opposite the park, was extended through to Northern Boulevard (today Henry Johnson Boulevard). Associated with this extension Northern Boulevard was also widened and both Lancaster and State streets were turned into one-ways. Entrances to Washington Park from Thurlow Terrace and Englewood Place were closed in 1972 turning those into dead end streets from Western Avenue. In 1988 Washington Park Road was renamed
Albany Plan of Union Avenue in honor of the
colonial congress held in Albany by
Benjamin Franklin that proposed closer ties and support among the
Thirteen Colonies. In 1991 Northern Boulevard from its intersection with Madison Avenue and Willett Street north through the park and continuing to Livingston Avenue in
Arbor Hill was renamed Henry Johnson Boulevard in honor of African-American
World War I hero
Henry Johnson. In the 1950s
Dutch elm disease (
Ceratocystis ulmi) killed all the elms that once populated the park and
crab apples were planted to replace the elms along the pedestrian mall. After deteriorating over the decades Washington Park saw a revival in the 1990s and 2000s with the flower beds being restored to their original specifications, the pedestrian mall removed of pavement and widened to its original dimensions with disease-resistant elms planted to form a canopy, the King Fountain relit at night, and the lilac shrub border around the periphery of the park being restored. ==Structures==