The area was known by the local Lenape tribe as "Chquaesgeck" and by Dutch settlers as "Lange Bergh" (Long Hill). During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Fort Washington was fought at the site of the park. The area remained sparsely populated during the 19th century, but by the turn of the 20th century, it was the location of large country estates. Beginning in 1917, philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., bought up several of the estates to create Fort Tryon Park. He engaged the Olmsted Brothers firm to design the park and hired James W. Dawson to create the planting plan. Rockefeller gave the land to the city in 1931, after two prior attempts to do so were unsuccessful, and the park was completed in 1935. Rockefeller also bought sculptor George Gray Barnard's collection of medieval art and gave it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which from 1935 to 1939 built the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park to house the collection.