Before the modern ice skating rinks of today were built in NYC, ice skating used to take place on ponds and lakes in the city. The Central Park Lake was a popular destination for this, and that's why plans for Olmstead and Vaux's park called the Lake "the Skating Pond", perhaps because the sport was seen as a very important piece of the Park’s design.
Read the original article and see Courier and Ives lithographs here.