In Garden City, street bollards are occaisionally used for decorative purposes and, in some cases, functional ones. The Village has bollards along Seventh Street, where they form a visual barrier to prevent pedestrian accidents on the parking lot's access roads. William Kuhl, the noted landscape architect, beautification consultant for the Village, and Garden City resident, who did the Seventh Street award-winning design in 1987, made very effective use of these bollards.

While there are a number of different land uses for bollards, the bollard traces its ancestry to the marine field. In the marine field, bollards are found on many vessels and on docks and piers. Any vessel tying up to a dock requires something to fasten its ropes to. While this may sound like a simple task, there is a fair amount of design and engineering involved in determining and using the right fastening point. Given the weight and size of some vessels and the enormous power of the tide, current, and wind, there are some very impressive forces at work.

Some of the devices used for marine purposes are posts, cleats, and bollards. While posts and cleats are fine for smaller boats, the fastening points for larger vessels, such as ships, need to be quite large and of a different design. Large ships have very thick ropes in order to properly secure them and so, to facilitate holding the vessel to the docks, while allowing the tide, current, and wind to buffet the vessel, some flexibility is needed.

While there once were wooden bollards, and a few can still be found, the vast majority of them are now made of metal, usually cast iron. They range in size up to the truly massive, which in some cases are almost larger than a person.

Marine bollards are usually round and often have a distinctive light bulb shape. Marine bollards also often have some other feature such as side horns or arms, raised ring bands, etc., that allow the rope wrapped around it to "bite" (be better retained). Bollards came into use because the pilings were not really suitable for holding larger vessels. Tides and wind would tug and pull the boat and this would loosen the piling, which is not good, considering the pilings are the structural holding points of the dock or pier.

Bollards are bolted onto the dock and, at its worst, rip off the dock and thus preserve the dock. The light bulb shape enhances the bollard's capability to retain rope and hitch knots as the tide and wind tug on the rope. Many marine bollards have side studs that are also used to fasten the rope.

The Garden City street bollards tend to be more cylindrical. The rings surrounding them are purely decorative, although, in a pinch, could be used to string rope for a barrier. Street bollards are sunk into the ground to provide stability.

Elsewhere in the Village, some homeowners also use bollards of different sizes and shapes for various purposes. Can you locate examples?