stairs have been renovated over the years. The plantings in Morningside Park were designed at several stages of the park's development. Accounts vary on whether plantings were present before the park was built; in 1871, park engineer Montgomery A. Kellogg called the area a "barren piece of ground", Samuel Parsons described the site as having "a considerable amount of native growth", albeit limited mainly to vines, herbs, and shrubs. Parsons also stated that because of the poor soil in the original plan of the park, "fine trees" could not grow there. By the 1910s, vandalism, erosion, and crowds had caused damage to many of the plantings. Major landscaping projects took place in 1929, 1941, 1962, and 2006. Art There are three sculptures in Morningside Park. The first is the Lafayette and Washington statue (1900) by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, at the triangle between Manhattan Avenue, Morningside Avenue and 114th Street. Though dedicated in 1890, it was not brought to the triangle until 1900. The statue commemorates the alliance between the U.S. and France during the American Revolutionary War and consists of a bronze sculptural group depicting General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, both in uniform and shaking hands. The pair is atop a white marble pedestal and contains an associated bronze plaque on a gray granite base. It is an exact replica of a statue in the Place des États-Unis, Paris. The second is the Carl Schurz Monument (1913), with a statue by Karl Bitter and setting by architect Henry Bacon. It stands on a brick plaza at Morningside Drive and West 116th Street, overlooking the park from the west, though it is officially part of the park. The statue consists of a bronze depiction of politician Carl Schurz, standing in the middle of an exedra (or semicircular recess) made of granite. The "arms" of the exedra contain reliefs depicting Schurz's stature as a person who fought against slavery and for better treatment of Native Americans. Beneath the figure are carved stone reliefs flanked by bronze luminaires. The monument's side and central relief carvings, made in stone, may have been created by Bitter's associates and assistants, while the low granite relief carvings may have been made by the Piccirilli Brothers. The sculpture combines elements of the Archaic Greek and Austrian/Viennese Secessionist styles. The monument was unveiled to the city in 1913 and restored in the 1930s. The third is