Named after a real bowling green, part of a park created here in 1733.
Next to the site of the Dutch fort of New Amsterdam, this open ground served as a cattle market and parade ground. In 1733 the Common Council leased part of it to three neighbouring landlords for a peppercorn a year, on their promise to make a park ‘the delight of the Inhabitants’, including a ‘bowling green’. It is the oldest public park in New York City.