History

The name �First Run� is no accident - our run was the very first official off-leash space in New York City. About thirteen years ago, community activists lobbied long and hard for an official dog run in Tompkins Square Park. Eventually, the parks department listened: as ex-parks commissioner Henry J. Stern once said, starting the run was �was just a good idea.�

The Parks Department included one caveat: the run must be managed and funded by the community, not the city.The people who fought so hard to make First Run a reality raised money and organized volunteers. And to this day, though the names and faces may change, First Run is still space that is maintained and financed by the community.

While the Parks Department isn�t involved in the day-to-day running of First Run, we do work with them on projects and issues as they arise. This happens via a group called the East Village Parks Conservancy (EVPC), an umbrella group that oversees volunteer efforts in Tompkins Square Park (and other green spaces in the East Village). As an official not-for-profit organization, the EVPC allows us to accept tax-deductible donations as part of their organization. They also assist us in working with the Parks Department when necessary.

The volunteer managers of First Run are currently filing for non-profit status with the State of New York as "The Friends of First Run." As an autonomous organization, The Friends of First Run hope to better serve the needs of the community at large, canine and human.

Significant Dates for Tompkins Square

1834: City spent $83,000 to buy swamp, drain it turn it into Tompkins Square�
1857: November 6-10, thousands participate in�Bread Riot. The "workingman's committee" marched to the stock exchange�demanding jobs that the city promised during economic panic. Benches and fences were carried off for firewood.
1863: Civil War Draft Riots sparked by Irish resisters to the Union Army draft. See Gangs of New York for details.
1863: Park cleared and used as camp for Union soldiers�
1866: Albany orders park cleared for parade ground for 7th Reg. NY Nat'l Guard� �
1874: January 13, thousands of unemployed workers gathered� Police secretly withdrew their permit and attacked, plowing into the crowd on horseback swinging nightsticks.
1874: August, 2-3,000 people gather to reaffirm their right to assemble. They resolve Tompkins Square will always be "open to the public for their free assembly"�
1875�: � Half of square returned to a park, half remains military parade ground. Frederick Law Olmstead designed NW and SW corners. NW corners was to have goldfish pond and hanging vines.�
1876: June 3, 5,000 citizens gathered to get city to restore park from "chaotic wilderness". Speakers in German and English petition to fix "disgraceful condition of Tompkins Square"
1878: In September, Tompkins Square becomes all park again. The "Tompkins Square Union" vows to "see the park is kept in good order to render it an ornamental pleasure ground of the first order". 10,000 celebrate the reopening of the park.
1936: � Robert Moses puts 9th St thru park to divide into active and passive use. Games in active side: handball, basketball, shuffleboard, horseshoe pitching.
1957: � Residents complain of teenagers playing baseball all over�the park.� Parks proposes tearing down center lawn trees to make a little league field--a plan later dropped.
1966: Bandshell added that would accomodate Grateful Dead, Fugs, Charles Mingus.
1967: On Memorial Day, police confront people on the grass playing congas. 38 arrested.
1991: On June 3, the "Battle of Tompkins Square" between 150 squatters and 300 police officers. The police were closing the park for a renovation, evicting the community that lived there.