Central Park Although the name "Central Park" suggests that it has a clear organizing feature, New York City's famous green space has no official center. There is no formal walkway that cuts through the park or monument that marks its middle. Instead of symmetry, Central Park contains winding paths and an ever-changing landscape that appears random and rustic. Despite appearances, the park is an achievement of planning and engineering. Years of citizen campaigning for a park on Manhattan convinced the state to purchase 750 acres of land in 1853. After a chance meeting with the project organizer, Frederick Law Olmsted who was raised in Connecticut and had been deeply impressed by the public parks of England applied for the job of Park Superintendent in 1857. Olmsted was appointed Superintendent, and workers began clearing the land for construction. The park now needed a design. Calvert Vaux, a British architect who had helped design the grounds of the White House and the Smithsonian Institution, asked Olmsted to collaborate with him. The two developed a plan that would give city dwellers a tranquil green space. After a vote by park commissioners, Vaux and Olmsted became the official designers of Central Park. Creation of the park required years of construction. Thanks in part to the use of 166 tons of gunpowder, the swampy land was transformed into gentle slopes and scenic vistas through the movement of 2.5 million cubic yards of earth. By the time construction finished, the park included 58 miles of walking paths and 7 man-made bodies of water. Today, Olmsted and Vaux's work of art welcomes about 40 million visitors each year. Without having a single orientation itself, Central Park's natural and open design made it a central escape from the noise and unyielding grid of the city that surrounds it. Which of the following paragraphs accurately summarizes the key points of this passage?