which were stops on a narrow-gauge railroad that once wound through the park. The "Mansion House" now functions as the main administration building of the Baltimore City Zoo (founded 1876, later renamed Maryland Zoo in Baltimore). The Park served as an attractive hill for winter sledding during the 1940s, particularly for boys attending the nearby Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. Like Central Park in New York City's central urban Manhattan of the 1850s designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, (1822–1903), Druid Hill was at the northern edges of urban development at the time of its establishment. The northern end of the park, which contains some of the oldest forest growth in the state of Maryland, has never been landscaped, but rather left as a natural wooded habitat. Roadways through this section of the park have been closed to vehicular traffic since the late 1970s or early 1980s, but have always been open for hikers and bicyclists. A well-known Osage Orange tree, said to be hundreds of years old, was brought down by Storm Sandy in October 2012. The southern end of the park was a popular destination for city dwellers for a number of decades. Druid Lake, the park's most notable waterway, was constructed in 1863 and remains one of the largest earthen dammed lakes in the country. Through 2024, it serves as a reservoir for the Baltimore metropolitan area public water system, after which that function will be replaced by two large underground tanks installed in the western end of the lake. The dam was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1971. With the advent of automobiles, the park's many winding roadways became popular with car dealers who took potential buyers there to teach them to drive. Many of the park's older fountains and man-made ponds have been drained, allowing nature to reclaim those areas. However, many of their structures remain partially or completely intact. Druid Hill Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973. The Park is also included in the newly organized Baltimore National Heritage Area in the 2010s in cooperation with the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Racial segregation When the Park first opened in 1860 - a few months before the outbreak of the American Civil War - recreation facilities such as pools and tennis courts