Hyde Park

One of the largest open spaces in London, England, occupying over 138 ha/340 acres in Westminster, and adjoining Gardens to the west. It includes the Serpentine, a boating lake; and Rotten Row, a riding track. Open-air meetings are held at Speakers' Corner, in the northeast corner near Marble Arch. In 1851 the Great Exhibition was held here.

The southeast corner of the park is known as Hyde Park Corner.

History The park was originally part of the Manor of Hyde, owned by Westminster Abbey, until it was taken by Henry VIII in 1536 at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It then became a royal deer park until it was opened to the public by Charles I. It was sold by Parliament in 1652, but reverted to the Crown at the Restoration. It became a fashionable coach- and horse-racing track, a rendezvous for duellists, and from its northwest corner crowds used to watch executions at Tyburn. The Serpentine (1730-33) was formed on the course of the old Westbourne River. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was housed in the Crystal Palace, a glass and iron construction moved to Sydenham Hill in 1854, where it burned down in 1936. In 1855 a large number of people gathered illegally in the northeast corner of the park to demonstrate against the Sunday Trading Bill. There were further demonstrations, and the right of assembly in the park was recognized in 1872, the site becoming Speakers' Corner.

Hyde Park

Largely residential section of Los Angeles, California, between Crenshaw and Inglewood, and 10 km/6 mi southwest of the city centre. Hyde Park is home to a Black middle-class community.

Hyde Park

Residential neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The campus of the University of Chicago is sited here, between Washington and Jackson Parks.

Although never as prestigious a district as the Gold Coast or Prairie Avenue, Hyde Park has long been one of Chicago's most cosmopolitan neighbourhoods and is characterized by its high-density apartment buildings. The Museum of Science and Industry, DuSable Museum of African-American History, the Oriental Institute, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House are all situated here.

Hyde Park

Residential neighbourhood in the extreme south of Boston, Massachusetts. It is situated on Mother Brook and the Neponset River, at a distance from central Boston. Together with the neighbouring district of Readville, Hyde Park is a mixed working-class and middle-class area.

Hyde Park

Town in Dutchess County, southeastern New York; population (1990) 21,200. Hyde Park stands on the east bank of the Hudson River, just north of Poughkeepsie. It is most famous as the home of President Franklin D Roosevelt, who was born in the town and is buried here.

Hyde Park was first settled by the Dutch in 1741 and became, in the 19th century, the site of a number of riverfront mansions belonging to wealthy and powerful families, including the Roosevelts and the Vanderbilts. The Roosevelt Library (1941) and Museum and a number of preserved estates are now open to the public as National Historic Sites. These include the home of the former president (built in 1826, with grounds covering 80 hectares/200 acres), Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill cottage, and the Vanderbilt Mansion (1898). Hyde Park is also the headquarters of the Culinary Institute of America.

Hyde Park

District in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, east of the city centre. It was originally home to some of Cincinnati's wealthiest residents, who built imposing mansions here in the 19th century. Today many of these homes have been restored by young professionals.